Sen Becker (800-382-9467) introduced SB 314 which is scheduled for second reading today which specifies additional authority for courts issuing protective orders. In the statute which specifies that a person can petition a court for a protective order involving cases of domestic or family violence, this legislation would add to the court’s authority, specifying that it can order that the petitioner be granted exclusive custody of the animal. It also states that the court can order the respondent (ostensibly the abusive spouse) not to hide, injure, or threaten to harm the animal and can order law enforcement to assist with securing the animal and otherwise enforcing the order.
These orders are ex parte, meaning that the Court can issue them without the other side first having had a chance to respond. The party that is a subject of one of these orders can challenge the order by asking for a hearing within 30 days of it being issued. The Court would then set a date for a hearing and both sides would have an opportunity to be heard.
As pets become more a part of our families and we become attached to them, they become a point of leverage for those who wish to engage in emotional abuse. So, I assume this legislation is meant to address those situations where an abusive spouse threatens the well-being of a pet either as a way to inflict pain on the other spouse and/or because s/he is an asshole.
Thanks for the heads up on this proposed law Indiana joins 32 other states with such provisions.
And when researching these laws I uncovered a new Alaska Dissolution law that permits judges to consider the “well being of animals” in dissolution matters. It provides for single custody and joint custody.