'My ex took the dog, blocked me on everything, and I never saw the dog again'

Breakups aren't easy at the best of times, but there is one more modern problem arising for couples when it comes to ending things with their significant other: who gets to keep the pets?

Whether you shacked up in lockdown and thought it was a good idea to adopt a greyhound, or perhaps you gave into a honeymoon phase impulse and decided to raise a fur baby of some sort before the shine wore off — saying catch ya later and thanks for the good and bad times to a now-ex is bad enough but then trying to figure out who gets custody of your cranky cat on top of that? Nightmare.

So is sharing custody of pets the way forward in the future, or does one person have to sacrifice ownership and give up their rights to their fur baby? The answer obviously varies depending on your circumstances. If you ended things amicably some couples can make it work.

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"I have primary custody and he has visitation," one person told Yahoo Lifestyle about sharing custody of her elderly dog with her ex-boyfriend. "It's awkward at times but it's a huge help whenever I want to take a vacation."

Another person also told Yahoo Lifestyle how they've managed to make it work with numerous parties involved.

"My long-term partner and her ex-fiancé share custody of our dog. The ex pays for all of the insurance, and food and can have him pretty much whenever he wants, but he lives with us full-time," they revealed. "It works out great for us financially, obviously. Communication between everyone involved with the pet is key, and a lot of people put their own needs before their pets'."

However, others told of stories that didn't work out quite so well. "My ex took the dog, blocked me on everything, and I never saw the dog again," one person said.

"My ex and I had a dog but when we broke up we didn’t do joint custody because having to see her once a week would not be good mentally," another shared with us.

So what can you do if you're going through a breakup and need to navigate pet custody? Let's dive into it.

Separation and pets in Australia

Currently in Australia, the Family Law Act hasn't distinguished pets from property. What does that mean? It basically means under law, your pet is considered similar to another potential shared purchase, like a car and the same questions will apply.

Questions that may be asked to determine who gets to keep the pets, are as follows:

• Who purchased the pet?

• Who cares for it?

• Who feeds it?

• Who pays for the insurance?

• Whose name is it registered in?

This basically depicts who has "ownership" over the "property" (aka pet) in general and help you and your now ex come to a decision about whether you keep the pet independently or if you arrange a joint agreement.

Australian Family Lawyers suggest that to lessen the stress, when entering or exiting a relationship with shared pets, considerations like ensuring your pets are legally registered in your name, ensuring that you. have contributed to the purchase of the pet, having an insurance policy in your name, or having a formal arrangement like a "pup-nup" could benefit people in the long run.

For those messier breakups, engaging a legal expert is recommended. Find out more here.

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