Why More Couples Are Getting Petnups Before They Even Get Engaged

A few years ago, a petnup was a curiosity. Something that appeared in lifestyle journalism alongside other slightly unusual relationship planning ideas. Today it is becoming something more mainstream — and a growing number of couples are creating one before they are even engaged.

The trend makes more sense than it might initially appear.

What is driving the shift

Three things have changed simultaneously in ways that make the petnup more relevant now than it has ever been.

Pet ownership has increased significantly. The pandemic accelerated a trend that was already underway. UK pet ownership increased sharply between 2020 and 2022 and has remained elevated. The Pet Food Manufacturers' Association estimates that around 57 percent of UK households now own a pet. Many of those pets were acquired by couples who were cohabiting but not married.

The legal landscape has shifted. The FI v DO ruling in December 2024 explicitly moved away from purchase price as the determining factor in pet disputes and towards caregiving history. This made it clearer than it has ever been that a documented written agreement — made when a relationship is good — carries genuine weight if things change.

Cultural attitudes to relationship planning have changed. Prenuptial agreements, once seen as the preserve of the wealthy or the pessimistic, are now widely understood as sensible financial planning. A petnup, as a much simpler document covering a much more emotionally significant asset for many couples, follows the same logic.

Why before engagement specifically

The trend towards petnups before engagement is not accidental. It reflects something real about when a petnup is most useful and most achievable.

The period when a couple first gets a pet together — or when an existing pet becomes genuinely shared between two people who have moved in together — is the natural moment for a petnup. Both people are focused on the animal. The relationship is healthy. There is no history of grievance to navigate. The document that results is almost always fairer and more genuinely agreed than one produced later.

Engagement brings its own planning conversations — rings, venues, families, finances. Adding a petnup to that list is possible but it competes with a lot. Getting it done earlier, when it is the natural conversation to have, is simpler.

What a pre-engagement petnup covers

A petnup created when a couple first gets or shares a pet covers the same ground as one created at any other point. Our step by step guide to writing a petnup covers the full detail. The core areas are:

• Who is the primary keeper and where the pet lives as their main home
• How day-to-day care is divided
• How costs including insurance, food and vet care are split
• What would happen to the pet if the relationship ended
• How significant health decisions are made
• What would happen if one person needed to move

A pre-engagement petnup is likely to be simpler than one created later because the living situation is more straightforward. The couple is probably living together in one home. The pet has one established routine. The what-if questions can be addressed cleanly without the complication of existing separate households.

Is it pessimistic?

The most common objection to a petnup at any stage is that it implies an expectation that things will go wrong. This objection is more persistent than it is convincing.

Life insurance does not imply an expectation of death. Home contents insurance does not imply an expectation of burglary. A will does not imply an expectation of imminent death. All of these are things that sensible adults do precisely because they cannot predict what will happen — not because they expect the worst.

A petnup created before engagement is an expression of how much both people care about the animal. It is a commitment to making sure the pet is protected whatever happens, made at a moment when both people are in the best possible position to be fair.

The conversation as a relationship tool

Many couples who have been through the process of creating a petnup report that the conversation itself was valuable independently of the document.

Going through the questions together — who would the pet live with, how would costs work, what would happen if one person moved for work — surfaces assumptions and expectations that both people held but had never made explicit. For most couples these conversations go well. Occasionally they reveal meaningful differences in how both people think about the animal and the relationship that are better addressed early than later.

Our guide to how to talk to your partner about a petnup covers how to frame the conversation in a way that feels natural rather than loaded.

The practical case

A petnup created through Pawsettle's petnup builder costs nothing on the free tier and takes around twenty minutes. It produces a clean, formatted document that both people can sign and keep.

Against the cost in time and money of a pet dispute that was not anticipated and not planned for, twenty minutes is a trivial investment.

What happens to the petnup if you do get engaged

A petnup created before engagement does not need to be replaced when you get engaged or married. It remains a valid written record of what you both agreed. It may be worth reviewing it at the point of marriage — circumstances may have changed, your living arrangement may be different — but it does not expire.

If you are creating a prenuptial agreement at the point of engagement, your solicitor may suggest incorporating the petnup provisions into the broader agreement or cross-referencing it. Either approach is workable.

The bottom line

The couples creating petnups before they are engaged are not pessimists. They are people who love their pet and have taken the time to make sure that love is backed by a clear, written plan. The trend is growing because it makes straightforward sense — and because the legal and cultural context has shifted in ways that make a written agreement more valuable than it has ever been.

Pawsettle guides couples through creating a petnup in a few simple steps. It is not a legal service. For advice on your specific situation please consult a qualified family solicitor.