Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash

There are many concerns that people have when faced with the breakdown of a relationship and the potential for divorce.  Everything in your life is subject to potential division and change, that includes the family cat.  Pets have become more and more and more important to people over time and are often considered a huge part of the family.  This begs the question, what happens to the cat in a divorce case?  While this may seem trivial to some, to many people this can be the most serious issue in the case due to their attachment and love for their cat or cats.  This blog is written to generally address this question, every case is different, if you have questions regarding your own situation, please do not hesitate to contact us by clicking on this link or calling (248) 608-4123.

Who Gets The Cat In A Divorce?

This can be a problematic issue when both spouses want to keep the cat or cats. In Michigan Family Law Courts Pets are still considered as mere property or chattel to be divided in an equitable manner.  This means that if the case goes to trial, the judge will order one person to keep the cat and the other person will be awarded the replacement value of the cat - the out-of-pocket cost of getting a new cat, which is generally a nominal sum of money at best.  If there are two cats, typically the court will award one cat to each party even if one of the parties thinks this separation will be difficult on the cats. 

This outcome often seems unduly harsh in this day and age where cats are considered part of the family.  So what we, as divorce lawyers or family law practitioners, do in many cases is that first we look at whether both parties will be able to keep the cat after the divorce.  If one person keeps the marital home and the other moves into an apartment where no pets are allowed or has to move in with family that will not allow the cat to stay with them, then often we will just stipulate that the person who can keep the cat will keep the cat.  Then if we can get an agreement, the other "cat parent" can have some visitation or parenting time with the cat so long as they continue to help pay for the costs associated with the cat.  

If both parties could keep the cat, sometimes we work out what amounts to a parenting time plan for the cat, similar to the way we work out parenting time arrangements for children.  One cat parent would have the cat with them on certain days and nights during the week and the other would have the cat on the other days and nights.  We also typically include a requirement that both parties will continue to pay for the expenses associated with the animal and that if one party is going out of town, the other party would have the first right to provide care for the cat during that time.  

Finally, if there are two or more cats, then we try to decide whether it would be better for the cats to be separated so that one parent gets one or two cats and the other gets the other cats.  Conversely, if the cat parents agree the cats should stay together then we would keep the cats together.  Again, we would also work out some type of parenting time plan and determine the responsibility for payment for care if the cat parents so desire.

This blog was written to generally address this very narrow issue that my arise during a divorce proceeding.  If you have questions regarding a potential divorce or separation in your future, please contact us by clicking on this link or calling (248) 608-4123 to schedule a consultation.