Housing conditions of each person in the couple, and the amount of free time will be taken into account.
Courts in Brazil will be able to determine the order of joint custody of pets for separating couples.
Under the new law, if a couple in divorce has not reached an agreement regarding their pet, the judge will determine the living schedule for their cat or dog and how its expenses will be distributed.
Housing conditions of each person in the couple, and the amount of free time will be taken into account. Expenses for food and hygiene will be borne by the person with whom the animal stays, while treatment and other costs will be divided equally.
For the law to apply to a separating couple, the animal must have spent most of its life with them, writes the BBC.
Joint custody will not be granted in cases where one of the parties has a criminal record, a history, or risk of committing domestic violence.
Currently, in a country with a population of 213 million people, there are about 160 million pets, according to data from Instituto Pet Brasil.
Members of Congress stated that the number of disputes over animal custody in courts is increasing, noting that the law responds to "changes that have occurred in Brazilian society in recent decades," according to a statement accompanying the law.
For example, in the UK, dogs are legally considered inanimate objects (like cars, houses, or other personal belongings), meaning that custody cases boil down to determining who is the sole owner.
In 2014, France changed its legislation, and now pets are considered "living and sentient beings" rather than "movable property." This change meant that couples could fight for joint custody in divorce cases.
The most recent example of granting joint pet custody was in Spain in 2021. A judge appointed joint custody of a dog to a couple who had separated and turned to the court to determine with whom the pet should live. The Madrid court deemed both parties "jointly responsible" and "co-custodians" of the dog named Panda.
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