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Hi everyone, I’m Dr. Michael Mantell with another Family Law Matters. I’m always privileged to be joining Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel, owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group. Hi Bonnie.
Hi Michael, how are you doing? I’m doing fine, but interesting question that comes this week. People could reach me through Facebook or LinkedIn, they reach you the same way. And someone had a question about their pet.
They have a little miniature schnauzer. And honest to goodness, a couple is fighting over this dog. And I thought this is not unusual.
It probably happens more than we even think. So I want to bring this to Family Law Matters and ask you about it. What’s the story about people fighting over their pets? Well, as you know, Michael, I kind of have a dog or five.
You have five. Wait, wait, wait. You have five.
I do. And so the dogs are like our family. I can understand the emotional attachment.
Unfortunately, the law has not yet caught up to that. So the law treats them like property. You know, like when you’re dividing the cars or the furniture, you’re dividing the dog, which of course doesn’t work for many people.
Sometimes people think it’s okay to give the dog away while they’re getting divorced. And then the other, oh, well, I already gave the dog away. You can’t give away your property without the other person’s consent.
So literally people will either argue over property and leave it up to a judge, which what do they do? Or they have to create a visitation schedule. I’ve seen couples create a visitation schedule for the dog. If there are children, it’s often that the dog or the cat or whatever will follow the children’s schedule.
So when the child goes to one parent, the pet goes with it so that it’s always there. So the law does protect the sentiment that someone has for their pet and says, we understand. And we’re going to split the time, just like we split the time with the children.
We’re going to split the time with the pet. That is very new. It used to be that it was property and you just had to buy out the other person for the value of a dog, you know, or it was left argued about.
People these days now have started to implement something more like visitation with the dog. So let me throw a wrench into this. I have clients who have a support animal.
That animal is there for their emotional wellbeing. It’s in the couple. The couple has to live with this dog and now they’re getting divorced.
And this person says, this is my support animal. And the other person says, yeah, but I love whatever the dog’s name is as well. And so what happens then? If the dog is a certified support animal for that person, the person keeps the dog.
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Got it. I had a feeling. They have to buy out the other person for the value of the dog because it’s property.
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I won’t even ask how you establish property, the value of that pet. Well, what’d you pay for it? Okay. I got it.
I see. It’s what you originally paid for the dog. Bonnie, if people have questions about their dogs and their pets and their cats and so forth in the middle of a divorce, how can they be in touch to ask more about this? Just not goldfish.
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I was thinking goldfish the whole time we were talking about this, but the real question came about this little miniature Schnauzer. So if people have more questions about their pets in the middle of a divorce, how can they reach you? They can reach us at 619-574-8000, or they can reach us online at www.primusfamilylaw.com. And we will schedule a 30-minute free telephone consultation with you. I always say that you make a difference in the lives of your clients and families.
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And now we’re going to add, and their pets as well. Thanks, Bonnie. We’ll see you next time for another Family Law Matters.
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Bye, Michael. Have a great week. You too, dear.
Bye-bye.