{"id":66920,"date":"2025-12-21T17:09:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T17:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/66920\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T17:09:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T17:09:41","slug":"pets-should-be-regarded-as-family-members-in-divorce-cases-pennsylvania-bill-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/66920\/","title":{"rendered":"Pets should be regarded as family members in divorce cases, Pennsylvania bill says"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0Pennsylvania\u00a0bill would recognize pets as family members<\/a>, elevating their status in situations such as divorce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives recently passed\u00a0House Bill 97,<\/a>\u00a0which would elevate the legal status of pets as \u201cliving beings that are generally regarded as cherished family members that offer their owners companionship, security and assistance,\u201d if signed into law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bill would create an official definition of a companion animal, elevating its\u00a0status in divorce proceedings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanion animals occupy a special category of personal property which does not include inanimate personal property. Therefore, it is the policy of the Commonwealth that special consideration be extended to companion animals when the division of personal property is planned or determined,\u201d the legislation continues.<\/p>\n

The bill outlines new rules for shared schedules,\u00a0custody arrangements\u00a0and the division of costs associated with the pet.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s House Bill 97 would elevate the legal status of pets as \u201cliving beings that are generally regarded as cherished family members that offer their owners companionship, security and assistance,\u201d if signed into law.\u00a0 5second \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The bill would create an official definition of a companion animal, elevating its\u00a0status in divorce proceedings. Chalabala \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

It also directs judges to consider factors similar to child custody cases<\/a>, such as who provides\u00a0daily care for the pet, who takes the pet to the vet and who has greater financial ability to care for the pet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legislation was sponsored by state Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik, D-Pa., who represents Pennsylvania\u2019s 45th District.<\/p>\n

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In a September\u00a0Facebook post<\/a>, Kulik wrote, \u201cFor many years, I practiced Family Law.\u00a0During that time, I realized that one of the main points of contention for divorcing couples was custody of their pets.\u00a0For many of us, our furry friends are not merely \u2018pets\u2019 \u2014 they are an important part of our family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bill directs judges to consider factors similar to child custody cases, such as who provides\u00a0daily care for the pet, who takes the pet to the vet and who has greater financial ability to care for the pet.\u00a0 Sebastian Duda \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Kulik added, \u201cI am pleased that my bill, House Bill 97, was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives, and I thank those of my colleagues that voted in favor of this legislation!\u00a0I also want to thank the advocacy groups that supported this measure, for their efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill is\u00a0currently under consideration<\/a>\u00a0in the Pennsylvania Senate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u00a0Pennsylvania\u00a0bill would recognize pets as family members, elevating their status in situations such as divorce. The Pennsylvania House…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2600,15650,35505,1510,742,2341,28,30,29,2800,35506],"class_list":{"0":"post-66920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-divorce","10":"tag-divorces","11":"tag-family","12":"tag-law","13":"tag-media","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","16":"tag-pennsylvania-news","17":"tag-pets","18":"tag-us-house-of-representatives"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}