Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida
A friend of mine and his girlfriend have recently split. 2 dogs were purchased during the relationship. One by each person. The ex girlfriend has given the dogs to ex boyfriend who has retained possession now for over 2 months with no visitation from girlfriend. The girlfriend has now agreed for work to be done at her house for exchange of full ownership of dogs to boyfriend. Unfortunately will not sign any papers and has evaded the final agreement daily. Please tell me if any legal action can be taken by her if she feels need of revenge and if any legal action can be taken by boyfriend to secure ownership of dogs.
1 Answer from Attorneys
He shouldn't do the work without a contract. Under the law, dogs are considered property just like a book or a table. Of course, they don't have legal titles like a car, so there's no way to prove who owns them. In court, judges don't even usually award ownership of the dog, but ownership of the value of the dog. So if someone sues for a dog worth $1000, the judge usually awards $1000, not the dog. Some of the things judges consider in awarding the value of a dog are 1) who bought the dog, 2) who registered the dog, 3) who has current possession of the dog, etc. But if there were an agreement in place for possession of the dogs in exchange for work on her house, there would be no argument about who owns the dogs.
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