By 2024, a whopping 66 percent of U.S. households — that's 86.9 million homes — owned a pet, reports Forbes. That's a massive surge from just 56 percent back in 1988. And with numbers like that, the burning question leaps out: when couples break up or divorce, WHO gets the pet? Thanks to the exploding TikTok trend DINKWAD (double income, no kids, with a dog) — especially as our birth rate keeps tumbling — this showdown is only getting more explosive.
Divorce law firm Simpson Millar has watched pet-inclusive settlement agreements skyrocket, and they've finally answered the question burning in every pet parent's mind: what actually happens to the dog in a divorce — and what legal rights do I have?
Simpson Millar crunched the search data to track the pet-divorce explosion — and the numbers are jaw-dropping. Searches for 'divorce and pets' plus related keywords have surged over the past year, with that exact phrase spiking a staggering 150 percent since June 2023.
hunting covenant — “The cold hard truth: you'd need to prove outright ownership to win full custody of your pet.”
“Pet custody battles between divorcing couples are exploding, because so many people now treat their pets as genuine family rather than mere property,” says Lorraine Harvey, Partner in Family Law at Simpson Millar. “When modern couples start untangling their lives, they typically understand how to divvy up financial assets.”
Couples calmly split their physical and digital fortunes — cashing out shared stock portfolios, transferring crypto hardware wallets, even carving up balances on the best online poker sites. But then comes the gut punch, as Harvey explains: “However, by law, a pet is officially an item of personal property, which means it's legally owned by whoever bought the animal. So if you bought your pet and you're divorcing, you'd need to prove your ownership to take full custody.”
“Of course, there's a loophole — especially if that pet was gifted to you.”
“However, there's an exception to that rule — especially when the pet was a gift. If you can prove it was gifted to you, the courts will lean your way. But as a general rule, they zero in on who bought the animal, who the pet is registered to, and who footed the daily bills like veterinary care.”
hunting covenant — That said, with the evolution of pets being treated as family (as opposed to property), the laws in your area concerning pet custody may be changing. Factors such as a person’s ability and willingness to care for an animal, relationships between a child and an animal, and risks of animal cruelty are often considered in order to determine who gets custody of the pet. Check with a divorce lawyer in your area to get the complete facts.
“A shared custody setup is absolutely on the table,” Harvey says. “Here, a solicitor would draft an agreement — signed by both parties — spelling out visitation rights, like how much time each owner spends with the pet and for how long, plus other details like costs. Just know it's legally binding because the court still sees a pet as property. And any 'pet maintenance' expenses generally fall on whichever party actually owns the animal.”
Thinking about splitting pet custody with your ex? Locking in a rock-solid routine is the single smartest move you can make to steer clear of yet more courtroom drama.
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