Our Furry Family

The first love of my life was a golden doodle called Baxter. Baxter was a complete goofball, who enjoyed long walks, burping in people’s faces and rolling in anything stinky. Along with his feline brother Marmalade and his standard poodle “sister” Gigi, they were my first little family.

When my first husband and I broke up, we didn’t have children. But we did have Marmalade, Baxter and Gigi. Our breakup was acrimonious and at some point it was suggested by him that I send the dogs down to him in California on a Greyhound. I was incensed … Gigi did not travel by Greyhound!!

One of the worst moments was when the lawyer told me that there was nothing that could be done about the animals – they were household property, to be divided the same way that we divided up a couch. He wouldn’t have to contribute to their care if I kept them and no one was going to make a decision about which home was the best option for them. There were many hard parts of that break-up, but the views of how our little family should be treated was the hardest.

I kept the animals and went on to have human children as well. However, in my heart – Baxter, Gigi and Marmalade were my first babies. My boys developed a really close bond with the animals and I was very lucky that my next separation was amicable and the children and the animals remained in the same home. But what if it hadn’t been the case? What if I was dealing with someone who wanted to use the pets to get to me? What if I had been dealing with someone who had paid for the pets throughout the relationship and said “nope” upon separation? Or what if I was dealing with someone who didn’t care about the relationship the children had with the animals, they wanted nothing to do with the animals and they could not go back and forth with the children during parenting time?

These are all situations that I saw … along with many others … while I was practicing. It was honestly the worst part of my job – having to break the news to an already stressed out client that their pets were treated the same way as the family couch.

That is potentially changing, which is very exciting.

There is a proposed change to our Family Law Act (which is the governing legislation in British Columbia for issues of children, support and property) that would give pets a unique place in our family and provide options for the care and custody of pets in a separation or divorce. We would love nothing more than to help families who are going through relationship change come up with a solution that includes their pets – so please feel free to reach out to us.

Some of the changes include:

A new category for pets: The new legislation creates a category called “companion animals” which considers the uniqueness of pets in our family relationships and allows for more appropriate planning for the care of your pet during a family change.

The Provincial court can handle pet cases: This doesn’t immediately seem like a big deal, however when pets were considered property, all matters relating to pets had to be handled in the Supreme court (because only the Supreme court can make orders relating to property). This meant that if a family had an order in Provincial court for parenting, they would also need to file in Supreme court for an order regarding pets and go through the entire process again. Additionally, the Supreme court is not as friendly to unrepresented parties – with more structures, different filing requirements and generally more rules to follow. Moving the jurisdiction around companion animals to the Provincial court means a few things:

1. You can deal with your animals, children and support in Provincial court;
2. Parenting time files in Provincial court can now consider the relationship between the children and their animals when making orders;
3. It is easier to get into court and have matters regarding pets heard.

A more contextualized approach to pet custody: The changes to the Family Law Act would set out a number of factors that should be considered when making a decision about who should keep the animal after a relationship breakdown. This would allow the court to consider past behavior as well as the relationship that the children have with the animal. These factors are:

• how the animal was acquired;
• the extent to which each party looked after the animal;
• history of family violence and risk of family violence;
• any relationship that a child has with the animal;
• the ability or willingness of each spouse to care for the animal;
• any instances of cruelty or threat of cruelty to the animal;
• any other circumstances that may be relevant.

So what should you do?

Keep up with the changes. Check in regularly to see when the changes finally come into effect (we will be sure to keep you posted). If you have questions about the upcoming changes, feel free to reach out to us.

Speak with your spouse or ex-spouse – do you need to make amendments to a cohabitation or marriage agreement to consider your pets or are there changes that could be implemented in a separation agreement?

Contact us – we can help you come up with (or amend) a plan that considers the best interest of your pet and your family.