Custody fights extend to the family pet - Muskegon Chronicle - MLive.com: "Okay, maybe it's just me, but this strikes me as worse than useless and silly,' Plymouth attorney James P. Ryan, former chair of the State Bar's family law section, wrote on an Internet listserv that goes to some 800 lawyers and judges. 'Part-time legislature, anyone? P.S.: Remember to have your clients count all the fish.'"
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Grand Rapids Democrat introduced a bill dictating how custody of dogs, cats, gerbils and other pets is to be decided. That touched off a flurry of comments from other family law specialists including this one from Marshall attorney Lisa McNiff: "Is Sak bored or brain dead?"
Disputes over pets arise "very, very rarely," Kent County Circuit Judge Nanaruth Carpenter said, and, when they do, the parties usually work it out.
"I'm not saying pets are unimportant by any means," Kent County Circuit Judge Mark Trusock said, but "the last thing I want to do is take up the court's time for the custody of a dog. We need to make things simpler, not more complex."
Besides, he said, "There are so many issues I think our legislators could be dealing with," such as balancing the state budget and stopping the loss of jobs.
Sak, speaker pro tem of the House, responded: "We have and will continue to address those issues. Maybe we'll revisit the issue of judicial salaries and pensions," he said, then added, "I'm being humorous."
Before introducing the bill, he did not check with lawyers and judges who handle divorces, Sak said, but he added, "I'm going to vet it through our court system," apparently not intending a pun.
