Legal Question in Family Law in Maine

Re: custody of a pet

Let me start by saying that I assume that you are a dog lover and therefore I don't think you are going to like the answer to your question. Under the law, a dog is simply a piece of property, treated no differently than the linens or an antique piece of furniture. Moreover, even pure breed dogs have very little actual financial value. While puppies have a realistic value, adult dogs have very little.

If the dog was purchased during the marriage, then it is considered marital property. Presumably, if the funds to buy the dog were derived from some non-marital source, then the dog may be considered non-marital in nature. However, that is probably a long shot.

As marital property, the dog will have to be allocated to one of you, just as the rest of the marital property must be divided up. I have seen parties agree to a "visitation" schedule involving the dog. If you cannot agree, then ultimately the issue would have to be hammered out either as part of mediation process or, worst case scenario, by a judge. I cannot warn you enough not to let this issue drive the case. A judge will not be happy at all to have to decide who takes the dog, and is highly unlikely to spend any valuable court time at all discussing who would be a better owner, etc.

Therefore, the long and the short of the answer is this: you can take the dog assuming your husband allows you to. Otherwise, you may have to bargain with other property in order to negotiate ownership of the animal.