Are you thinking of buying a sweet little puppy for your spouse for Christmas? Besides thinking about housebreaking, whether to crate it or not, what kind of food to buy, now more than ever, you must also think about who will have custody and visitation rights should you decide to separate or divorce.
As reported yesterday morning on CBS Sunday Morning, pet custody (not just dogs) battles are up 23% in the last decade. There has been a rising trend of couples that break up but can’t decide on who gets to keep the loyal family pet.
According to divorce laws in many states including New Jersey & Pennsylvania, pets are treated as property and not living creatures. For those of us who are pet lovers, this is absolutely absurd. We all know that pets have feelings and for some of us they take the place of a child when children are not present in a relationship so how could a pet be treated like a lamp or the china? Shouldn’t the well being of the pet be taken into account when deciding on living arrangements and custody?
This is just one of the many topics that are discussed in detail during divorce mediation at Advanced Mediation Solutions. During mediation sessions couples can decide and agree on what will work best for them and their families, including all of the pets. We are sensitive and compassionate while facilitating agreements for divorcing couples.