(Spencer Burnett)
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A routine divorce proceeding has escalated into all-out war — over the custody of a dog named Lucy.
The dogfight, which has ripped a family apart, features, in one corner, Margaret Healy of Brooklyn and her brother, James O’Hanlon.
In the other corner is Susan McCarthy, who is James’ estranged wife, and her daughter, Slaney O’Hanlon.
Caught in the middle is Lucy the goldendoodle, a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle.
Lucy has been cared for by Margaret for two years, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
She said James gave her the dog when Susan and Slaney moved out of their Manhasset, LI, home, leaving behind Lucy and another dog.
But after the second dog, Lady, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, died, Slaney and her mother made two trips to Brooklyn to demand Lucy’s return, the filings say.
“They walked out and never came back for the dogs,” said Healy, who holds the license for Lucy.
“If they were my dogs, I would have taken them with me even if I was going to live in the street.
“They never came to see the dogs or inquired after the dogs.”
She claims that last month, after Lady died, Susan left her a threatening voice mail “replete with curses, hatred and intimidation’’ demanding Lucy’s return. She also said that Susan and Slaney tried to run her off the road as part of a “campaign of threats.”
Susan said she regrets losing her cool on the voicemail but denied chasing Healy’s car.
She said Lucy is being used as a pawn in a nasty divorce and that Slaney is suffering the most.
“She lost her father, she lost her home,” Susan said. “All she wants is her dog.”
Susan said that Lucy had been implanted with a microchip listing Slaney as the owner three years ago.
Slaney said both dogs had been given to her as gifts and that Margaret was supposed to look after them only until she was out of school.
She said she couldn’t visit the pooches because of another complication in the tangled family drama. Margaret’s husband, Walter, is her father’s lawyer in the divorce.
“Unfortunately I’m caught up in my parents’ divorce,” she said.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Sylvia Ash ordered Slaney and her mom to stay away from Margaret and to refrain from trying to get Lucy back until the case is heard in court.
James, a psychologist who with Susan owns part of two restaurants, said Slaney and her mother abandoned the dogs and he was unable to care for them.
“I totally transferred ownership to my sister [Margaret],” he said. “Since that day, the dogs have had a wonderful life.”