Who Gets The Dogs?

Leo and Fitzy, Christmas 2024

If you are anything like me, you love your pets. Your pets may be dogs, cats, birds, fish, rodents of any kind, but they are happy to see you at the end of the day, they are always down to watch TV, and they can be a bright spot in a house where the relationship is getting kind of chilly. I have two rescue Australian Shepherds, Fitzy and Leo (name the late 90s/early 00’s show that their names are from, bonus points if you get the characters), and they are like children to my husband and me.

Imagine my horror when sitting in family law class in law school, and I hear that pets = property.

Yep, you heard that correctly. Your pets are potentially community property in the state of Texas.

For those of you that are not attorneys, community property means that it is supposed to be split, 50/50. Of course, you can’t split an animal, but who gets to take the dogs might come down to when they were adopted, so to speak. If you adopted little Gert the poodle from the shelter before marriage, she is your separate property and there is no question on where she goes - with you, of course! But if you adopted Gert after the marriage, she is considered community property, and you and your spouse are going to have to decide where she is going.

Easier said than done.

With multiple animals, the temptation is always there to split them up, but what if the animals are bonded? There is no visitation schedule sanctioned by TX courts (at this time) for pets, and what happens to them is usually finally decided in the divorce degree. Some bearing might be given to the name on the adoption papers, but more than likely, you’re going to have to decide who gets the dogs, and what the losing party gets in return, if anything.