A legal tussle over a dog has cost both sides thousands in legal fees and plenty of heartache while highlighting how the law treats pets in estate battles. A Toronto-area court late last month ordered Aliesha Verma to turn over Rocco Junior, an American bull terrier, to her deceased partner’s sister by March 15.
But this week Verma asked for a stay on that order while she appeals the decision. “He’s my family, he’s my friend, he’s my child,” Verma told CBC Toronto. She says the dog was a gift and that she relies on it for emotional and mental support. Verma and Leonard Carvalho had been together for about six years when he died suddenly in November 2022, at age 60. He’d purchased the dog during a trip to Florida with Verma that February and, she claims in court documents, gave it to her. But Leonard didn’t mention Verma in his will. Instead, he left everything to his two sisters, Arlete and Helga Carvalho, and a former spouse, court documents show.
A woman in a blazer looks into the camera. Tanya Pagliaroli, the lawyer representing the estate’s executor, says the dog is a ‘beloved’ member of the family and was stolen by Verma. (Zoom) Even so, Verma maintains the dog is hers. She also claims that she should be entitled to the dog since she was Leonard’s common-law spouse when he died.
His sisters argue that the dog was never gifted to Verma, and that, as Carvalho’s property at the time of his death, it should be considered part of his estate, of which Arlete is the executor. The case is focusing new attention on how the law views pets. In most provinces, including Ontario, animals are viewed as property. But earlier this year, British Columbia became the first province to redefine how pets are viewed by the courts, amending its Family Law Act so that they are now considered unique entities in separation and divorce cases.
Instead of being treated as property, like a table or chair, courts there now decide an animal’s ownership based on a person’s ability and willingness to care for it, on any relationship between the pet and a child, and risks of animal cruelty. A woman in a chequered jacket, standing outside in a park, smiles for the camera. Verma’s lawyer Miranda Desa has appealed the ruling, saying her client would suffer ‘irreparable harm’ without the dog. (Mike Smee/CBC) Victoria Shroff, a Vancouver lawyer who specializes in the law as it relates to animals, says she believes B.C. is setting an example for other jurisdictions. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we got copycat legislation in other provinces,” she said. “Animals are no longer being treated as toasters.” The day after Leonard died, Verma went to his Mississauga, Ont., house and brought Rocco home with her, court documents show. But his sisters allege Verma stole the dog and launched a civil case that has so far cost over $200,000, according to court documents.
Rocco Junior is just over a year old with a glossy grey coat and a tongue that often flops out of the side of his mouth he’s also the subject of an unprecedented legal battle in Ontario scheduled to unfold this summer. “It was just shocking to me that this can even happen,” Aliesha Verma, an Etobicoke, Ont. resident currently in possession of the mixed breed pup, told CTV News Toronto in an interview in early June. “I’m very scared and the thought is unbearable. Verma, 33, says the dog was given to her as a gift in February 2022 by her late boyfriend, Leonard Carvalho a claim that’s being disputed by Carvalho’s sister, who, as part of estate proceedings, has applied with the courts to have the dog handed over.
Verma says she lived with Leonard in his home prior to his death, and that Rocco has belonged to her since he was six weeks old. The amount of stress and anxiety Rocco would have to experience being separated from the only mother he’s known that’s just so terrifying for him,” she said.
When reached for comment, a legal representative for the Carvalho family told CTV News Toronto they would not provide comment on the matter while it remained before the courts. A notice of application filed on behalf of Carvalho’s sister, however, claims Verma was never the legal owner of Rocco, that she has repeatedly refused to return the dog, and that her possession of the dog remains unlawful. The hearing to determine Rocco’s fate is scheduled for Aug. 3 in a Brampton, Ont. courthouse. “This is the first estate case in Ontario establishing the ownership of a companion animal to go to litigation,” Verma’s lawyer Miranda Desa told CTV News Toronto.
The case also serves as a lens on the current legal treatment of companion animals in the country, Desa said. In Canada, pets are not awarded any familial rights in the eyes of the law – they’re treated as general property. “We’re dealing with a will that doesn’t even talk about Rocco,” Desa said. “There’s a general clause about property that they’re relying on to make these claims for Rocco.” In turn, if the courts were to side with Carvalho’s family, it would establish a legal foundation to pull animals away from pre-existing living conditions, even if they are not specifically named in a person’s estate planning.
