Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Are pets considered "personal property" under the law? For example, if another party assumes possession of your pets and then tries to dispose of them without your permission, can the other party be sued for conversion or other grounds?

I became homeless and gave my 2 cats to someone to provide temporary care until I could get re-established again. The temporary care givers decided on their own that they were going to go ahead and adopt my cats out without my permission. There has never, at any time, been any surrender of legal ownership on my part to anyone and in my opinion they do not have the legal right to adopt out my cats. If they did not want to have the cats any more they could have notified me, given me a deadline to make other arrangements, etc. They did none of these things, These 2 cats (13 and 9) are all that is left of my family and now I do not even have access to them.


Asked on 11/19/12, 2:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

I'm so sorry for what you've been through.

For most purposes a pet is personal property. (They must be treated humanely, but otherwise the law regards them pretty much the same way it regards other property.) If you entrust a pet to someone temporarily, that does not give them the right to sell it. But if you wait too long to reclaim the pet then they are free to infer that you won't be coming for it, and to find it a new home.

Ordinarily I would agree with you that the caretakers should give the owners notice before giving the pets away. But ordinarily giving notice is pretty easy. Did the caretakers know how to contact you while you were homeless?

Read more
Answered on 11/19/12, 3:33 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More General Civil Litigation questions and answers in California