Planning for Your Pet's Future in Your Estate

Can you leave money directly to a pet?

No. The law treats animals as property, and one piece of property can't own another piece of property, so you can't hand your pet cash or other assets outright. What you can do is build a plan that gives your pet a good life once you're gone. Your estate plan should accomplish two things:

1. make sure a caring person or organization takes your pet in, and
2. make sure that new caretaker has what they need to look after your pet properly.

Ways to plan for your pet's future

You have several options for arranging your pet's care after you're gone, ranging from a simple, informal understanding, to a detailed trust, to handing your pet's care off to an organization built for exactly this purpose.

Whichever route you choose, you'll need someone — a person or an organization — you trust to take on the job, and that person or group has to actually agree to it. Before you finalize anything, have an honest talk with your pet's future caretaker about day-to-day care and who will cover the costs.

Naming a caretaker in your will

Remember, your will can't leave money or property directly to your pet. If you try, that gift folds back into your residuary estate — see "What happens without a plan?" below.

What your will or living trust can do is leave your pet, along with funds for their care, to a caretaker you name.

Example: leaving a pet in a will

Ben's health is declining, and he worries about what will happen to Sarah, his four-year-old lab mix, after he's gone. He asks his brother John to take her in. John loves Sarah and wants to help, but money is tight, and he isn't sure he can cover her food, vet visits, and boarding. Ben decides to leave Sarah to John in his will, along with extra money earmarked for her care.

This works in the sense that Sarah legally becomes John's dog. But John has no legal duty to spend the money on her care — it's his outright. If he spent it on something else entirely, there'd be no legal way to stop him.

It's also wise to name a backup caretaker — and talk with them too — in case your first choice can't step in.

A clause like this might appear in Ben's will:

I leave my black lab mix, Sarah, and $1,500 to John Henderson, with the hope that the money will be used for Sarah's care and maintenance. If John Henderson does not survive me, I leave Sarah and $1,500 to Jenny Berg, with the hope that the money will be used for Sarah's care and maintenance.

Pet trusts

A firmer — and pricier — option is setting up a pet trust. A trust lets you leave your pet, money, and a binding legal duty to care for them: if the caretaker doesn't follow your instructions, they can be taken to court. In the trust document, you typically:

• Specify that pets are covered.
• Name a caretaker.
• Set aside money for your pet's care.
• Spell out how your pet should be cared for.
• Name someone who can go to court to enforce the trust's terms if needed.
• Decide what happens to any leftover money once your pet dies.
• Describe how your pet should be cared for if you become unable to care for them before your death.

The upside of a pet trust: it creates an enforceable duty of care, holds the caretaker accountable for the money you leave behind, and can take effect if you become incapacitated, not just after death.

The downside: pet trusts cost more to set up, they're harder to adjust if circumstances change later, and they may be more structure than you need if you fully trust the caretaker you've chosen.

Every state allows pet trusts. Learn more about setting up a pet trust.

Sanctuary and rescue programs

If you can't find someone both willing and able to take your pet in, you still have options. A number of programs around the country exist specifically to take in pets after an owner dies, including:

• SPCA programs
• veterinary school programs, and
• private animal sanctuaries and rescue organizations.

Informal, non-legal arrangements

The simplest and most flexible option skips the legal paperwork entirely. If you fully trust your executor and the person who'll take in your pet, and no one else is likely to lay claim to your pet, you can simply tell your executor who should get your pet when you die. As long as everyone agrees, your pet will go to the caretaker you had in mind without any complications.

Example: an informal arrangement

Sylvia and Henry are newlyweds. Each has a simple will leaving everything to the other, and each has named the other as executor. Sylvia brought a Siamese cat, Oscar, into the marriage.

Henry and Oscar merely tolerate each other. Sylvia tells Henry that if she dies, her mother — who adores Oscar — has agreed to take him, and she's sure no one else would want him. If Sylvia dies first, Henry can simply hand Oscar over to her mother without any trouble.

But if there's any chance someone might dispute who gets your pet, it's worth putting the arrangement in writing — either in your will or through a pet trust.

What happens without a plan?

If your estate plan doesn't address your pet, who ends up with them depends on whatever other arrangements you have — or don't have — in place. With a will, your pet passes to your residuary beneficiary, the person named to receive whatever's left of your estate after specific gifts are handed out. Without a will, your pet — like the rest of your property — passes under your state's intestate succession laws, so the exact outcome depends on where you live. Read more about intestate succession.

This overview draws on legal analysis originally credited to Betsy Simmons Hannibal, Attorney.