Peacock Tales
Volume 18, Number 1 · January 2008Including Pets in Your Estate Planning
by Prior to November 2006, Pennsylvanians could not provide an enforceable plan for the care of their pets in the event of their own incapacity or death. In July 2006 the Pennsylvania legislature adopted the pet trust provision of the Uniform Trust Code, which became effective on November 6, 2006. You can now create a trust for the care and maintenance of companion animals, including dogs, cats, reptiles, birds, fish, and any other animal considered a pet. To qualify for coverage under the trust, the companion animal must be alive or in gestation during your lifetime. The trust terminates at the death of the last surviving animal covered by the trust.
When creating a pet trust it is important to name a trustee, a caretaker, and someone to enforce the trust. The trustee, who may be the same person as the caretaker, supplies funds to the caretaker who provides hands-on care for the pet. Since the animal, as beneficiary of the trust, cannot complain about poor care, the person designated to enforce the trust may act on the animal's behalf. If no one is named to enforce the trust, the court can appoint someone. As with most trusts, anyone with an interest in the well being of the beneficiary may request the court to appoint a person to enforce the trust or remove a person not upholding the instructions set forth in the trust.
It is also important that the trust be funded. Funding should not be extravagant. Unless provided for otherwise in the trust, funds remaining in the trust at the time of the pet's death will either revert back to you, if you are still living, or, if you predecease the animal, to your heirs or the beneficiaries under your will.
Over-funding a pet trust was a newsworthy occasion in the estate of Leona Helmsley who left her dog, a white Maltese named Trouble, $12 million in trust for the dog's care and maintenance. The dog's life span and needs likely will require expenditure of only a fraction of the trust fund. If Ms. Helmsley did not direct where the excess funds would go after Trouble dies, the funds would be distributed as directed by law, which may not reflect Ms. Helmsley's wishes.
You should address details regarding the care and maintenance of your pet in the trust such as which veterinarian, groomer, kennel, medications and brand of food to use, and identifying your pet's fears, likes, dislikes, and more. You may draft the trust in general terms to cover any pets you own at the time of your incapacity or death, or the trust can be for a specific animal.
As with any trust, you must be of sound mind when executing the pet trust, and it must be in writing, must state your intention to create a trust, and it must be signed.