Should I add a dog to my prenuptial agreement?
Even the best laid plans sometimes go awry. Take marriage, for example. According to statistics, in 2022, there were more than 673,000 divorces and annulments in the United States. data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While prenuptial agreements were once considered taboo or only useful to the extremely wealthy, they are actually becoming more common.
Half of U.S. adults in 2023 said they at least favor the use of prenuptial agreements, according to Harris Poll data—a significant jump from Data 2022Not only has the prevalence of marriage contracts changed, but so has their content and scope.
Typically, prenuptial agreements detail what assets each person will have when they get married, what will remain separate property, how assets will be divided, and establish alimony. They often outline how homes, joint bank accounts, and other valuable assets will be divided. But today, 51% of pet owners in the United States consider their pets not just part of the family but a human member, according to Pew Research CenterMany couples also put in place terms about what will happen to their furry friends if the marriage ends in divorce.
Indeed, 84% of pet parents support the idea of actively deciding the fate of their pet if their relationship ends, according to a survey of 1,000 pet parents by Rover, a mobile app that connects pet parents with pet sitters. Currently, more than a quarter of pet parents have a formal pet care agreement, such as a prenuptial agreement, in place before getting a pet.
“It’s becoming more and more common for couples to include pet provisions in their prenuptial agreements,” says Derek Jacques, a divorce attorney and owner of Mitten Law Firmtold Luck“Because many couples treat pets almost like children, pet custody can become contentious.” Plus, pets are legally considered property, which means they are subject to the property division rules of the state where the couple is divorcing.
What does a puppy prenuptial agreement look like?
While many Americans consider their pets to be their children, the law does not. As a result, the process for determining custody of pets is very different than it is for children, largely because pets can be brought into the relationship by one or both parents. That makes determining who a pet belongs to much more difficult.
Jacques has had clients agree to share dog custody, where one person will have a puppy every two months, which was clearly stated in their prenuptial agreement.
“Legally, they can be separate property or marital property,” says Jacques. “There is no real process for pet custody like there is for child custody, so it is important to agree on how to handle pets.”
While the laws in most states treat pets as “like antique vases” in divorce, other states including New York, California, Alaska and Illinois consider the “best interests” of the pet, says Bruggemann, a family law attorney and partner at Dimopoulos Bruggemann Personal Computertold LuckThe “best interests” standard is the standard used in child custody cases, but adjusted for pets. It considers who the pet spends the most time with, who takes the pet to the vet the most, and who has time to spend with the pet after a divorce.
Why It’s Important to Sign a Puppy Prenuptial Agreement
Failing to create a prenuptial agreement that includes your pets can be dangerous—and expensive. Take the recent divorce of celebrity couple Shantel VanSanten and Victor Webster as an example. This week’s report Show VanSanten—a former One Tree Hilland Webster, a Hallmark Channel star—finalized their divorce in April 2023, which included a pet custody agreement and late fees.
Webster will have custody of their dog, NovaBut VanSanten will have visitation rights, according to documents obtained by Us Weekly Magazine. VanSanten was required to share updates on the dog’s location, and if she took Nova away for more than three weeks, she would have to pay Webster $10,000 per day if the dog was not returned. The couple’s two cats, Finnegan and Phillippa, are being rehomed with Webster’s brother.
While this is perhaps an extreme example of the consequences of not having an agreement in place, the emotions surrounding divorce and deciding on the fate of pets remain the same for most couples.
“The end of a relationship is often a very difficult time emotionally. The uncertainty about a beloved pet can add to the emotional toll of ending a relationship,” says Meg McKinney, principal family law attorney at Lerch, Early and Brewertold Luck. “If people entered into marriage with an understanding of what would happen to their pets if the relationship ended, the consequences might be less devastating.”
In the case of co-parenting whether married or in a relationship, Rover still suggests outlining a “preparatory” agreementincluding agreements on financial responsibilities, veterinary care, and the new partners’ level of involvement in co-parenting.
“We have to control what we can in this situation, and in this case it means protecting our pets from conflict or disturbance, from sudden changes in routine or sudden loss of familiar contexts,” Philip Tedeschi, a professor and researcher on the human-animal bond, said in a declare“Pets play a huge role in developing strong relationships and teach us a lot about ourselves and our partners.”
