Breaking Information: Proposed Pet Regulation for Households in B.C.

For these separating and divorcing {couples} who actually love their pets, the British Columbia authorities is taking a “paws-itive” step.

As reported within the information media earlier this week, new Household Regulation amendments have been launched for consideration in B.C.; if handed, they might fully re-vamp how the regulation characterizes pets, and impose a brand new construction on authorized battles over their custody. These proposed modifications are the primary of their variety in Canada.

That’s as a result of in the intervening time in B.C. – as in the remainder of Canada – the regulation dictates that after a marital/relationship break up between their house owners, pets are to be handled as property. Identical to a favorite sofa. So at the moment when a pair decides to separate and can’t agree on who will get to maintain a beloved canine for instance, the court docket will make an order declaring possession. That is after contemplating asset-related components, resembling which ones bought the canine, and which ones has major accountability for the present prices of its feeding and care.

(This historic strategy additionally implies that the time period “pet custody” is a misnomer that has by no means been fairly correct anyplace in Canada: In contrast to the state of affairs with youngsters, pet-related disputes have been ruled by possession rights, not custody or parenting time.)

However this newly proposed B.C. regulation would change all that. Aimed particularly at {couples} who personal pets and are separated or divorcing, the brand new amendments to the Household Regulation regime would require a court docket to think about quite a few components, earlier than making an award on which ones will get custody post-split. Among the many concerns are willingness to look after the pet, and any threats of cruelty or threat of household violence. If the couple has youngsters, the court docket would even be required to think about the connection that the kid has with the pet, with a view in the direction of how parenting time has been allotted.

Proper now, the laws is simply being proposed. But when it’s handed, it’ll drive courts to acknowledge the distinctive and particular place that pets have in most households, and to look carefully at making an order that acknowledges the perfect pursuits of divorcing spouses, their youngsters … and their cherished four-legged (or two-legged) friends as nicely.

Is that this new B.C. initiative an “op-paw-tunity” for Ontario Household Regulation to comply with go well with? What are your ideas?

For additional details about the proposed laws, see the B.C. authorities’s info web page: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/justice/about-bcs-justice-system/legislation-policy/current-reviews/family-law-act-modernization

And see the next information report: https://www.thestar.com/politics/2023/03/27/bc-plans-family-law-changes-to-decide-who-gets-the-pets-when-couples-split.html