Estate planning is about protecting what is important to you. Although much of the traditional estate planning conversation focuses on surviving spouses, children, grandchildren, and charities, many pet parents wonder what could happen to their “furry children” after their death. Enter the pet trust. This tool can be easily incorporated into a new or existing estate plan to provide a strategy for your pet’s care. Even if you anticipate outliving your pets, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Most pet trusts are incorporated into the foundational document of your overall estate plan (i.e., either in a will or trust). In establishing a pet trust, you must determine how much money you want to leave for your pet’s care. When the pet trust becomes active (upon your death) and while your pet is alive, a trustee will manage the money you have set aside for your pet’s benefit. Second, you must decide on a caretaker who will have custody and responsibility for your pet’s care. Lastly, you will determine who will receive any remaining money in the trust after your pet’s death.
Frankly, it can be chaos for your pets if you die without a plan in place. With the shuffle of many other essential tasks, a pet can sometimes be overlooked, abandoned, or even euthanized. A pet trust provides a legal tool to ensure that your beloved dog, cat, or other pet is not left without care merely because you are no longer here. Proactively including a pet trust in your plan is especially important when you have family members who may be unable or unwilling to care for your beloved pets.
Getting your pet planning in order is a reasonably straightforward process. A pet trust is a trust, so let’s start with a quick review of the cast of characters in trusts. There is a grantor, settlor, or trustmaker (the person who creates the pet trust—that’s you!), the trustee (the person you select to manage the money or property in the trust), and the beneficiaries (the person or charity you choose to receive whatever money and property is left after the pet passes away).
In the case of a pet trust, there are four decisions you will need to make to ensure that everything works as you intend:
You might think you will outlive your pets, so there is no reason to plan. But what if you do not? The entire purpose of estate planning is to ensure that you have legally memorialized your wishes and fully protected your whole family—including your furry, four-legged children. Book a Discovery Call today so we can work with you to protect what is important to you.
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