Husband and Wife are calling it quits.

But they both want to continue to be good parents.

And they both want generous, regular timesharing and visitation.

Sound too routine to write about? Think again.

In this particular post though, the Husband and Wife under consideration aren’t negotiating about their their human children. They’re addressing co-parenting of their pets.

Which, with procreation on the slide, and pet adoption and pet pampering on the rise, is more and more common.

In contrast to co-parenting of human children though, a couple must reach an agreement on co-parenting arrangements – or else a family court will most likely “divide” their pets as part and parcel of all their marital property, with no deeper consideration. (If there are human children as well, a divorce court may order that the pet follow the children.)

Because the current state of family law categorizes pets as nothing more than personal property.

Law is slow to change, tending to lag behind social change.

But recent years have seen the domestic violence law in several states evolve to recognize that domestic abusers too often prey upon their victims in part through abuse and threatened abuse of family pets.

It is not a great leap for divorce law to recognize in family courts that pets may be very important to family members, on far deeper psychological and emotional levels than material possessions may be.

Which could pave the way for timesharing and visitation law, and possibly even custody law concerning pets.

Read more in this Associated Press article: Divorce lawyers: Pet custody cases increasing.