Trans-species Custody Battles and the Reframing of Kinship Ties

Abstract

This article contributes to the burgeoning anthropological literature on animal-human relations and trans-species fam­ilies. Increasingly, household pets in the United States are thought of as family members. In fact, these animals are often treated as actual or surrogate kin, be it spouse, child, or sibling. One consequence of this trend is the emergence of legal battles between separating partners for custody of the dog or cat. Despite formal legal codes, which define household animals as personal prop­erty, separating couples nowadays introduce subjective criteria into arguments for or against animal custody. These include, for example, the time each partner spends with the animal, who seems most devoted to the animal, or who occupies a home that would be most advantageous for the animal’s well-being. The cases examined in this article show that, while most judges acknowl­edge the presence of emotion-driven factors in any custody battle, they continue to abide by the definition of companion animals as property. Nonetheless, lawyers nowadays argue that the new trans-species definition of family, together with the enhanced social and affective role of animals, are appropriate for judicial consideration in pet custody lawsuits.