Melanie J Bowbell
Updated: Feb 4, 2020

We get very attached to our pets for good reason. They become family too. When divorce occurs, it sometimes is heartbreaking and stressful to know who will get the pets and how they will be cared for. I have observed 3 different scenarios in my experience:
1. The parties agree to have the pets travel with the children. So, if there is a week on week off parenting schedule, the pets also spend a week on and a week off at each home.
2. One party recognizes that the pet or pets are better off in one home and leaves it or them at that home or may ask to see or care for the pet occasionally.
3. The parties are fighting over the pets and make them part of the property division which becomes stressful and expensive.
If children are involved in the divorce, allowing them to keep their pets with them gives them some comfort and stability in the midst of a great deal of upset in their lives. It is commendable if the parties can see this and work out the pet division/management in the best interests of the children and what is best for the pets.