Some divorcing couples fight like cats and dogs over their pets

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Toledo Blade

By Sally Kalson

In a divorce, pets are considered property and treated as such by courts in many states. That doesn't stop people from loving them like family and, at times, fighting over an animal's "custody" as bitterly as they would over children.

Here are examples of the lengths to which former partners go to keep the dog or cat with them or away from their ex:

• Jefferson County, Texas, 2001: Lynn Goldstein is sentenced to 30 days in jail for refusing several orders from a judge to turn over the two cats her ex was awarded in their divorce.

• San Diego County, California, 2000: Stanley and Linda Perkins wage a two-year battle over their dog, Gigi. She racks up $146,000 in fees, including a "canine bonding" study by an animal behaviorist and a video about Gigi titled A Day in the Life. The dog reportedly takes up half of the three-day divorce trial. Linda Perkins prevails.

• Dallas, Texas, 2000: Karen Bennett and Ed Guice fight over their Chihuahua, Missy, spending almost $16,000 in lawyer fees. At one point, he "dognaps" the animal for nine days. She gets custody and he gets visitation, including Friday overnights.

• Montgomery County, Maryland, 1999: Two years after their divorce, Jennifer Kidwell and Ethan Assal were back in court fighting over Sable, a 9-year-old keeshond. A circuit judge threatened to sell the animal and split the proceeds between them if the two couldn't agree on visitation. The wife had spent $20,000 during the original proceedings to keep possession of the dog.

Cases like these may say as much about the parties' enmity toward each other as they do about their affection for the animals. Yet there's no denying that many people harbor deep and sincere love for their pets.

Americans currently have about 74 million pet dogs in 43.5 million households, and 90.5 million cats in 37.7 million households, according a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.

Those numbers indicate not just the popularity of pets, but also the bond that exists between animals and humans, said Stephanie Shain, outreach director of the Humane Society of the United States. The numbers also show a tremendous potential for displacement, since about half of all marriages end in divorce.

When a household breaks up, three things can happen: The animal loses its home completely and winds up in a shelter or a new home; people work through the issue of who keeps the pet, or a custody battle ensues.

"It's tragic when pets lose their home just because the people can't live together anymore," she said. "A commitment was made to provide that animal a safe home for its lifetime."

As for the animals' emotional reaction to a family split, she said: "The animal may go through a period of looking for the absent person and being sad they're not there, but most can adjust."

Annette Sexton, a dog trainer with the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, says she sometimes gets calls about troubling pet behavior from people who don't realize their breakup is causing the problem.

"There is so much tension in the house, feelings of loss, depression and anxiety, or betrayal and anger, that it can affect a closely bonded animal's behavior," she said.

In most places the law doesn't see pets as much different from any other property that is divided on the basis of equitable distribution. Even when judges recognize that pets have a special place in a family's life, the law may not support that recognition.

"Every state will deal with the distribution of the pet as part of marital assets, but not many will deal with shared custody," said Albert Momjian, a Philadelphia family law attorney and chairman of the state bar association's Animal Law Committee.

"If people can share a piece of vacation real estate at the shore, they can share a pet," he said. "It's not that complicated."

Family law attorney Mary Sue Ramsden said pets often go to the parent who has primary custody of the children, and in some cases the pet goes back and forth with the children from mom's house to dad's. Those arrangements, she emphasized, are strictly voluntary.

The devotion of people to their pets was never more on view than during Hurricane Katrina, when some refused to evacuate without their beloved animals, and others died trying to save them. In response, Congress is drafting bills that would require states to draw up plans to shelter animals or risk losing federal disaster funding.

But when it comes to pets and divorce, many believe the law still has a long way to go.