When the Law Catches Up With the Heart: Spain Now Recognizes Pets as Family

Kimberly Riley
Dec 8, 2025
6 min read

For most of us who share our homes with animals, this isn’t news at all: pets aren’t “things” we own — they’re family.

In Spain, that everyday truth just became legal reality.

In a major step for animal welfare, Spain updated its Civil Code so that pets are now recognized as sentient beings and family members, not just property. The reform was approved in December 2021 and came into force in early 2022, bringing Spanish law more in line with how people actually live with their animals.

It’s a change that sounds simple, but has big consequences for animals caught in some of the hardest human moments: divorce, inheritance disputes, debt, and even domestic violence.

What Does “Sentient Being” Mean in Law?

The new rules say that animals are seres sintientes — sentient beings — which means courts must consider their welfare, needs, and emotional bonds rather than treating them the way they would a couch or a car.

Practically, this means:

Pets are no longer just items on a property list.
Judges must look at what’s best for the animal, not only who has the receipt.
An animal’s daily routine, living conditions, and relationships with people — especially children — can all be taken into account.

It’s one more step in a broader European trend of recognizing animals as feeling, thinking beings who deserve protection, not just ownership.

Divorce, Shared Custody, and “Who Gets the Dog?”

One of the biggest changes shows up in family law.

Spain now requires judges handling divorces or separations to consider a pet’s welfare when deciding where that animal will live. Shared custody is explicitly on the table, just like it is for children.

Courts can:

Grant primary or shared custody of a pet
Assign responsibility for vet bills, food, and other costs
Order a kind of “pet maintenance payment” to help cover ongoing care

In other words, if a couple separates, the question isn’t “who owns the dog?” It becomes, “What is the best arrangement for this animal’s wellbeing, and how can both humans share responsibility fairly?”

That’s a huge shift away from treating pets like furniture that can be split up or sold.

Pets in Wills and Inheritance

The reform also touches what happens when an owner dies.

Under the updated Civil Code, if there’s no will, pets are placed with the heir who asks to care for them — and if the heirs can’t agree, a judge decides what’s best for the animal, including placing them temporarily with a trusted organization.

A person can also name an heir on the condition that they care for the pet, building the animal’s welfare directly into estate planning. That’s a clear recognition that animals are not just assets to be handed down, but living beings whose care needs to be guaranteed.

Protection in Cases of Abuse

The new legal status also ties into Spain’s efforts to address domestic abuse.

Spanish case law now acknowledges that harming or threatening a partner’s animal can be part of a pattern of coercive control and violence. Mistreating a pet to intimidate family members can be treated as a form of domestic abuse, with serious consequences in court.

By taking the suffering of animals seriously, the law also helps protect the people who love them.

What It Doesn’t Mean (Yet)

The Spanish law doesn’t give animals the same rights as people, and it doesn’t solve every animal welfare issue overnight. It doesn’t, for example:

Ban all forms of animal use or exploitation
Automatically guarantee perfect outcomes in every custody dispute
Prevent neglect or cruelty by itself

Laws are tools — and this is one tool among many. Its power comes from how judges, lawyers, and families choose to use it.

But even with those limits, the change is meaningful. It builds the idea of animal welfare right into the legal framework, making it harder to ignore an animal’s emotional life when big decisions are made about where they live and who cares for them.

Why This Matters Beyond Spain

In many European countries — including Spain, of course — animals have recently been recognized under the law as sentient beings and family members. That shift helps ensure their emotional and physical wellbeing is considered in legal matters like divorce, inheritance, or cases of abuse.

In contrast, in the United States, the legal system largely still treats pets as “personal property.” This means that, in many legal contexts, animals are treated much like items such as furniture or cars — rather than beings with emotional lives and needs.

In typical divorce or separation proceedings, pets are considered part of marital or personal property. Their “custody” is determined like any other asset.

Courts generally divide property (pets included) based on ownership or asset-value rules, not on what might be emotionally best for the animal.

Even in cases of injury or wrongful death, many jurisdictions limit damages for pets to their “market value,” rather than acknowledging their emotional worth.

Because of this, in a typical U.S. divorce or legal dispute — unlike under Spain’s new law — courts are not mandated to consider an animal’s welfare, attachments, or emotional needs.

Where the Exceptions Start: States with Pet-Friendly Laws

A handful of U.S. states have begun to shift in the direction of treating pets more like family — albeit in limited ways.

In states such as Alaska, California, Illinois, and New Hampshire, statutes now allow judges to consider a companion animal’s welfare when deciding custody in divorce cases.
Some of these laws allow joint custody, visitation, and “best interest”-style determinations rather than simple property division.

Still — even in these states — pets are not granted full “sentient being” legal status. The changes are modest and limited to specific contexts (like divorce).

What It Would Take to Reach "Sentient" Recognition in the U.S.

For a law in the U.S. (or even on a state-by-state level) to mirror Spain’s — recognizing pets broadly as sentient, legally protected family members — a few major shifts would be needed:

Redefinition of legal status of pets in state civil codes (or possibly federal statute), shifting them from property to sentient beings.
Explicit legal standards for custody, welfare, and care, not just in divorce, but in cases of inheritance, debt, abuse, enforcement of animal-welfare laws, and more.
Broad societal and political support, including:
- Awareness from veterinary, rescue, and animal-welfare communities
- Advocates and voices calling for change
- Lawmakers willing to draft and support legislation
Precedents from other countries — evidence that such laws can work, be enforced reasonably, and reflect the public’s values around animals. Spain and other European nations already provide that precedent.

When other countries demonstrate that such laws protect animals responsibly, it builds a stronger case for similar reforms here.

What Spain's New Laws Could Mean for Us

Spain’s reform doesn’t just improve conditions for Spanish pets. It sets a global example — showing that civil codes can evolve, laws can change, and legal frameworks can reflect the reality of how we live with animals.

For places like Ohio, those changes in other countries create legal and cultural precedent. They show that honoring the emotional and social bonds between people and pets is not only possible — but practical. And hopefully, this precedent can open the door one day to similar laws on our books to protect all of our family members.

For rescues like Homeless to Home, and for all of us who know that pets are family, this precedent is powerful. It helps shift public perception and lays groundwork for change, one law or conversation at a time.

A Step Toward the Way We Already Feel

While this change is happening across an ocean, the heart of it is something we live every day here: pets are not “extras” in a household. They are part of what makes a home feel like home.

Spain’s decision puts into law what millions of Americans already feel in their bones — that our animals are family. And even though the United States hasn’t yet made this shift, moments like this remind us that change is possible. Every step taken abroad helps spark conversations here, opening the door for future laws that honor the emotional lives of the animals we love.

With compassion, advocacy, and time, we can build a future where our legal system reflects the same truth our hearts already know: family comes in all shapes, sizes, and species.

Want to Help Bring Change to Ohio?

If Spain’s reform inspires you, one of the most meaningful first steps is simply letting your elected officials know that animal welfare matters to you.

Ohio lawmakers won’t consider updating our laws unless they hear directly from the people they represent — and compassionate voices make a real difference.

Contact Your Ohio State Representative or Senator

You can find your legislators quickly by entering your address here: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislators/district-maps

Once you know who represents you, consider sending a short message sharing:

that pets are family to you
that you support laws recognizing the emotional wellbeing of companion animals
that you’d like Ohio to explore reforms similar to those emerging across Europe

Every message — even a brief one — helps build the momentum needed for future change. Together, we can encourage laws that reflect the loving, family-level bond so many of us share with our animals.

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When the Law Catches Up With the Heart: Spain Now Recognizes Pets as Family

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