Background
Under the law, domestic pets and other animals are simply considered a type of personal property. As such, the family courts could make orders about which party to family law property settlement proceedings should retain such pet and animals if the parties could not agree themselves.
Though arguments about pets, and who should keep them, were infrequent, on occasion a judge was asked to decide on the matter of ownership and care of a pet.
2025 Update
Recently, the Family Law Amendment Act 2025 received Royal Assent.
On 10 June 2025, certain provisions in that Amendment Act will start to take effect, and this includes provisions about “companion animals”.
What will change? A Summary
In reality, not all that much.
The family courts were already able to make orders about pets and other animals, and the new legislation does not change the fact that “companion animals” are a type of personal property.
However, when an animal being argued about by the parties is a “companion animal” then, from 10 June 2025 the Court:
- is restricted to make only an order as to single party ownership, transfer, or sale of such animal. The court will not be able to, for instance, order joint ownership.
- will have to specifically take into account the various considerations discussed above (which include family violence, cruelty, caregiving and expenditure type considerations).
More Details
The changes to the Family Law Act 1975 shall define “companion animal” as:
an animal kept by the parties to a marriage or either of them, or the parties to a de facto relationship or either of them, primarily for the purpose of companionship, but does not include:
(a) an assistance animal within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992; or
(b) an animal kept as part of a business; or
(c) an animal kept for agricultural purposes; or
(d) an animal kept for use in laboratory tests or experiments.
The new provisions will be titled “Considerations relating to companion animals”. These will provide that a court may only make orders about a companion animal that provide for:
- only one party to have ownership of the animal; or
- that it be transferred to another person; or
- that it be sold.
The new provisions go on to provide that the court is to take into account various considerations. For example:
- the circumstances in which the companion animal was acquired;
- the extent to which each party cared for and paid for the maintenance of the companion animal;
- any cruelty (or threats of cruelty) by a party towards the companion animal;
- attachment of a party, or a child of the parties, to the companion animal.