Pet owners love their pets and view them as an important part of their family. Pet care is a multi-billion dollar industry, as evidenced by the increase in pet insurance, pet attire, specially made pet food, regular pet grooming services, and the number of pet pictures owners carry in their wallets. About a third of pet owners have taken time off work to care for sick pets, and a recent survey revealed that more pet owners would rather be stranded on a desert island with their pets than their spouse. With approximately half of all marriages in the United States ending in divorce, 39% of all households owning at least one dog, and 33% of all households owning at least one cat, it is inevitable that pet owners going through a divorce are bound to ask: “Who keeps Fido or Fluffy after the divorce?”
The reality is that, in Illinois, a pet is viewed as an item of personal property. In dividing the parties’ property, Illinois courts categorize property as either marital (i.e., belonging to both spouses) or non-marital (i.e., belonging to one spouse). The court then awards each party his or her non-marital property and an equitable portion of the marital property.
Non-marital property includes property acquired by gift, legacy or descent; property acquired before the marriage; and property excluded by valid agreement of the parties. In other words, if one of the parties owned the pet before the marriage or received the pet as a gift or part of an inheritance, or if the parties agreed who would own the pet after the marriage dissolved, the court would award the pet as part of that party’s non-marital property.
One of the issues typically reserved in contested divorce cases is who will pay the children’s college after they graduate high school. Typically, most Marital Settlement Agreements will reserve this issue for determination at a later date, primarily because it is difficult to forecast how each party’s financial circumstances will look when the children ultimately attend college. If the children are quite young, it is even more difficult to predict where each party will be financially and whether college expenses will even be needed based upon the children’s scholastic abilities.
The trial court judge issued a final judgment in your dissolution of marriage case disposing of all outstanding issues between you and your former spouse. However, you are unhappy with the judgment for any number of reasons. Perhaps you are disappointed that the court awarded you and your former spouse joint custody of your children rather than awarding you sole custody. Perhaps you feel that the judge incorrectly adopted your former spouse’s position on the valuation of your business, residence, or piece of real estate. Or perhaps the court awarded you maintenance (formerly known as alimony) for a shorter duration than you believe you were entitled to. What can you do?
For couples contemplating a divorce, the volatility in the financial and real estate markets has created an impediment that has left many questioning how they will achieve future financial security while attempting to establish two households. A common goal may be to split assets equitably, not necessarily 50/50, but all assets are not created equal, and establishing fair market value can be challenging at best.
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