Who gets the pets in the divorce? It is a new year soon. Time to have a new life. Throw out the old bring in the new. It is very easy these days to throw out your wife or husband partner or lover but can we really part with our innocent pets? They have only given us unconditional love. Even you kids will occasionally blurt out that they hate you for something stupid . Your pets look for you every day no matter what.

What happens when your dog finds himself in a house divided. Say, a unwilling bone of contention. Right now millions of people are driving a distance to their former spouses place to visit the pet they both raised together. As the couple fell out of love with each other, they never stopped loving their pet.

So, the quandary is How do you leave each other without leaving your pet? The legal solution is shared custody. The pet lives with one former spouse and the other one gets visitation with the animal. It has become increasingly more popular since more people do not stay together anymore.

Famous people are doing it as well. Anne Heche was in court for her cat. Drew Barrymore was litigating for her dog. Do you remember the classic movie from 1989 ‘The War of the Roses: starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner? There the couple is getting a divorce and in the scene the wife admits to killing and serving the husband a pate made from the animal! Disgusting!

Raul Felder a famous divorce attorney claims that people will kill the pet rather than have the spouse get it. Particularly, if there are no children in a marriage, the battle is on. Many feel that the magical bond between them and their pet is worth spending lots of money to fight for them. For those who do not have children the maternal bond lies with their pets.

The law in most places treats pets as property not as living creatures. What is best for the pet is not even considered. Animal advocates want that changed. They feel that their pet is a emotional creature that is part of their life. To treat their pet as if they are a table or lamp or a set of golf clubs is ridiculous. The animal is an animal an invidual living thing.

Even in the happiest of breakups, tears are shed over their pets. Maybe with joint custody, the pet is getting the best of both worlds, quality time with their owners. Too bad the couple didn’t spend enough quality time with each other to rekindle why they were attracted to each other in the first place. Then their marriage would possibly be saved and the one big happy family would still be intact. Happy New Year and your new ideas for your immediate future.