Dogs during divorce/breakup

Without getting into any personal details, I'm curious about how those people who have gotten divorced or broken up with a longtime partner dealt with the whole scenario with the dogs & such.

Was anyone forced to rehome dogs? Were you able to find suitable housing that allowed the dogs? Was their a "custody" fight over the dogs? In a divorce, was the fact that you owned "pit bulls" ever brought up & presented as a problem when fighting for child custody?

I'm not asking to bring the intimate details here, but to please share some of the battles that might present in a divorce/breakup situation & how they were dealt with.

 

Even when you get something as "ours" it usually is understood to belong to one person a little bit more so . . . especially with animals. People I've known who've had to divide dogs really didn't have too many issues with who got what dog.

Another interesting possibility, though, regarding housing:

One of the girls I skated with growing up had a crazy situation with her divorced parents. Instead of having to spend one week at mom's house and one at dad's, instead SHE lived in the house, and her mom and dad each had their own apartment. When it was their week they would move into the house and when it was over they would go back to their apartment and the other would move into the house. Maybe that would work with dog housing too . . .

 

I have not had to deal with this problem yet BUT I have a friend who when they divorced and were fighting for custody the wife, who was on drugs at the time, and it was looking grim that she was going to get custody, brought up "his" vicious pit bulls in a last ditch effort to get the kid. The husband was told he had to get rid of the dogs or he would not get custody. So he got rid of the dogs. Also my bf and myself have made the agreement that his dogs are registered solely in his name and mine solely in my name. And thier vet records regardless of who takes them in (usually me) are in each of our names for our own dogs. Same goes for dog licenses, dog insurance, ect.

 

Mia,

I would think that it depends upon what type of divorce a person is going through. If it is a mutual mature split, I would not think that the dogs would be brought into play. In a messy all out war divorce, I cant see how they would not be used as ammo against the other.

As to the splitting of a yard, many times the dogs are really one or the others. So in my case, the dogs are mine. Yet if my wife and I were divorced, she is entitled to half, which if she did get half, she might would keep one, and would more than likely sell the rest. In that case, I would offer for her to either allow me to buy those from her, or let her have something else in the property that she clearly wanted more than I did. Of course, if it is a messy vindictive thing, she could want to get as many of the dogs as she could just to euth them! Know what I mean?
That is a broad spectrum question, with many different scenerios to play out. Wish I could help you.
God Bless
J

 

either someone is gonna have to step up and be the bigger person & say OK, you love the dog more, its urs! OR, in case of divorces, dogs are concidered property & must be divided. So most likely that will result in joint custody, kinda like a child.

 

I could be wrong, but so far as I know in the eyes of the court, dogs are property. As such, there would be no visitation, custody, etc. They would just have to be divided between the two parties. If the two parties could not come to an agreement about how to divide the property (in this case the dogs) all the assets in question (the dogs) would have to be liquidated (sold) & the profits generated from that sale divded equally between the two parties.

 

Yep, thats how it works in Texas. And its all hashed in in "Mediation" before it even gets to the judge. (Or at least thats how they want it to be)

 

Simple:

when the ding-bats break-up. uncle fiddy gets the mutts and the kids!

 

NOW ya tell me!!

I don't like this thread.

 

i dont like divorce.

 

Our friend's divorce decree has provisions for their dogs in it. They were pets, so the dogs go with the kids for visitation, the parents live in the same school district, so the kids spend half the week with one parent and half the week with the other parent. The kids and dogs are dropped off in the morning before the school bus comes when they go from parent to parent, so the dogs are there when the kids come home.

If one parent is going on vacation with the kids, the other keeps the dogs. If both are going away at the same time, they split the boarding fees. Vet expenses are split evenly as well. Like the kids, any major decision affecting the health or well being of the dogs must be discussed between them and an agreement reached.

Their divorce was very very ugly.


Another couple, who have Petey's sister, Rhianna have a mutual agreement to split dog custody of her. Tony built an in ground pool with dog access so she could swim for physical therapy to help with her hip dysplasia, Kim takes her to physical therapy with trainer and comes over to Tony's to swim with her.

They have new partners now and all of them do what is in the best interest of the dog. Tony's girlfriend doesn't mind Kim coming over to swim with Rhianna and Kim's boyfriend has no problem with Tony dropping off Rhianna when Kim isn't home or meeting him to pick her up.

They have no legal agreement, just an agreement to do what is in the best interests for the dog.


My aunt in Alaska had sled dogs and bred them for years until her divorce. That was ugly. They had to go through the yard with their lawyers and a mediator and inventory the dogs and all the dog stuff and then had to negotiate over each and every dog.

Both were being vindictive, so they used the dogs as pawns. In the end, neither one of them were happy, because dogs are property and like any other property, the judge ordered that the dogs that they could not agree about be sold, with the sale overseen by a disinterested third party, and the proceeds of the sale split evenly.

 

the sucky thing is when it affects the buyer of a dog which breeders got divorced. I have a bitch on my yard now thats pappers still have no come because of the "break-up."

 

My aunt and her ex were ordered that all paperwork that went with each dog had to be turned over or they would be held in contempt and fined.

My grandmother said that my Aunt almost spent time in jail because she didn't have paperwork on a few dogs because they were lost and she had not received the replacements yet, and my Aunt STILL complains about it.

 

I don't like it when it is people I care about, that's what I meant when I said I didn't like the thread.

 

the precise reason why i will never be married!!

 

good thing is, so far my dog has shown to be worth more than her paper.

being married has nothing to do with commitment... and commitment has nothing to do with marriage.
understandable.

 

Smart Girl!...LOL

 

I went through something like this a few years ago...I was with a guy I thought I would Marry, we were together a long time and got a pug puppy together. It was like a kid to us, then we ended up splitting, he kept the dog since he paid for it to begin with, not taking into account that I paid for everything else (vet, food, toys, crates, everything) which probably added up to more then the selling price for the dog...well we were on Ok terms and my ex let me take the dog a few times a month...it was hard because I really missed the dog. Then as time went by and we both moved on the visits stopped..I still to this day love and miss that dog. It's a hard thing..

 

well, all I can say is that if I was married and getting a divorce, the dog would come with me. That would not even be up for discussion.

 

Same here. Nobody stands between me and my Bulldogs. Some things are for sure.