Two Options For Ensuring a Pet’s Care After the Owner’s Death

Pet owners have several options when it comes to providing for their pets after the owners have passed away. Two options available to pet owners are listed below:

Pet Trusts: Pet trusts have grown in popularity over the years, and many states specifically allow for a pet trust’s creation. When creating a pet trust, the pet owner decides when the trust takes effect (e.g., at death, at incapacitation, etc.), names a trustee, and chooses a caregiver. The trust should also contain the pet’s care instructions and detail what happens to the trust assets following the pet’s death.

Pet Guardians: Another way a pet owner can provide for a pet is to designate a pet guardian in his or her will. The pet owner should also provide the pet guardian with enough money to care for the pet. Two pitfalls of this technique are the inability to ensure things go as planned (i.e., the caregiver actually cares for the pet) and the potential tax consequences of the guardian’s inherited funds. To help counter these pitfalls, many not-for-profit pet guardian programs will provide care for a pet following the owner’s death. Many of the programs are animal specific, so they tend to be well suited for both traditional pets like dogs and cats and exotic pets like tortoises, pigs, and llamas.

See Deborah L. Jacobs, If You Love Your Dog (Or Cat Or Gerbil) Read This, Forbes, Feb. 14, 2012.

For more information on planning for your pets, see Gerry W. Beyer & Barry Seltzer, Fat Cats & Lucky Dogs – How to Leave (Some of) Your Estate to Your Pets (2010).