Planning for Your Pets
I am sitting here in my home office working and feeling a little blue as my oldest daughter Emma is supposed to be enjoying a week of graduation ceremonies at Utah State University where she has worked so hard for the last four years. Of course graduation ceremonies are one of the casualties of the coronavirus. We will go through this again in a few weeks with my son Henry who is a senior in high school. By the way, they are the ones on either end in the picture. When I look out the front window I see our dog Rosie sunning herself on the front walk and it makes me smile. Rosie is part golden retriever and part basset hound. She is a great dog. She has been with us for about ten years and is really a part of our family. In this time of worldwide pandemic, people are rightly concerned for their health and safety and for those they love. For many that includes their pets, like Rosie. Pet owners have a very real sense of responsibility to care for their pets, even when they themselves are no longer able to care for them.
Most states have adopted some form of pet trust legislation that lets you be assured your wishes regarding your pets will be carried out. A pet trust can be a great tool for making sure that happens. When setting up a pet trust, you will want to think about your desires, your pet's needs and how best to accomplish your goals. Consider the following:
As with any beneficiary, make sure your pet is clearly identified to prevent a different animal from benefiting from the trust. This is especially important if the pet is valuable or a large sum of money is involved. This can be accomplished with photos, veterinary records, a microchip, even DNA testing.
You may want to name one person to manage the funds and a separate person to be the caretaker. While you can name one person to have both responsibilities, it can be good to divide them and have one person be accountable to the other.
Name successor trustees and caretakers in case your initial choice is unable or unwilling to act. Include a sanctuary or shelter of last resort if none of your chosen caretakers survives the pet or is able to serve.
You may want to require that the caretaker sign an agreement to provide proper care and relinquish that care to a successor if the promised care is not or cannot be provided.
The trust should define what proper care is. For example, expenses could include food, housing, veterinary and dental care, toys, exercise routines, grooming, compensation for persons caring for the pet, and burial/cremation fees. Farm animals, race horses and other large or valuable animals could require a full-time caretaker.
Liability insurance should be considered to cover any potential damage caused by the pet to persons and/or property.
Consider carefully how much money will be needed to fund the trust to provide for this care. If you don't have the assets, a life insurance policy on your life may be the way to provide the needed funds.
Will the trust end when the pet dies, or will it continue for the pet's descendants? In some states, that is not an option. What do you want to happen to any remaining funds? Do you want them to go to family members or to a charity?
Even if you don’t want to take the step of leaving a financial bequest to care for your pets, at a minimum, you should consider where they will go once you are gone. Good estate planning always means that you are being proactive in making decisions and not leaving things to chance. Make sure you do the same for your pets.
This post is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing herein creates an attorney-client relationship between Hallock & Hallock and the reader.