What Happens to Our Dog in a Family Law Dispute?

In this video, Page  Provan Managing Director and Accredited Family Law Specialist Bruce Provan, reveals what happens to the family dog during a separation.

Transcript

My name’s Bruce Provan, I’m the Managing Director of Page Provan Family and Fertility Lawyers. We’re a firm of lawyers in Central Brisbane that practise exclusively in family and fertility law.

The question we’re sometimes asked is, what happens to our family dog in the event of separation? Now, a family dog under the Family Law Act is not treated the same as a child.

In other words, the court is not going to make orders about the future care of the dog. A family dog is regarded as property, but a court can still make orders about the property and who gets possession of that property. Now, obviously, there’s a lot of emotional attachment to a family dog.

So it’s something that should be negotiated and dealt with carefully, oftentimes in consultation with the children. Children are obviously going to be very upset if they’re removed from from their family dog.

But it can get complicated, especially if one person wants to move out of the family home or decides to move out of the family home somewhere quite a distance away, then it’s not so easy just to move the dog between houses.

Whereas if people live in fairly close proximity, there could be an arrangement where the dog does go between the two houses. So for example, I’ve heard of cases where the family dog goes with the children as they go between their parents’ homes.

So if you’ve got any questions or concerns about what might happen with the family dog in the event of a separation and a property settlement, I suggest you seek legal advice first.

My name is Bruce Provan from Page Provan, Family and Fertility Lawyers.