Pet support and visitation post divorce - not anytime soon in New Jersey

Image by ucumari via Flickr

As reported on the New Jersey Divorce Lawyer Blog, the recent published appellate decision in Houseman v. Dare has opened up the doors of family courts in New Jersey to decide disputes about who gets the family pet in a divorce or separation.  No longer will owners of pets be forced to pay for private arbitration to decide this matter. Instead, New Jersey family court judges can now add deciding pet ownership to the long list of duties they perform.

The appellate opinion by Judge Grall in Houseman, likened a pet to a family heirloom, where money cannot replace the sentimental value attached to it:

“There is no reason for a court of equity to be more wary in resolving competing claims for possession of a pet based on one party's sincere affection for and attachment to it than in resolving competing claims based on one party's sincere sentiment for an inanimate object based upon a relationship with the donor.”

The opinion goes on to say:

“In those fortunately rare cases when a separating couple is unable to agree about who will keep jointly held property with special subjective value (either because an agreement is in dispute or there is none) and the trial court deems division by forced sale an inappropriate or inadequate remedy given the nature of the property, our courts are equipped to determine whether the assertion of a special interest in possession is sincere.”

In practice, does this mean that New Jersey courts will end up with pet custody hearings, awarding pet support or setting pet visitation in cases where the parties want to keep seeing a pet post-divorce ?  That is unlikely. 

The New Jersey appellate division in Houseman, rejected the adoption of a "best interests of the pet" standard to determine who gets the pet, instead continuing to see pets as property, without any legal rights.  So the prospect of pet custody evaluations, the payment of pet support or an award of post-divorce pet visitation is not likely to happen anytime soon in New Jersey.