Furry Friends Need Estates Too

I saw this article in the news and it made me think…how many of us have pets that would need to be cared for in the event of our untimely death? When my little sweetheart was still alive, it seemed hard enough to find someone to watch her for a week while we went on vacation, let alone for the rest of her life.

https://www.thestar.com/life/advice/2019/09/03/be-paw-pared-estate-planning-for-your-pets.html

Those of us that have pets know that the worst part about having a pet is the fact that it is nearly inevitable that we will have to say goodbye to them at some point in our lives. Unfortunately however, we never expect the unexpected, but what would happen to our beloved pets if we were to die before them?

A current trend in estate planning is to make sure we make accommodations for our pets. Meanwhile, I don’t believe “trend” is actually the appropriate term, as it seems like common sense that we would want to make sure our furry family members are taken care of if we aren’t there to take care of them ourselves. I think estate planning for our pets is here to stay, and rightfully so.

The things we take into consideration when including pets in our estate plans are first, who would we want to take in our pet, second, what means can we set aside for this person to provide for our pets and finally, how will we provide these means to our pet’s named caregiver?

It’s likely you have heard of Leona Helmsley, aka The Queen of Mean. When she died in 2007, she left her dog Trouble with a $12 million dollar trust. The court did not uphold this trust, as it deemed $12M to be excessive, and it reduced the amount to $2M (which still seems like an awful lot to care for a pet, amiright?).

BUT, New York law considers pets to be personal property, like a handbag. So technically, a pet cannot be the beneficiary of a trust. For this reason, careful planning is necessary. We must choose a guardian that we trust for our pets. We can then choose to leave any money for the pet’s care to that person outright or you can establish a trust, however the guardian, and not the pet, would be the beneficiary of the trust. And it would be the trustee’s responsibility to disburse money pursuant to the terms of the trust to care for the pet. Keep in mind, the pet guardian and trustee can be the same person.

Keeping all of this in mind, when planning for your pet after your death, it makes sense to have an idea of how much money may be needed to care for your pet annually and to make provisions in your will to not only choose a caregiver, but to also determine whether you’ll give this person an outright sum of money, or allocate funds to be put in trust if they accept your pet. You also may want to include that the caregiver is entitled to keep any leftover money for themselves, as incentive to commit to caring for your pet. It also helps to name a backup caregiver in the event your caregiver is unwilling or unable to care for your pet.

In my opinion, the most important part of all of this is choosing a trusted caregiver and having a conversation with them about all of this. Ask them if they would be willing to take in your pet should you die, and make sure they know how important this responsibility is to you. Be upfront with this person and let them know your expectations; if all goes well, you can rest easy knowing that your pet will be well taken care of in the event of your untimely death.