Can I create a trust for my pet?
Yes, you certainly can. In fact, pet trusts have started to catch on as a practical way to ensure that your pets are properly provided for in the event of your incapacity or death.
How does a pet trust work?
Working with your attorney, you will first need to determine who you would like to be in charge of administering the pets trust (the trustee) and who you would like to be the pet caregiver.
Ideally, the trustee and the caregiver would be two different persons or organizations to create some sense of check and balance, but that is not required. It’s also helpful to have a successor or backup trustee and alternate caregiver named if the primary caregiver isn’t able to take care of your pets for any reason.
If the caregivers named are unable to help, or if they fail to care for your pet in the manner provided by your trust document (or in line with your trustee’s expectations based on their understanding of your intent), then the trustee could replace the caregiver and find a better caregiver for your pets. This is particularly important if you are naming an organization to care for your pets.
Some clients will provide instruction on how often they would like to trustee to inspect / visit the let the make sure they are getting the proper care, but most trusts that I’ve done leave the frequency of such inspections to the discretion of the trustee.
How much money should I put in the trust?
Once you have the right people in mind, you’ll need to determine the appropriate amount of funds to leave in trust for your pets.
Consider how much you’ve historically paid for your pets’ care in the past (e.g., food, vet bills, toys, grooming, equipment and other services your pet may require like dog walking). Then multiply that by your pets’ lifetime expectancy - you’ll probably want to be on the more optimistic side of those projections just to be safe, and also add in a little bit extra for things the new pet caregiver may need to make their home better suited for your pets. For example, if you have dogs and are leaving them to a friend who doesn’t have a fenced-in yard, then you may want to leave extra money in the trust to allow them to hire a professional to install a fence.
You should also consider leaving money to or paying the caregiver for their time and effort. If you are leaving your pets in the care of an organization, then they’ll probably provide a pricing or fee schedule that you can rely upon to estimate costs, but if you are leaving your pets to be cared for by a friend then a more subjective approach is generally fine. For friend and family caregivers, clients usually do a larger amount up front and then an additional amount each year for the duration of the pet’s life.
Which brings you to the final cost - the pet's end of life arrangement, cremations, burial and other preferences you may have for your pet.
If you do have a trustee who is separate from the caregiver you may also consider giving them something for their time and effort - especially if they are doing routine pet inspections.
What other information should I include in my pet trust?
I generally don’t advise clients put this directly into their trust because if they want to add to it later, then you don’t want to have to hire an attorney to update the legal document, but I do recommend you provide a separate letter (that can be referenced in your trust document) that gives the trustee and caregiver a better understanding or your pet.
For example, what is your pet’s favorite foods, places to visit, and things to do. Your pet’s health/medical history and important contacts like your pet’s veterinarian, including full contact information.
You should also specify what happens to any money remaining in trust at the end of your pets’ lifetime. Do you want it going to a particular person, do you want to leave some to a pet charity or non profit organization, or some combination of the two? That should all be specified in your trust document.
Are there limitations on a pet trust?
Pet trusts are generally not designed to last indefinitely (but certainly check with an attorney in your state to confirm that). In other words, you’ll want the trust to have a termination date - usually upon the death of the last surviving pet owned by you at the time the trust comes into effect (e.g., at the time of your death or incapacity). In other words, you generally can’t have a continuing trust that lasts for multiple pet generations in the event that your pet has offspring after your death.
Also, most pet trusts are written in a way to account for pets as a class of beneficiaries, so you don’t necessarily need to update the trust if you have different pets at the time it comes into effect (although you’ll want to update the pet caregiver instructions letter I mentioned above in such an event).
Questions or concerns? Would you like me to review or create a trust for you? Click the click the link below to schedule a call with me today - I’m always happy to help!
