In a famous scene from 2001 film Legally Blonde, Jennifer Coolidge shows up at her ex-husband’s caravan to take back the dog she’d lost in the divorce. When she is unable to stand up for herself, Reese Witherspoon hits them both with a barrage of legalese that puts the ex on the floor and the dog back in Jennifer's arms.
I’m not sure whether ‘canine property ownership’, as Reese's Elle Woods names the situation, is a proper litigious term — but the recent rise of pet-nups suggests that, among certain lawyers, such language may not be total nonsense.
A formal agreement between couples over what should happen to their pets in the event of a split, the pet-nup made headlines recently when the future of Elizabeth II's corgis, cared for by Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten Windsor since 2022, came into question with the pair set to move into separate homes.
The issue is pertinent to the general public, however, as more than half the country owns a pet and nearly half our marriages end in divorce. Under English law, pets are treated as personal belongings, so they are subject to the same property division principles as cars, paintings or furniture. Rather tricky to divide in two — without, well, ruining things a bit.
‘Couples will come to an agreement about contact and visitation for a pet akin to contact arrangements for a child,’ says Sobiah Hussain, head of Private Family Law at Reeds LLP. When it comes to choosing a primary carer, ‘a court will consider ownership by looking at the legal documentation: who paid for the pet and who cares for it day to day’. Like a dutiful offspring, a pet may divide its time between Human Number One and Human Number Two. What happens, however, when said pet suffers an injury under the watch of HNO and has to spend a day at the vet’s, racking up a bill costlier than the Foyer at Claridge’s, or when HNT mistakenly drops the lead in Richmond Park and Fenton heads straight for the deer?
Does Fenton get any say in this? Yes, okay, stop barking. That’s enough, Fenton. Aw, pup. I know. Divorce is devastating, but when mum and dad find a new mum and dad, there’ll be even more belly rubs. Now, walkies?
Although pet-nups are on the rise, chatter on the topic also yields anecdotes of a different kind: tales of ex-couples using pets as pawns amid an acrimonious break-up. (‘Shared custody? You must be joking.’) One colleague whose parents separated when she was young says that one kept the cat merely to spite the other, despite having very little affection for the feline to begin with. Claws out.
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