Providing for Pets in Your Will

My husband and I are redoing our wills, and I want to add provisions for our cats, but I am wondering how this is usually done. Have you designated someone(s) to take your cats? Does the person get financial compensation for your cats' care? We are meeting with the attorney again next week to finalize the wills, and I'm hoping I can add something fairly simple to provide for our kitties. If you guys could tell me how you have handled this, it would be very appreciated!

My pets go back to their breeders, should something happen to both of us. Even the reptiles.

We have our will made out and have included my brother and SIL as guardians for all cats we may have at the time of his, my, or our deaths. We set aside a generous amount of money for their care. We didn't do this without first talking to my brother and SIL....they said they would be honored to care for the furkids. (They are big cat lovers, too, so it will work out.)

I need to have ours set up. There's simply no rescues around here to help find them homes if something happens, and I know family would just throw them outside and not provide vet care. Heck my dad would do that, say "they're just cats" and go by himself a new truck... The in-laws don't really like cats.
I really want it to be set up that all but the money from our life insurance needed to cover funerals gets frozen unless responsible care/solutions are provided for our pets. That would mean no one could touch close to $480k of it otherwise.... but I need a rescue to work with. :/

Thanks for the responses!

strange_wings, you can set up a trust with the terms you describe, with a trustee who makes sure your wishes are carried out. The trustee can be government-appointed if you don't have someone in mind.

Also, life insurance does not go into a will, it is completely separate and the money goes directly to the beneficiary upon the policy holder's death. That's why life insurance never goes through probate (and isn't taxed as inheritance income). It sounds like you need a trust in addition to a will.

Pets are considered property by law, and are usually treated as such, and surrendered to shelters if the owner(s) die. I'm trying to avoid the additional cost of setting up a trust just for the cats, and hoping I can include a clause or something in the wills. It might not be that simple, though.

We've just had our first and only (so far) pet for a month and have thought about this but not worked out anything formally - which we will have to do. When I was being interviewed by the rescue before the adoption, one of the interviewers asked me this question and I was totally taken by surprise and told her that I had not thought about it. The only person I would trust is my sister, who lives in Germany. I asked her and she is more than happy to take Calvin, in case something happened to both of us but it will mean Calvin will have to go to Germany. This has been part of my conversation with my sister which was primarily about living wills etc. We'll have to legalize things sooner than later.

When I made up my will, I had specified my sister to be their caretaker...and have set aside a sum of money to be used for their care. Now that my sister is gone....well, I guess I have a lot of changes to make to my will. I'm not really sure about anything any more. Certainly none of my friends or remaining relatives (aunts, cousins, etc.) would even remotely be interested in caring for my cats. I guess all I can hope for now is that I outlive them...

I have my cats in my will. When I worked in a law firm my boss did it for me.

His suggestions:

1. Don't put the pets names in the will because chances are by the time your will comes into effect, you may have different pets. Pets not named in the will are not covered by the will.

So when you do the will put in a clause something to the effect of "whatever pets that I may have at the time of my death." That covers all pets, present and future, not just the ones you have now.

2. Sit down and do a calculation of how much it costs per month for food, litter, toys, and medical expenses. Yes, don't forget the medical expenses. Think about things like yearly check ups, yearly dental cleanings, potential surgeries, medications for aging pets. I put my expenses at $3,000 per year, which I think is low when you factor in all of the above. A senior kitty can end up being pretty costly to maintain. A single vet visit for a check up and blood work where I live, can run over $500.00.

Once you have the total figure per year for vet, divide it into 12 to give you the monthly amount that the person will receive.

You can state that the money goes to the person on a monthly basis, or in a lump sum at the beginning of the year, each year until the pet dies. Or you can provide it all in a single sum, but it's difficult to predict how long an animal will live.... 7 year? 10? what happens if you provide for 15 years and the pet ends up living 25 years because of their excellent genes and care?

3. Make sure you include a clause that states that when the pet dies, that all monies revert back to the estate and are to be disposed of in accordance to your set out instructions.

This is very timely for me because I've been thinking about this for a long time and I intend to get it taken care of in the next few months.

My plan is to name a caretaker (after ok-ing it with them) and leaving a lump sum.

I have already been considering how in the future I will not be adopting young cats. My life expectancy is 15-20 more years. I may live a lot longer, or I may die sooner. But, with the lifespan of many of the cats I've had in my life being about 18 years, I'm figuring that I will, hopefully, outlive the cats I now have, aged 3-6.

There are many cats in shelters over 8 years that are considered senior cats. Some are there because their owners died or went into nursing homes. I will be picking these cats in the future, when I have an opening in my home.

Robin

This is for you Pookie-poo. I'm so sorry about your sister.

Linda, thanks for the information! I believe the amount given to the caretaker would have to be in a lump sum if it's in a will, right? Once the will is probated and the estate is dispersed, the executor's duties are finished & it's over. I'm thinking one would need a trust (once again) that specifies where money goes and how much, with a trustee making it happen...

You guys are all giving me things to think about!

I am working with an attorney here now re: this very subject. I am going to name my boyfriend as guardian/trustee for any pets who survive me. Money will be set aside... Michigan is one of a few states that recognizes the legal right to leave money in trust for pets. It's called a companion animal trust.

I plan to increase my life insurance, too, now that I have "dependents."

I have no kids and my family would not take in any cats, I can be sure of that. So I don't plan to leave them any assets either. They don't need it.

Kelli-Jo/Pookie-poo ... can you designate a rescue to take any cats who survive you? And work it out with them. I am sure they would take a bequest.

Originally Posted by SwampWitch

This is for you Pookie-poo.

I'm so sorry about your sister.

Linda, thanks for the information! I believe the amount given to the caretaker would have to be in a lump sum if it's in a will, right? Once the will is probated and the estate is dispersed, the executor's duties are finished & it's over. I'm thinking one would need a trust (once again) that specifies where money goes and how much, with a trustee making it happen...

You guys are all giving me things to think about!

Click to expand...

You're welcome. When I worked in a law firm, I worked with Wills and Estates and drafted up many Wills for the lawyer's final approval. I did up my own will when I was there and my boss reviewed it and provided the changes I would need for the pets.

The money doesn't have to be in a lump sum. You can set up a trust and have someone manage it. However, the person managing it is also entitled to compensation.

If you give a lump sum, there is no guarantee the cat will live through the duration of the number of years calculated, and the person who took your cat would be on the honour system of returning the money to the executor to be dispensed according to your instructions. And again, what happens if the money you gave the person ran out and the cat still lived on? Do you trust that person to take on the expense of the standard of care that you wanted for your cat? IE: yearly check ups, the high standard of food? Or would you be happy if they went to a generic brand, and forewent the vet visits entirely and put the cat to sleep at the first indication of medical expenses coming out of their own pockets?

All I could ask for is someone to promise to take care of my cats as best as he/she can. The money would be to help with costs, not necessarily cover expenses to the penny. Someone hired to take care of the cats could get similar-looking replacement cats if needed and continue to receive payments from a trust, so there's no way to control everything from the grave (even if I'd want to).

Just want for our kitties to have a safe place with food and water, be looked after, and hopefully get some loving, too.