Insurance pays for pets' legal eagles

Insurance pays for pets' legal eagles

Jason and Stella Hulott have around 50 pets and more rescued animals

An animal-loving couple have taken out an insurance policy to ensure their pets get good legal representation if they divorce.

Stella and Jason Hulott from Kent have around 50 pets - and have many more creatures in their home which doubles up as an animal rescue centre.

They are paying £100 a year for a policy which will give their pets £25,000 for a solicitor should the couple divorce and argue over custody of the animals.

And they hope it will stop them fighting like cats and dogs over their cats and dogs.

No divorce plans

Mr and Mrs Hulott, who live in Frindsbury, near Rochester, are keen to point out they have no plans to divorce.

It's not for our sake, it's for the animals

Stella Hulott

But they know anything might happen in the future and they do not want it to be the pets who get hurt.

They have already drawn up an amicable agreement over who gets custody of which pets - Mrs Hulott gets the five cats and Mr Hulott all the smaller animals.

Even though that means he has to care for dozens more animals than his wife, Mr Hulott says he is happy with the arrangement.

"In my mind it's a good deal, because the cats are a lot more demanding and the small animals are a lot easier," he said.

Mrs Hulott will keep the cats if the couple split up

However, they realise arguments might ensue despite the unlikely deal and have taken the insurance policy out as result to give the animals a legal voice in any custody battle.

Mrs Hulott said: "We had some friends who do similar to us, run a rescue centre and have a lot of pets, and they split up.

"The woman literally walked out on her husband and he was left with over 100 pets.

"He couldn't cope, he sort of went to pieces and we didn't want that to happen to us.

"It's not for our sake, it's for the animals, it's very very stressful for an animal if something like that happens."