When Sharyn Umaña and her husband separated in November of last year, she initially planned to waive all rights to Ozzy, their 5-year-old Miniature Australian Shepherd. Not because she wanted to: Umaña had devoted herself to the energetic, intelligent dog since they got him as a pup. She even designed an indoor obstacle course for agility training and treasure hunts, stashing treats and cheese around the house for Ozzy to find.
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“Pets are often, I think, used as leverage between parties who are going through a bad time,” said Mary Vidas, a matrimonial and family lawyer at Blank Rome in Philadelphia who has helped many clients with pet custody in her nearly 40 years of practice. Right now, she is helping a client recover an emotional support animal that the ex-husband has thus far refused to relinquish. In another memorable case, a beloved pet died during the divorce proceedings, and the ex-partner refused to tell Vidas’s client where the ashes were buried. “Talk about cruelty," she said.
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Without such guidance, judges sometimes get creative in ways that recall the judgment of Solomon. Vidas recalled a case where a judge ordered a constable to release the dog from a car to see which person it ran to. While the dog went to Vidas’s client, the couple ultimately settled on splitting custody every 45 days.
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"Who Gets the Dog in the Divorce? Now a Judge Might Decide," by Sara Murphy was published in The Washington Post on September 8, 2024.