Besides children, pets are perhaps given more thought when formulating estate plans than any one other living being. The love and affection that can develop between an owner and their animal can be as deep and enduring as between two people. As a result, there is a great desire to provide for an animal after death, but making sure it happens is not quite as easy as leaving a bequest to another person. Often, individuals will enter into an informal arrangement with friends or family to care for a pet but this could be a problem since no enforceable obligations will imposed. Open ended funding arrangements can also be a problem since those receiving money have been known to cover up the death of the animal to continue getting money. The best way to go about planning for pets is to create a set sum gift that should cover the animals expenses until it dies that also imposes an obligation on the person taking care of the pet. While there is no ironclad way to protect an animal after the death of the owner, steps can be taken to offer at least some guarantees of proper care.
See Brenda Bouw, Pets thrown a bone in family wills, The Globe and Mail, March 9, 2016.
Special thanks to Barry Seltzer for bringing this article to my attention.
