A custody fight over a dog? If you have to ask that question, then you are clearly not a dog lover. Increasingly in recent years, disputes over who will get custody of the family pet have been on the rise in divorce cases across the U.S. In a survey about pet custody cases last year, the AAML (American Association of Matrimonial Lawyers) reported that 27% of respondents saw an increase in the number of pet custody cases in the past five years, with 88% of the cases involved dogs and 5% involved cats. Survey responders – 20%, to be exact – cited an increase in courts deeming pets to be an asset during a divorce.

In a clip that aired last year on NPR’s radio show, Here and Now, divorce lawyer Andrew Zashin discussed the matter of pet custody in divorce. Zashin is a dog owner who has seen an increase in pet custody cases in his practice.

Your pet is still property, not a person

If you are a dog person, there is no doubt that you have a loving, bonded relationship with your dog. The courts, however, consider pets to be property. Rather than treating who gets the family pet as a custody issue, divorcing couples must come to some kind of agreement for who gets the dog that is fair to both parties.

Here are a few options for dealing with pet visitation after divorce from Huffington Post columnist, Karen Stewart:

• Bring the dog when you bring the kids back and forth between households
• Share the costs associated with the pet’s upkeep between the two of you
• One party keeps the pet and the other gets visitation and takes the dog for walks, on vacation, etc.

Couples with children should consider working hard to come to an amicable solution that turns down the level of conflict in your divorce. One party may choose to take the high road and compromise allowing the other to keep the physical custody of the family pet and then they buy another dog for their new household.

If, in the end, neither party can agree on a solution for sharing time with the family pet, mediation is always an option.

Working through all of the challenges in a divorce is never easy. When you are looking for an experienced family law attorney in Nashville to settle your pet custody dispute along with the rest of your divorce, at Miller Upshaw Family Law, PLLC we are here for you. Schedule a consultation with us today to discuss your case.