The new law forces the divorced to specify the distribution of the animals and their expenses, but the majority reach agreements and do not reach the courts
Manuel and María have decided that life will be better if each walks their own way and they have begun a process of rupture that will force them to agree –or try to– on many issues. On this path, often complicated, they will have to resolve the guardianship and custody of their children, the visitation regime, the distribution of what until now was their home… Some issues that now, based on the new law, they will have to add clarifying what will happen to ‘Rocky’, the family dog. At a time when there are already more households with dogs than with children –according to the data handled by the National Institute of Statistics (INE)–, the Family lawyers of the Region recognize that the distribution of the times of coexistence of pets and their living expenses is an issue that has been gaining relevance for some time now and is already sneaking into their offices. “It is an issue that was not usually included in the agreements,” explains María Dolores López Muelas, Family Lawyer and member of the Spanish Association of Family Lawyers (Aeafa). “It is now included and sometimes requested in divorce petitions.”
Questions about what happens to the pets of couples who decide to break up have been on the table for some time. Last January, however, a giant step was taken when the Law on the Legal Regime of Animals was approved, which, according to López Muelas, begins to consider them “living beings endowed with sensitivity” and forces their families to make it clear who will take charge and how their care will be distributed once the rupture becomes effective. “A few years ago this was something unthinkable,” says the Aeafa member. “I have asked on many occasions the expenses of the animal and they were not taken into account.”
“In the regulatory agreements, in the event that there are pets, it is mandatory that there be a pronouncement on who is going to take care of it, how the animal is going to be provided with what it needs…”, explains Susana Franco, coordinator of the Family and disability law section of the Murcia Bar Association. The lawyers agree that, most of the time, this is an issue that does not end up being fought in court. Couples often arrive at offices with an agreed-upon idea of who is going to take care of the dog or the cat. “Normally the one who stays at home stays with the animals. The house is usually prepared for them, “explains Franco. “People adapt to the situation a bit. If the children are very young and the woman cannot also take care of the animal, then he takes care of it. There are those who also regulate that the animal goes with the children, “argues the lawyer. This professional gives the example of the agreement reached by a couple that led to a divorce: “he kept the animals, but they agreed that every time he went on a trip, instead of hiring a hotel, she would take care of the animals ».
The lawyer López Muelas claims to have prepared prenuptial agreements to fix this matter
Shared custody
This recent rule also opens the door for shared custody of the animal to be generalized. This is a possibility that had already occurred on some occasion in the country but that, judicial sources explain, is a ‘rare bird’. At the end of last year, a court in Madrid recognized for the first time the shared and co-responsible custody of a dog. It was not the first time that joint custody of an animal had been granted, however, it was the first time that, after a breakup, the two members of the couple were declared “co-responsible” and “co-caregivers” of the dog and not co-owners . A resolution according to the new times.
“People adapt to the situation a bit. Some regulate that animals go with children, “explains Franco
Franco explains that, at least here in the Region, this option is rarely requested. Judicial sources indicate that none has been agreed upon in recent years. It does happen in practice, however, in those cases in which the couple has already opted for joint custody of their children and also includes pets in such a way that they enjoy equal time with one or another member of the the couple.
López Muelas also explains that in his office they have outlined prenuptial agreements in which couples make it clear what will happen to their dogs and cats if the love between them ends. “There are many couples who do not have children and what they have is a pet that they love very much.”
The case of ‘Indie’, a ‘rare bird’ in the Murcian courts
‘Indie’ became in 2019 the unconscious protagonist of a trial, really unusual in the Murcian courts. A young man filed a lawsuit before the Court of Instance number 4 of Murcia to claim joint custody of this dog, which he shared with his girlfriend, after the breakup of the couple. The sight, which aroused great media expectation, even had the intervention of the animal as a kind of witness. It was one more test of the trial, consisting of verifying if this dog loved ‘mum’ or ‘daddy’ more. The judge ended up dismissing the lawsuit and agreeing that the animal be left in the care of the young woman.
In recent years, according to judicial sources, there have hardly been several sentences in the Region that include the distribution of animals – among them one related to a Vietnamese pig. Most, in addition, only endorsed agreements.
#life #pet #divorce #owners #Rocky