Dog Custody Gets Ugly

When Tiger and Elin broke up, both wanted the dogs. For stars and regular Joes alike, pet custody-battles have gotten contentious and totally ridiculous. Indeed, “animal law” is a booming new field, with pet custody cases up 23%.

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline famously scrapped over who got the dogs; PETA wanted him to take them, but since they had nothing to do with it, that didn’t carry any weight. Back in the day, a pet was just another asset. Now, courts take pet well-being into account, too.

When Jen and Brad broke up, her dog supposedly had to go into therapy. It also reportedly hated John Mayer. See? Pets are hurt by divorce, too

Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush have joint custody of their boxer, Rocky. Sometimes in such cases, the court will actually make a dog choose, Awful Truth-style.

Drew Barrymore, meanwhile, sued for full custody of her bff chow-yellow Lab mix Flossie when she split with Tom Green. (And won.) A judge will often take into account a person’s relationship with the pet and his or her lifestyle…”ownership” is less of an issue.

Exes Tinsley and Topper Mortimer do one-month stints with Bella and BeBe. Is this disruptive to the pets? Probably…but in the words of a new book, We Can’t Stay Together For The Dogs. (Plus, if we’re talking well-being, get the poor things off reality TV — and a sub-par show at that! This one, now, we’ll watch. )

Who Gets The Dog In A Divorce Or A Break Up? [Suite101]
Who Gets The Pet In A Divorce? [Huffington Post]