Pet custody agreement

What it covers

• Both of you, and up to two pets with their microchip numbers and the name the chip is registered to.
• Who owns the pet on paper today: who bought or adopted it, and whose name is on the license.
• The schedule: alternate weeks, weekdays and weekends, mainly with one of you, or your own plan, with the handover place and holidays.
• Costs, line by line: food, routine and emergency vet care, medicines, insurance, grooming and boarding, each split as you agree.
• Vet decisions: routine care, emergencies, planned treatment above an amount you set, and serious or end-of-life decisions.
• Moving away, what happens if one of you can no longer care for the pet, a review date and signatures.

What a court may do

In most places the law treats a pet as property. When a couple splits up and cannot agree, a court may decide who owns the pet much as it would decide about a car, and it does not have to follow a plan you made between you. A few places now look at the pet’s care instead, mostly in a divorce.

This plan is not a court order. If you are divorcing or already in court, raise the pet there, with your lawyer, and bring the plan along.

• In California, for example, a court in a divorce or legal separation may assign sole or joint ownership of a pet, taking its care into account. Cal. Family Code § 2605 (opens in a new tab)

Care, not ownership

The form records who owns the pet on paper and says the plan does not change it. That keeps it a care plan rather than a co-ownership contract, which needs more than a sample form. If one of you is to take over ownership, record that separately, for example with the sale or the rehoming agreement.

• Pet sale agreement
• Pet rehoming agreement

Making it work

1. Agree on the schedule first; costs and vet decisions are easier once you know where the pet lives.
2. Write shares as numbers and say how you settle up: every month, or when a bill comes in.
3. Put the vet clinic on the form and make sure both of you can reach the pet’s records.
4. Pick a review date, for example in six months, and sign a new plan when things change.
5. Keep a signed copy each.