Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
5 years ago my dog had a litter of puppies, we sold each puppy to friends of ours. A year ago, the owner "Mike" of one of the puppies had been getting pregressingly ill. We told Mike that when he felt that he could no longer care for his dog "Mikey" that we would be willing to care for the dog. Mike passed away in Feburary of 2011. My grama "Mary", her friend that technically lives with her "Calvin" and I all sat down and talked about the situation, we had agreed that until I was no longer living with relatives of mine that Mikey the dog would stay at gramas, and when I got my own place where I could have him I would take him with me. He stayed at my gramas for 8 months from Feb 2011 to October 2011, then came to live with me. At no time had the agreement been changed. Calvin has learned that I will be moving most likely out of state in 2 months due to my husband being in the Coastguard. For the first time this entire year, Calvin said that Mike the previous owner wanted CALVIN to care for the dog, not once has Calvin ever said this to me until the talk of me moving had come up. I explained this to Calvin that this is the first I have heard of it after an entire year and that it is hard to believe that this really happened otherwise I would have heard it sooner. I work in a veterinary clinic where Mikey gets great care. My question is, is there any legality in this issue? Any advice would be appreciated
1 Answer from Attorneys
A dog is considered personal property so the ownership of the dog would pass by Mike's Will or the laws of intestacy if he left no Will. So ask the potential heirs if you can keep the dog and get their positive response in writing. Since you had an oral agreement with Calvin you are entitled to enforce that. It seems unlikely that he would sue you to regain control of the dog, which is the only way he legally could get possession.
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