Pet Trusts in Estate Planning: Caring for Your Furry Friends When You Are Gone

How can you care for a pet if you are gone?

The simple answer is: you can’t! Unless you have a plan in place. And by plan, I mean an estate plan. If you don’t know what an estate plan is, check out this blog. 

An estate plan is a set of legal documents that lay out how you would like your assets to be handled if you’re not able to do so yourself. Your pet is an asset. More than that, they are family. Like any family member, you want to be sure they are taken care of if something happens to you.

I have a Doberman/Australian Cattle Dog/Husky Mix named Donner that was a rescue. He is my best friend and favorite thing in the world. So of course I have a plan for him in place. If something were to happen to me, he’s going to move in with my best friend and there’s going to be money set aside for him to live a comfortable life. 

What Happens When You Die and Don’t Have a Pet Trust?

When I was in fourth grade, I got a Russian Tortoise that I named Lucky. She lived in my parents’ backyard for over twenty years. When my dad passed away (while I was deployed to Kuwait, no less), my apartment didn’t have a secure backyard for her and Donner definitely would not approve of sharing his space with a tortoise. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t have a plan in place for Lucky. On top of everything else going on, my mom and brother had to scramble to locate Lucky before they listed the house for sale (fun fact: Russian Tortoises spend most of the year in hibernation, so she was holed up somewhere in the yard). Luckily, during the estate sale, someone came up and said, “Did you know there’s a little tortoise in the yard?” and the team helping with the estate sale managed to secure her and helped rehome her. She now lives in Inglewood and is best friends with a Desert Tortoise. 

If we put a plan in place for Lucky, things would have been less stressful and certainly less tumultuous. My mom and I got into a pretty heated argument over what to do about Lucky. I wanted to figure out a way to keep her and my mom argued that there was no way I could provide her the same quality of life she had before. The fact that we didn’t have this uncomfortable conversation prior to my dad’s death made an already difficult situation that much worse. Luckily for us, it ended well.

If You Don’t Have a Plan, Your Pet May End Up in a Shelter

When I was chatting with a fellow attorney about pet trusts, he told me a horror story about a probate case that he had once handled. A woman passed away with no estate plan in place. She was a teacher and had three cats. When her family came in to clear out her things, none of them were able to take in her cats, so they took them to the local shelter. Some time passed and they ended up bumping into the teacher’s neighbor, who had informed them that the teacher wanted her to take the cats if anything happened to her and offered to pick them up. By the time they went to the shelter, the cats were no longer there. One of them was adopted and the other two were put down. 

To prevent an experience like mine and the one above, you can name your pets in your estate plan and give instructions on how you would like your pets to be cared for. 

What is a Pet Trust, and How Do I Set One Up?

You can create what’s called a “Pet Trust” by working with an estate planning attorney and having them designate your pet’s name, who you want to take care of the pet, and who you want to manage the finances for your pet. The pet trust will be added to your estate plan as a part of your trust or your will, depending on your situation. 

Unique Pet Plans 

I’ve done some interesting pet trusts. For one, I helped my client find possible rescues for her Desert Tortoise because she didn’t have anyone that could take him in. She designated who was going to be responsible for coordinating with the rescue to drop off the tortoise and designated how much money would be set aside for his care until he got to the rescue, and any remaining funds would be donated to the rescue. I’ve made similar arrangements for dog and cat owners with strict instructions not to take the pets to a shelter; they were only to be taken to a rescue with foster homes. In another instance, the parents wanted to ensure that if anything happened to them, their pets would go wherever their children went and designated the person and funds to take care of the pets. 

What Happens When My Pet’s Time is Up?

Euthanasia is a sensitive topic for many people. People often include a policy on euthanasia in their pet trusts. They will lay parameters for when euthanasia may be appropriate. This ensures that you have a say in how the end of your pet’s life is handled even after you’re gone. 

If you’d like, you can include instructions on the disposition of your pet’s remains after they pass away. This allows you to have a say in what is done with their remains and relieves your pet’s caretaker of the burden of deciding what to do while they are mourning the loss of your pet. 

You Can Plan for Your Pets in Your Own Estate Plan!

Pet trusts are a great tool for making sure your furry (or scaled or feathered) friend is taken care of after you’re gone. Not only does it give you peace of mind, it ensures that your pet goes where you want them to and your loved ones aren’t struggling (or fighting) to figure out where to take your pet if anything should happen to you.