Divorce and household pets
A divorce can sometimes be so acrimonious that the parties may end up arguing over the household pets. In South African Law couples are increasingly viewing pets as being “children”. However the legal position is that a court would deal with a pet in the same light as any other movable asset.
A divorce settlement agreement cannot therefore include a clause where care and contact over a pet is awarded to one of the parties. The position relating to pets is different in other countries where animal law issues are considered to be of the utmost importance. In Australia there is a tendency for couples to share care and contact to pets after the divorce.
Recently James Dalton, a former Springbok rugby player made headline news when he alleged that pets were stolen from his property by his estranged wife. What is very important when one considers pets in a divorce matter is to stipulate who will be responsible for the costs of feeding and caring for the pets, as visits to the Vet can be quite costly.
The rights of pets in the future may be a lot stronger due to constitutional principles and increasing animal law issues.
written by Pete Baker, a divorce attorney in Cape Town .
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