Legal Help...PLEASE!!!
 

So my girlfriend decided to kick me out of the house and break up with me at 2am on friday night.....i've dealt with it and moved on....

Now she is withholding my property and most importantly my 4 month old bulldog puppy.
I paid every penny of that $1800 and she did not put in a single cent.....
And here is the kicker, today she went behind my back and got the puppy registered in her name, techincally making her the owner.....


WTF do i do!!!

I know i can call the cops and they will escort me to the house to get my property, but with the dog they will take one look at the licence, printed today, and say its not mine

Do you not have receipts for purchasing the dog from the breeder?

If you paid $1800 for a puppy, I sure hope you got a reciept or at least some kind of record of purchase (credit/debit card slip). You might have a good chance to prove that you purchased the puppy b/c this bill would be dated BEFORE she registered it.

However, my suggestion is to call a lawyer tomorrow and explore what you can do. That's your best move for something like this. If worse comes to worse, you can take her to small claims court to get your stuff back. If you win you might also be able to make her pay your legal fees.

Best of Luck!

EDIT: I guess Brad beat me to it. :)

Oh yah there is a receipt, i mean i paid cash and the breeder knows I paid for it myself....

Im gonna try once more to reason with her, if that is possible, and if not explore the lawyer aspect.

Reasoning with a woman that just kicked you out might not be the first thing to try...:)

Go to the breeder, get a letter confirming you bought and paid for the pup, provide it as proof to the police when you go get your stuff with them.
You will likely need to go to court to get the registration changed over, unless she signs the papers over to you, which sounds not likely.

If you paid the $1800.00 for the dog its yours, like Brad said go to the breeder and get a conformation letter that you purchased it. Sucks that it would have to go to court (If you have to) but if that's how shes going to play then its going to suck even more for her when the judge awards the dog to you. Good luck Kenny, hope you get your puppy back!
Levi

Sorry to hear about all this. I'm also sorry to say that if you two were common law (which it sounds like you were) the dog is half hers even if you paid the whole bill. I'm 99% sure about this. Everything the two of you own should really be divided up. I'm sure you both can reach an agreement about who should get what. Seek some legal advice for sure though.

Good luck.

+1

Have you filed taxes together???

That really sucks hope she calms down and gives the puppy back sounds like she is
pretty sour about something. Did she like the puppy that much? Or is it out of spite?

If you were together long enough to be common-law might be more than just half the puppy (car, her credit card and other debts, pensions, CPP, etc).

Start with Brad's recommendation about getting the letter from the breeder. Then I'd advise you take it to one of the better stations around the city, and go from there.

After that your next move should be to change the access to any accounts you've given her priviledges to that are soley yours. Also forward your mail ASAP as one of the common factors with petty women is that they like to mess around with your mail, withholding bills, etc. Don't forget to swap your vehicle insurance into your own name either.

Did your girlfriend register the dog for a dog licence? or the actual registration for the CKC or something? Does the dog have a microchip that is listed in your name, and is there any vet records that have only your name on the dog or are they in both your names? Also, did the breeder give you a health warranty that was filled out with your name on it?

I would let things settle a little, don't panic just yet. I've had a few friends go through similar things and usually the girl calms down after a few days and becomes more reasonable. I can guarantee you that threatening and involving lawyers will tick her off and make things much worse. In the end she's probably got just as much right to ownership as you do, even if you paid she could say it was a gift which will match the registration.

Relax and let her calm down, she'll come to her senses and eventually do the right thing, I would bet on it. I'm sure she was once a nice person, she will be again, girls just get crazy sometimes, eventually you'll get use to this :lol:

^+1... Jumping the gun will just make things worse.

I have to agree with what others have said about being common law... if you are common law then you're pretty much hooped. If not, there is much you can do... starting with a receipt for 1800.00 paid for the dog (which you should have received, with CKC papers if the dog is purebred).

Just a note also, if you didn't get CKC papers from the breeder, or the breeder asks you to pay for the CKC registration, this is wrong... the breeder can NOT charge you for the papers if they are claiming that the dog is purebred and they are a registered member of the CKC. They must present the papers to you when you pay for the animal.

Girls just get crazy sometimes ouch!

Yeah sorry, if it makes you feel any better guys are real dumbasses sometimes to :wink:

Seriously though, wasn't trying to offend anyone, if I did, let me know and I'll remove it.

No to be perfectly honest you have a point.....but have to agree I would not add fuel
to the fire at this point some woman can be vindictive not myself of course, others hehe!

+1 :biggrin:

Im not that old, and havent really started my life yet so there isnt much in the way of assets available to her, we dont share any accounts, credits cards or have we filed taxes together..

But we have lived together for more than 2years so does that make us common law?

I've backed off, stopped calling her to wait for her next move. If she does not cooperate by the end of the week i will go with the more legal route or atleast the police....
I need my dog, and im running out of clean underwear.

The dog has not been tattooed or chipped while i was in the picture, im not sure if when she registered him with the city for a licence, do they tattoo him there??

All vet statements i paid for with cash, so no real paper trail there.

And as for all the paperwork from the breeder to us, well im pretty sure she is hiding that quite well, if its even around anymore. But it probably has both our names on it, silly mistake. lol

Common law starts after 6 months of living together.

