Published on CBC.ca
By Michael Smee, March 8TH, 2024
A legal tussle over a dog has cost both sides thousands in legal fees — and plenty of heartache — while highlighting how the law treats pets in estate battles.
A Toronto-area court late last month ordered Aliesha Verma to turn over Rocco Junior, an American bull terrier, to her deceased partner’s sister by March 15. But this week Verma asked for a stay on that order while she appeals the decision.
Verma and Leonard Carvalho had been together for about six years when he died suddenly in November 2022, at age 60. He’d purchased the dog during a trip to Florida with Verma that February and, she claims in court documents, gave it to her. But Leonard didn’t mention Verma in his will. Instead, he left everything to his two sisters, Arlete and Helga Carvalho, and a former spouse, court documents show.
The case is focusing new attention on how the law views pets…
The case is focusing new attention on how the law views pets. In most provinces, including Ontario, animals are viewed as property. But earlier this year, British Columbia became the first province to redefine how pets are viewed by the courts, amending its Family Law Act so that they are now considered unique entities in separation and divorce cases. Instead of being treated as property, like a table or chair, courts there now decide an animal’s ownership based on a person’s ability and willingness to care for it, on any relationship between the pet and a child, and risks of animal cruelty.
Michael Smee,
Reporter, CBC Toronto
