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If Bob purchases a dog with his own money, and his wife Alice, with his permission, registers the dog with the Kennel Club, who owns the dog?

Someone
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pmacfarlane
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2 Answers2

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It doesn't matter who paid for it, and it doesn't matter who registered it. What matters is who entered into the contract to purchase it. If you pretend for a moment that the dog was collected from the seller without paying, who would the seller be entitled to sue for the money?

To work that out you need to look at what happened when the parties were negotiating for the purchase. Who, out of Bob and Alice, either made an offer which was accepted by the seller, or accepted an offer which was made by the seller? That will usually be the contracting party. However, it is possible for a person A to be acting as an agent for person B such that when A enters into a contract with a third party, they do so on behalf of B. For that to be the case, there would need to have been an agency agreement (which can be verbal) between A and B prior to the contract being entered into.

On the face of it in the scenario you describe, and without any other complicating factors, it sounds like Bob owns the dog.

JBentley
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In Germany, dog taxes are common in almost all towns. For those, you have to register your dogs with the government and most likely gain insurance. The owner is, who is signed up as owner in the dog tax records.

Trish
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