The best thing you can do it nothing. One thing I've know is that women always win, despite who is paying the bills women always seem to have more rights in these kinds of matters. If you go legal you will loose your dog, your only hope is that she turns around and does the right thing on her own but try and make her and you'll loose.

If it only cost you $1800 to get rid of the woman, consider yourself lucky. It's painfully unjust how the guy allways gets raked over the coals in a split up. Even is SHE was the one who cheated/at fault. Women know this, and some take every advantage of it. I have a bud who just plit from his wife. They agree'd on a settlement and he paid her out. Now she's goin back on it and wants half the house too, which, BTW, she never put a penny into..... Just makes me sic.....

Don't worry about the dog, worry about the clean underwear and be happy there are no human babies involved. You say you've moved on from the kicking out part, you'll probably need to move on with regard to the pup as well, unfortunate, but reality. I also think it would be best if we refrain from letting this turn into a guy vs the girl fiasco. It's never pleasant, but there are always two sides to the coin and nowadays, everyone should be well aware of what a relationship entails and the consequences of the ending of that relationship. How do I know this? Personal experience, perhaps...

Sometimes it helps just to vent and I am positive we have all been there at one time or another and it may help to hear an unbiased opinion even from guy's and gals. Don't
think anyone would/could take offense as we are not envolved. He will do what he thinks
is best.

Be glad it's only $1800, I'd be worried about getting new underwear asap before a lawyer, best let things cool off, and what did you do to tick her off? Regards Ken

Your dog would be chipped or tattooed, or both, at the vet, not by the city. I'd call your vet and ask for receipts. They'll have a record of your puppies visits regardless of your method of payment.

So sorry to hear about your puppy!
Hopefully you can get him back.

Give her a bit to cool off, and apologize (even if she's at fault), but tell her that you want to work things out in a sensible way, to make things the easiest for the both of you.

Common law applies after 6 month of living together, but sometimes isn't official until taxes are filed together.

We're a younger couple too, and that can make things easier or more difficult, so just try and take things slow, stay calm in the process, and hope for the best.

=) Best of luck.

So good news,
after an hour on the phone ive made her realize that i would give the dog a better life, and that is what is most important.

Im picking him up around 11 tonight.....
as for the underwear...that remains to be seen......


Thanks guys, its been great to read your replies.

I gotta agree with Bandit, $1800.00 is a great price to pay for freedom! oh sweet freedom....... Dont worry if the dog is still young and chewing stuff and generally making a mess of things like bulldogs do, she'll be begging you to take it back when things cool off. Meanwhile, your in Calgary and just got out of a two year relationship. If you really want help Id advise you to call a bud and get to one of the establishments downtown... Ranchmens and Coyotes always did the trick for me! Sphelps is right though, guys can be weird but women are CRAZY until like 27 or 28 years old. Come on ladies, you know im right!

Yay! I'm so happy to read this. First things first, tomorrow you get the registration changed over at the city of Calgary. Do the same thing with your vet, and if you have pet insurance.

Photos of your puppy when you get it home?

sooo what about THE FISH TANK??????? :mrgreen:

seriously though, even if you want to give her some more time that is not always the best thing to do. I would at least talk to the police and explain the situation to them.. I had to have a police escort to recover some of my stuff when a simular situation happened.. I waited on the sidewalk, the police made sure there was going to be no trouble and took her aside and the other officer followed me to get my stuff.

ask the police about the dog.. ask them what they would concider proof that it is your dog and then go get the proof.. and you won't have a problem getting your stuff back.. this isn't a lawyer thing just a civel dispute ... cop stuff.

anyways I didn't read the last couple posts so sounds like it is working for ya.

Steve

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3410/...255109.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3624/...ee26e6.jpg?v=0

Fish tank is waiting to be set up. I recently purchased a 90g set-up from "blom" on here. The hunt for a new place begins tomorrow, then the process of starting the new tank and life ensues

Spare me ...

Where does this "common law is 6 months" come from? According to this site, division of property in Alberta does not qualify until 3 yrs.

http://www.common-law-separation-canada.com/alberta.htm

Buy yourself new undies or wash the ones you've got :wink: At least underwear is replaceable, since animals are not I'm glad to hear that you're getting your dog back :biggrin: Let us know how it goes (or went) when you go to pick up the dog. I think with animals they should go to whoever is going to take good care of them. If you're the one who has been looking after/taking care of the dog then of course the dog belongs with you.

Love the pic.'s he's a cute puppy.

the only thing for the 6 months is the minimum you can live togeather for befor delairing common law status.. only way faster is to have a kid. but this doesn't mean you are common law only that you are eligible to claim it.. and 6 months is federal.. in BC it is 1 year.

still up for coffee tomorrow night?

Steve

:surprise: I've had many many people tell me 6 months so I always thought it was 6 months, for some reason I think my lawyer even told me it was 6 months but maybe I'm remembering wrong. Anyway when I googled common-law in alberta everything came up saying 3 years :noidea:

:idea: Oh, that makes sense.

BC is 2 years, as per the definition of spouse from the Family Relations Act..
Coffee, maybe after flyball practice....call me

"
"spouse" means a person who
(a) is married to another person,
(b) except under Parts 5 and 6, lived with another person in a marriage-like relationship for a period of at least 2 years if the application under this Act is made within one year after they ceased to live together and, for the purposes of this Act, the marriage-like relationship may be between persons of the same gender,
"