For many people, pets are part of their family. When pet parents split up, people often wonder about pet custody. Can you create an arrangement allowing family members to maintain their relationships with pets even after pet parents split? Thankfully, California law helps protect our non-human family members, even enabling pet owners to share custody.
Your family lawyer can help you negotiate a pet custody agreement that looks out for your pet’s best interests. Ultimately, if you cannot reach an agreement with your former partner through negotiation or mediation, you can even go to court to ask a judge to issue a formal, official pet custody decision. If you have questions about pet custody or need help creating a pet custody agreement, the Stratte Firm can help.
What Is Pet Custody?
Pet custody describes arrangements between people who share a pet but do not live in the same household. Legally, pets are their owners’ property. Yet, pet custody can look a lot like child custody in practical terms. By and large, pet parents want to do what is best for their pets, and many pets love their owners just as much as their owners love them.
Resolving pet custody issues becomes a question of deciding what is best for the pet and for each owner, respecting the bonds the pet has with each owner. Other household members may also play a role in deciding pet custody. For example, parents often choose to keep their pets in the same household where their children primarily reside.
What Are the Pet Custody Laws in California?
By law, pets are property. When a couple marries, property they earn, obtain, or acquire during the marriage is community property. California Family Code (“FAM”) § 760. When a couple separates or divorces, they divide their community property, but each partner usually keeps their separate property. Separate property includes property that a spouse obtained:
- Before marriage or after separation,
- Through inheritance, or
- As a gift.
FAM § 770. When a couple divorces or separates, both have an equal right to their community property. Since both partners have an equal right to community property, California law says that the couple should divide it equally. FAM § 2550. Yet, couples can always negotiate a different arrangement. As long as the individuals in the relationship voluntarily and genuinely agree, they can come to their own terms about property distribution—including what happens to any pets.
Like other property, pets can be community or separate. If a pet is community property, both partners are equally entitled to keep the pet. To resolve what happens to the pet, partners can negotiate a pet custody agreement, have one partner keep the pet, or even go to court.
Typically, if one partner brought the pet into a relationship, they are the pet’s owner and have the right to keep the pet. The pet is separate property. Yet, how the couple treats the pet can change the usual distinctions between separate and marital property—especially when an owner’s bond with the pet comes into play.
What Does the Pet Custody Process Involve?
During the divorce process, a judge issues temporary court orders to address things like how the couple will:
- Manage finances during the legal process,
- Use and maintain the family home, or
- Divide child custody and support.
California law authorizes judges to issue court orders requiring parties to care for a pet during the divorce process. FAM § 2605.
Similar to child custody, as you finish the divorce process, a judge can issue an official court order awarding joint or separate custody of a pet. FAM § 2605. In short, even though pets are property, you can establish a system where your pet divides time between you in a similar way to children dividing time between parents.
What Factors Affect Pet Custody?
What claim either partner has to the pet depends on practical considerations like:
- Who pays for the pet’s expenses,
- Who cares for the pet day to day,
- Where the pet came from,
- How much the pet is worth, and
- Who manages the pet’s veterinary needs.
These factors come into play even if the pet started as separate property. Although the law divides community property equally, real life is more complicated, especially when pets are involved.
Deciding Who Gets Pet Custody in a Divorce in California
Who gets pet custody in a divorce depends most directly on what the couple decides to do. Pet owners can create an agreement that takes into account what the pet needs and honors each person’s bond with the pet. A family lawyer can help you tailor your agreement, borrowing from child custody law.
Creating a Pet Custody Agreement
Your pet custody agreement may address:
- Where the pets will live,
- When pets will be with which person,
- What each person is responsible for, and
- How the pet owners will manage pet care moving forward.
By working with a lawyer familiar with pet custody, you can create a pet custody agreement that fits with you, your former partner, and your pet. You may then submit that agreement to the court, which can incorporate it into the terms of your divorce as part of your overall separation agreement.
Going to Court Over Pet Custody
If you and your partner cannot agree on who should keep the pet, you can ask a judge for help resolving the question using California law. In that case, you work with your lawyer to create written documents explaining why your proposed pet custody arrangement is best for the pet. With it, you include documentation showing your relationship with the pet, like:
- Photos,
- Texts and direct messages,
- Social media posts,
- Vet bills, and
- Ownership documentation.
After you submit your documents, the judge holds a hearing. There, the judge considers both legal and practical reasons why one person should keep the pet over the other.
Navigating Pet Custody
Many of us share deep and compelling relationships with our pets. Losing a relationship with a beloved pet does not have to be part of the deal when you get a divorce. With the help of a family lawyer, pet custody laws in California can support your bond with your pet post-divorce.
The Stratte Firm has helped many pet parents maintain their relationships with their pets through pet custody agreements. We use a collaborative approach to the law, working side-by-side with you to help you reach a resolution that meets your individual needs. Reach out if you have any questions or want to learn more about pet custody in California.
Legal References Used to Inform This Page
To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced official legal resources during the content development process:
