Labrador Retriever Forum

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
Dogs returned during divorce

Does anyone have experience with dogs that you bred being returned to you during a divorce situation? The wife has been granted "temporary guardianship" (or something like that) and needs to bring the dogs to me ASAP, which is no problem at all. One dog is registered to her and the other to her husband. She will sign "her" dog back over to me but we have to hold the other until the divorce is final and the husband decides what he wants to do.

I love these people and feel horrible for them but at the same time, we have to protect ourselves and not be caught in the middle. Still very grateful that they upheld our agreement and will bring the dogs back to us instead of farming out to friends or worse.

Any advice???

Re: Dogs returned during divorce

Whatever you do, make sure you have a certified copy of any court order. You want to make sure she isn't hiding them or lying to you.

Re: Dogs returned during divorce

Agree with above. Also make sure you get the AKC certificate signed over to you. I had a huge issue with this years ago due to a divorce, they couldn't find the certificate and wouldn't get another with AKC. The guy had the certificate somewhere in the house which he had, he wouldn't let his ex in to find it.

Finally they signed a paper which I wrote out and sent to them which stated they wanted me to again own the dog and wanted the AKC certificate to be in my name. AKC honored this. I had the dog 6 months with a diabetic service agency waiting for it. The agency would not take the dog without the AKC certificate. It was a mess.

Re: Dogs returned during divorce

Thank you! I'm hoping it won't be a complete mess, but better to be prepared for the worst.

Re: Dogs returned during divorce

A woman asked us to take a dog back that we had sold to her and her husband as a pup. Her husband had moved out, leaving her with the dog that she did not have time to care for. They were getting a divorce. We were glad to take the dog back. She had "lost" the papers. Not a big deal either as we eventually placed the dog with a family who didn't really care about the papers. Everyone was happy until the ex-husband called and wanted his dog back. We explained that we had placed the dog. He wanted us to refund the purchase price. We denied and were sued. Even though we had a long email paper trail of the wife asking us to take and find a great home for the dog, because he had the unsigned AKC papers, the judge awarded him the puppy purchase price. It was not his wife's dog to give back to us even though the divorce was not final when she did give it to us. It is best to have the AKC papers.