Pet owners are turning to their financial advisors for guidance, Margarida Correla reports in financial-planning.com. Most of the upswing, Correla notes, is coming from young, single individuals who have not yet settled down but who are committed to their pets and concerned about who would take care of the pet should they die. But for people of all ages who live alone, removed from family members, pets play an important role as companions, and the number of people planning for pet care is notable, with more than four in ten pet owners making financial arrangements for pet care. “They’re part of the family,” as one advisor puts it. “If you care for them and want to make sure they’re taken care of, you have to have a contingency plan for them or else they end up at the Humane Society.”
At Geyer Law, estate planning steps and choices we recommend to pet owners include:
- microchipping each pet’s unique ID number
- designating a pet caretaker
- designating a trustee or representative to distribute the money to the caretaker over time
- setting up an “animal care panel” (consisting of veterinarian and other professionals to check on the pet to make sure care is happening in the manner intended)
- bequeathing pets to nonprofit pet sanctuaries where the pets can stay until a proper home is found for them
Important facts to consider in deciding how much money to transfer to a pet trust:
- type of animal and what the life expectancy is for that type of animal
- the standard of living you wish to provide
- what is to happen when the caretaker is on vacation, out of town, or in the hospital
- whether transferring an unreasonably large sum of money to a pet trust might encourage other heirs to contest the trust
Our work at Geyer Law is dedicated to helping clients provide for those who have been important in their lives. Quite often, that list of heirs includes our clients’ beloved pets.
