Who gets to take the pet dog or the cat when couples divorce? Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People’s Court answered that in a recent case.
The agreement reached specified that after divorce, the pet should be jointly owned by both spouses and kept by one party, with the other party getting a compensation but having to pay monthly property custody fees.
The agreement also stipulated that the party without custody rights could have the pet at fixed intervals, with the time of collection and return specified.
If anything happened to the pet, if it was injured or lost, the person in charge would be held responsible for compensation.
Current law views all pets as property, Li Yan, a judge with the court said.
“Pets purchased before marriage belong to pre-marital property, owned by individuals, and there is no dispute of division,” the judge said. “Pets purchased and raised after marriage are the joint property of husband and wife, and can be requested to be divided in the event of divorce.”
However, unlike general property, they obviously cannot be physically divided.
Pets shared during cohabitation are also considered joint property, Li said.
The case involved a couple in their twenties who were disputing ownership of their pet cat during their divorce.
The cat had been bought in Tokyo during their honeymoon and a lot of money and effort had been spent in bringing the animal back to China, the court heard.
Both had strong emotional ties to the cat and neither was willing to give up custody.
Considering that the woman was usually busy with work and that the man took more care of the cat, the court ruled in his favor.