Blame it on couples waiting longer to have children, or people subduing the urge for a baby to raise with the replacement of a dog? Couples separation and break-ups still exists, and after material possessions are divided- the custody battles still begin (even if there are no human children.)
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) has documented a 27% increase in custody battles over pets in the past 5 years, and that percentage is growing rapidly. Is this in part due to couples generally waiting later in life to have children, or is it more because of an overall greater acceptance of pets as family members in recent years?
Either way, custody battles over pets are way up in New York City as reported by The New York Post this week. They went on to report about and increase as well in celebrity custody battles over pets stating”
“In November, Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir won full custody of his Japanese Chin, Tëma, against his ex Victor Voronov. Meanwhile, Melanie Griffith reportedly fought ex-hubby Antonio Banderas over their three pooches during their 2014 divorce proceedings. (Reps for Griffith didn’t return calls seeking comment.)
The one thing all of these couples have in common? No children (or, at least for Griffith and Banderas, none under the age of 18).
“The pets become a focus [if there are no kids in the relationship],” claims divorce mediator Joanne Naiman of NYC-based Reasonable Divorce Resolutions. “They talk about them as family members, they jokingly refer to them as their children, but you get the sense that they’re not really joking.””
Different states view dogs (and pets) in varying ways as far as the legal system is involved. Some states still view dogs as merely as property, and others such as New York allow dogs (and other pets) to enter into the legal system almost the same way as children…. in interesting and costly custody battles.
