Tucker the goldendoodle is at the centre of a custody battle between his co-owners. Photo / Delaware Court of Chancery via The Washington Post
It took a ruling from one of the country’s top business courts last week to settle a years-long dispute between a former Delaware couple: Who gets to keep Tucker, the pair’s adorable goldendoodle, after their break-up?
Last week a judge in the Delaware Chancery Court came up with a novel solution.
She ordered Karen Callahan and Joseph Nelson, who dated and cared for Tucker together for several years before splitting up in 2022, to bid against each other in a private auction for their 5-year-old dog.
The winner gets Tucker. The loser gets the money.
Judge Bonnie David acknowledged that the process “will inevitably result in disappointment - possibly heartbreak - for one of the parties”.
The sole exhibit in the decision was a photo of a pouting Tucker on the beach, surely unaware of the strife he has caused.
“It is undisputed that Tucker is a very good boy,” David wrote.
The case was a legal first in Delaware, according to David, who wrote that she was tasked with deciding the fairest way to “partition” a pet between his co-owners.
It was also an unusual case for her chambers.
As an elite business court in the state where a majority of America’s Fortune 500 companies are incorporated, Delaware Chancery Court usually makes headlines ruling on blockbuster acquisitions and Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay packages.
Callahan proposed that Tucker’s ownership be decided by an auction, as is sometimes conducted when other kinds of property cannot be partitioned. Nelson, who kept Tucker after the couple split, said the court should decide based on an analysis of the dog’s best interests.
After a hearing this month involving a relative of Nelson and a veterinary behaviourist, David wrote she was “utterly convinced that both parties love this dog and would care for him” and ordered the auction.
“Karen loves Tucker and has been fighting for a chance to see him again for three years now,” said William Larson, a lawyer for Callahan.
A lawyer for Nelson did not immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday.
Years of court filings describe Callahan and Nelson’s history with their prized pooch and the legal battles they waged over him after the end of their relationship.
Callahan and Nelson were childhood neighbours and reconnected in 2018, when they began dating. They lived together in Nelson’s Delaware home and bought Tucker in 2020, according to the court documents.
Nelson’s daughter, Janelle Nelson, testified in a 2022 trial that she intended for Tucker to be a gift for her father, whose previous dog, Biscuit, had died, according to court documents describing the trial obtained by Reuters.
Tucker was surrendered to a veterinary hospital where Janelle worked, she said, and she wanted Nelson to adopt the dog.
Janelle discussed the adoption with both Callahan and her father, and Callahan picked up Tucker and paid for the dog, intending it to also be a gift from her, Janelle said.
Callahan testified that she and Nelson acted as co-owners of Tucker during their relationship and treated the three of them as a family unit.
They shared expenses for Tucker’s care, she said.
Larson said that Callahan, 63, worked from home and spent “her whole day everyday with” Tucker. The photo of Tucker submitted to Delaware Chancery Court came from a visit to a beach on the Delaware coast.
“She’d love the opportunity to take him to the beach again,” Larson said.
When Callahan and Nelson broke up in 2022, Callahan moved out and Tucker remained at Nelson’s home.
Callahan filed a complaint in the Delaware Justice of the Peace Court seeking a return of personal property, including Tucker.
Nelson refused and testified that he believed Tucker was his and a gift from his daughter, according to court documents.
The Justice of the Peace Court awarded ownership to Callahan in 2022, and Nelson appealed.
Callahan filed legal action to have Tucker returned to her, but after another trial in 2023, the Court of Common Pleas ruled that the dog was jointly owned by both Callahan and Nelson. The Superior Court affirmed that decision.
So it was left to the elite Delaware Chancery Court to settle Tucker’s ownership.
Callahan asked the court for an order for partition of Tucker. David, the Chancery Court judge, noted that Delaware law for partitioning co-owned property is generally written for land and real estate but has been interpreted to apply to other kinds of personal property.
Tucker was fair game to be partitioned, David wrote. The court just had to decide how.
“Of course, the Court will not order the physical division of a companion animal, even if the discerning wisdom of King Solomon teaches otherwise,” David wrote.
In deciding between Callahan and Nelson’s proposals, David wrote both former partners seemed equally loving and capable of caring for Tucker.
A vet testified in an evidentiary hearing that Tucker, who has remained with Nelson since the breakup, has “hyper-attachment” to Nelson and would experience some stress in a new home, but David wrote that evidence showed the dog had also bonded to Callahan when the couple was together.
An auction was the fairest course of action, David decided, because it maximised the value of the property at stake for both co-owners.
“No mechanism can wholly compensate a losing bidder for the emotional loss of a beloved pet,” she wrote, but the loser will at least “[maximise] her recovery if she does not take home the lot.”
Callahan and Nelson have been directed to schedule the auction to decide Tucker’s fate with a lawyer.
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