Custody of Pets
When a husband loses a wife, he tends to say “I will fight to see my kids”, often asking for more than he really wants explains leading London Divorce lawyer Rodney Hylton-Potts.
The same applies to pets. Each couple seems to assume that the family pet is theirs.
The ladies tend to go for the horses and cats, and the men for the dogs.
There are cases where couples have argued for shared residence i.e. the pet spending half the time with each, rather like contact with children.
Levels of pain and stress can be high. It is not so much the value of the pet (although that is a factor) or even emotional attachment, but more ownership and pride.
In one case the judge ordered that the couple stand apart in his chambers, leaving the dog that was then let in, to wander over and “greet” the spouse who would then get the dog. The husband won, but when it was discovered that he had dog food in both pockets, which he had also smeared on his trousers, the decision was overturned on appeal!
Children have a part to play. The children do not want to be parted from the pets and therefore the parents, often use the pets as weapons in their effort to get more time with the children.
The husbands then say that if they had more time with the children their obligations to the Child Support Agency Maintenance Unit comes down, and so Rover, Fido, Pussy and family pony can often have a greater value than the old picture on the wall that mother-in-law gave you on marriage and nobody liked anyway.
One of the saddest, but true, stories about pet custody.
The couple still lived together pending the divorce.
During a row over who would get Binkie, he ran away. The twelve year old twin children were distraught. The husband put up a notice in the local newsagent at Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire with a £50 reward for the return of the dog.
In law this amounted to an offer to enter a contract, which becomes important. Some days later a car drove up the gravel drive, but no barking was heard. The children held their breath in excitement, between smiles and tears, not knowing the future. A farmer came to the door.
The husband was led out to the car by the farmer who said he had come about the dog and wanted the reward. Again, no barking or bounding around could be heard. The boot was opened and there was the dog, not only dead but almost cut in two, the farmer explaining that he had found him like that on the railway line.
The farmer then asked for the reward. The husband was outraged.
“Okay,” said the farmer. “Would you settle for half the reward?”