Want to know what’s a burning topic of interest among the sheeple divorce lawyers out there these days? How are pets handled in divorce. Please.
This is a real snippet from an article in “Family Lawyer Magazine”:
“When I was going through my own breakup, which was the basis for my book ‘What About Wally? Co-Parenting A Pet With Your Ex,’ I found the best way to go about this was to substitute ‘Pet’ for ‘Child.'”
Wow. Genius.
Heaven help us.
What a stupid, infantilized world we live in when people write not just blog postings, but actual books on “pet custody.” But I sort of digress.
Hey, I like pets (or at least the concept of pets—truth be told, I’m not big on cleaning up after them myself) as much as the next guy.
I loved my pet rabbit when I was a kid. When I was a kid. I cried when a dog ate it (true story). But I was a child then.
Good grief, with all the real problems in the world, what self-respecting, savvy adult would lose a wink of sleep over who gets a pet in a divorce?
Pets are property (no really, they are; it’s an indisputable legal fact), and the law governing division of property in divorce is pretty well-defined.
I am well aware of the Lassie-style stories of pet heroism too, but any attorney who would tell you he/she “specializes in pet custody” is a charlatan. Use the money you would otherwise spend on this thief to buy another pet (or perhaps pay to your extortionate spouse to give up his/her claims to Fluffy).
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