Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Family Law Quarterly
Publication Date
Spring 2010
Abstract
Pets or companion animals are the property of those who own them. In this article, I shall show that pets that are the subject of disputes between divorcing spouses or separating unmarried couples should continue to be characterized as property under a rational legal system. Proposals in the law review literature and halting, early attempts by some courts to place pets in some category other than property, which flirted with a standard derived from the prevailing best-interest-of-the-child doctrine in conventional child custody and visitation cases, are, at best, vanity. Such proposals do violence to both the language and the law of child custody, create uncertainty in a well-established area of divorce law, and offer no discernible prospect of improving the welfare of companion animals.
Recommended Citation
John DeWitt Gregory,
Pet Custody: Distorting Language and the Law, 44 Fam. L.Q. 35
(2010)
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_scholarship/555