If you are a cat owner, one of the biggest worries you may have about your divorce is whether or not you will get to keep it. While people often claim that cats choose their humans, rather than the other way around, your cat is not going to be able to make their wishes known to a divorce judge.
Some states have pet custody laws to cover such matters, but Virginia does not. So how will it work?
Consider your cat as an item of property
It’s unlikely you consider your feline companion as an item of property. You’d reserve that description for things such as your sofa or the car. However, a judge will consider your cat as property because this is how Virginia law considers all pets. The judge is obligated to apply the same rules of property division when it comes to your cat as for the rest of your assets. They do not have the option to award one of you custody of the cat, as custody is reserved for humans.
When did you get the cat?
If you got the cat before you were living with your spouse, the court will likely consider it as separate property and yours to keep. Likewise, even though the cat loves you more than your spouse, if your spouse bought it before they married you, they will likely get to keep it.
If the cat was a marital acquisition then technically it belongs to both of you right now and the judge will need to make a decision. If you both want the cat then you will need to present your argument as to why you should keep it. Perhaps you can show you are the one who has spent the most time caring for it. Or perhaps you could argue that because your children will mainly live with you, it would be in their interest for the cat to stay with you.
Alternatively, you might need to make a deal whereby your spouse agrees to let you keep the cat if they can keep something else in exchange, such as the dog, the designer chair or a certain amount of money that would enable them to buy a new cat.
Learning more about how property division works can increase the chance of a satisfactory outcome for you and your cat.
