Dog custody conflict
My friend passed away unexpectedly. He leaves behind a year old golden doodle. His girlfriend of nine months and his family both want custody of the dog. His girlfriend lives in South Carolina and his family lives in Las Vegas. Our friend does not have a will indicating who he wanted ownership of the dog to go to. The girlfriend does have medical records from the vet stating the she was a co owner of the dog. Our friend bought the dog and had her for a couple of months before moving in with his girlfriend. Any legal advice for how this situation might resolve itself would be appreciated. Specifically if there is a section of the law I could point to to show the involved parties what the probably outcome of civil court would be, that would be highly beneficial to keep them out of court in this trying time.