Pets are such an important part of our families that difficulties often arise when a relationship breaks up. What happens when you’ve bought a pet with a former partner? What happens the children of the relationship have a deep connection to the pet?
June 2025 Reforms
Prior to June 2025, pets were dealt with much like any other property of the relationship under the Family Law Act and it was rare, in our experience, for the Court to make Orders about where an animal should live. However, changes to the Act in June included pets under the definition of a ‘companion animal’. This definition refers to ‘an animal kept by the parties to a marriage or defacto relationship primarily for the purpose of companionship’ and specifically excludes animals kept as part of an agricultural operation or a business.
The reform aims to provide fair outcomes in pet disputes, reflecting their integral role in families and addressing concerns where animals have been used to exert control in abusive relationships.
What will the Court consider when making order for Companion Animals?
Although this law is only very new, we’ve learnt that, where there is litigation on foot, the Court will consider any of the following factors that are relevant:
- the circumstances in which the pet was acquired,
- who has ownership or possession of the pet,
- the extent to which each party cared for and paid for the maintenance of the pet,
- any family violence that has taken place in the relationship,
- any history of actual or threatened cruelty or abuse by a party towards the pet,
- any attachment by a party or a child to the pet,
- the demonstrated ability of each party to care for and maintain the pet in the future, without support or involvement from the other party, and
- any other fact or circumstance that the Court thinks should be taken into account.
The Court is able to make both short term and long term Orders about which party is to have ownership of the pet. Interestingly, because pets are still dealt with as a ‘property’ matter, the Court will not be able to make Orders for the parties to have shared ownership or shared care of the pet.
Of course, most family law separations are resolved without the need for litigation. If you and your former partner reach agreement outside of Court, the agreement can be formalised via Consent Orders or a Binding Financial Agreement. The document can set out who will have ownership of the family pet or if and how the pet might be sold. But the same rules apply about shared ownership – the consent agreement cannot include shared ownership of the family pet as this is outside the jurisdiction of the Family Act.
Once an agreement is filed with the Court, much like any other property matter, the Court will need to consider whether the agreement is ‘just and equitable.’
Our family lawyers have decades of experience. Let us help guide you through the process.
