Well-being
Courts may weigh welfare, safety, health, vulnerability, and quality of life.
Companion Animal Custody Equity Act
Rosie’s Law
is now Illinois law.
✦
Beginning January 1, 2027, Illinois courts may consider a companion animal’s well-being and caregiving history in possession disputes.
ILLINOIS
A more just standard
for companion animals
for companion animals
House Bill4540
Public Act104-0613
JurisdictionIllinois
EffectiveJanuary 1, 2027
Latest update
Public Act 104-0613
Enacted from HB 4540, signed July 24, 2026, and effective January 1, 2027.
Official Illinois recordThe law
A framework that lets courts see the animal at the center of the case.
The CACE Act preserves property-law principles while giving courts express guidance to consider welfare, caregiving, continuity, and safety.
Caregiving history
Daily care, medical support, training, financial contributions, and established routines can be considered.
Practical relief
Courts may issue temporary caregiving orders, limited visitation, or mediation where appropriate.
Public Act 104-0613
The CACE Act takes effect January 1, 2027.
About the initiative
Lived experience became a public legal framework.
Rosie’s Law Initiative is a civil-equity and animal-welfare advocacy effort created to modernize how Illinois courts resolve companion-animal possession disputes. The initiative grew from a legal gap exposed by Rosie’s case and transformed that lived experience into research, proposed statutory language, public education, and legislative advocacy.
Visit Justice for Rosie
Founder · One of Rosie’s mamas
Tameer Siddiqui, PsyD
Tameer is one of Rosie’s mamas, a clinical psychologist, and the founder of Rosie’s Law Initiative. Her experience as Rosie’s primary caregiver exposed a gap in Illinois law and led her to research, draft, and bring the original statutory framework for the Companion Animal Custody Equity Act to Illinois lawmakers. She brings psychological research, lived experience, and legislative vision to the work of modernizing companion-animal custody law.
director@rosieslaw.us
Social Advocacy & Policy Outreach Coordinator
Hassan Mustafa
Hassan leads day-to-day policy coordination and stakeholder outreach for Rosie’s Law Initiative. He played an essential role in securing legislative sponsorship and serves as the initiative’s primary point of contact. His work keeps communication clear, relationships aligned, and the effort moving forward throughout the policy process.
contact@rosieslaw.usLegal timeline
From Rosie’s case to Illinois law.
A direct record of the legal gap, the court case that exposed it, and the legislative response that followed.
01
A separation exposed the legal gap.
According to the appellate filing, Rosie was removed after the end of a long-term relationship without an agreement or court process. Tameer documented years of daily care, medical support, routines, and primary responsibility.
02
Return, visitation, and mediation were requested.
Informal efforts did not restore contact. With no clear legal pathway for a non-marital companion-animal dispute, the matter moved toward court.
Read the contemporaneous public account03
A replevin action was filed.
The case was brought in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Fourth Municipal District: No. 25M4004358. The claim asked a property-law court to confront evidence about caregiving, attachment, and Rosie's well-being.
04
The old property framework controlled.
Judgment was entered under the law then in force. The proceeding demonstrated how little room existed for a court to evaluate Rosie's lived relationships or allow her preferences to inform the outcome.
Watch the courtroom example cited in the case05
The case moved to appeal.
Siddiqui v. X, No. 1-25-2449, asked the appellate court to examine the limits of treating a companion animal dispute as an ordinary contest over property.
06
The first statutory framework was drafted.
The legal gap became a legislative proposal: an original packet, executive summary, and draft bill language for the Companion Animal Custody Equity Act.
07
HB 4540 entered the Illinois General Assembly.
Representative Barbara Hernandez filed the bill. Senator Linda Holmes later became chief Senate sponsor, carrying the framework into the second chamber.
08
The General Assembly passed the measure.
The Illinois House approved HB 4540 by a vote of 72–38. The Illinois Senate followed, 52–7.
09
Rosie’s Law became Public Act 104-0613.
Governor JB Pritzker signed the Companion Animal Custody Equity Act into law.
10
The CACE Act takes effect.
Illinois courts gain express guidance for considering companion-animal well-being and caregiving evidence in possession disputes.
Origins of the Act
The first working language of Rosie’s Law.
The first Companion Animal Custody Equity Act statutory framework.
In December 2025, Rosie’s Law began as a founder-drafted legislative packet, executive summary, and proposed bill text. These early documents translated a specific failure of existing law into a focused question for lawmakers: how should courts resolve companion-animal disputes when caregiving, continuity, and welfare matter deeply to the animal’s life?
The official text was refined through the legislative process. The archive below preserves the original working documents as a transparent record of how the initiative began.
Archive note: these PDFs are preserved as historical working documents. The enacted statute is Public Act 104-0613.
Public resource library
Take a volume from the shelf.
Every document opens here—no Drive access request, no new account. Read in the full-size viewer or download the file.
The official four-page Companion Animal Custody Equity Act.
Two concise ways to understand the legal gap, purpose, and framework.
Dr. Tameer Siddiqui’s proponent testimony before the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee.
A bio-psycho-social-legal framework for companion-animal custody.
View on OSFA preserved record of reporting and public coverage of Rosie’s Law.
Rosie’s Law Public LibraryEstablished 2025
Press & public record
The record is alive—and Rosie’s name traveled.
Explore reporting from People, NBC Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times, WBEZ, WGN Radio, The Dodo, AVMA, legal analysts, and animal-law organizations. The archive also separates independent coverage from the official legislative record.
PEOPLENBC CHICAGOCHICAGO SUN-TIMESWBEZWGN RADIOTHE DODOAVMA
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