Q: A bf and gf live together. Gf adopted cat and gave to bf as a surprise Xmas present. Now break up. Who keeps the cat?
Bf cleans litterbox most often, buys the food often, and feeds the cat most often. In Maryland. Gf moving to out of country.
A: If there is proof of the gift (card, text message, Facebook post), then the answer is boyfriend. If there is no proof of the gift, then the answer is girlfriend.
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A: An unconditional gift is a gift, and that’s your answer, so if the bf can prove it was a gift, then he wins in court. If it’s a he-said she-said scenario, and both are equally credible or there’s no way a judge can decide who’s right, then bf loses. There is another complication: pet adoptions are often subject to contractual limitations on the adoptive owner’s ability to transfer ownership of the pet. This is because adoption is typically conditioned on the adoptive owner passing a qualification review as a safe and responsible owner. They sign an adoption contract that states they must return the pet to the adoption agency if they ever decide to give up ownership of the pet. So, it could be the gf cannot legally gift the cat to anyone, and there has been no gift even if she intended to give it to the bf.
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