A woman seeking joint custody of the two border collies she once shared with a partner has lost her case at Nova Scotia small claims court.
“Ms. Millett alleged that, by doing this, Ms. Boudreau was violating the terms of the parties’ verbal agreement to share ‘joint custody’ and maintain a ‘one week on and one week off’ arrangement with respect to the dogs.”“She stated that she was not in a romantic relationship with Ms. Millett at the time when the dogs were purchased and that she had not agreed to share or separate the dogs,” said the adjudicator.
Millett testified that she subsequently paid half of Boudreau’s rent to cover her contribution toward the cost of purchasing Theo. It wasn’t evident that Boudreau accepted Millett’s contribution to their shared living expenses as a payment for Theo, Sheils said.“The court notes that Ms. Boudreau testified that she spent a lot of money helping Ms. Millett to get out of debt. In the absence of a more detailed accounting of the parties’ relative contributions toward shared living expenses during the period of cohabitation, there is insufficient evidence to support Ms.
Millett “did not recall any agreement to share the dogs,” said the adjudicator. “Rather, she informed Ms. Millett that she was ‘able to see them.’”