Howard On Pet Trusts

Provide for the Companion Animals in Your Life

What will happen to the animals in your life when you can't care for them due to disability or death? Will they be protected from neglect, abuse, and extermination? Will their care be interrupted during the red tape of your estate administration?

If you have sufficient resources, you can implement a holistic plan for your animal companions. That holistic plan will coordinate all of your estate planning documents to provide secure, uninterrupted, lifetime care.

The core of a typical holistic plan is a living trust that has been created or modified to include pet trust provisions. That pet trust will lie dormant until needed. When activated, the pet trust will become irrevocable and trigger the protections mandated by California law. Those protections include oversight or inspections by individuals with an interest in your animals, specific trust protectors you select, and non-profit animal benefit organizations.

You will nominate a successor trustee for your living trust and you will nominate the same or a different trustee for your pet trust. If you suffer a temporary disability, your successor trustee can step in and follow your pet care instructions as long as needed. If there is any delay in trust administration, your durable power of attorney will nominate someone, perhaps the trustee, to immediately act on your behalf without waiting for any legal red tape. When you die, your successor trustee will transfer the assets you select to irrevocably implement your pet trust with all its legal safeguards.

Because your situation and the animals in your life will change over time, it is rarely wise to commit substantial resources before they are needed. By coordinating all of your legal documents in a holistic fashion, you can protect your animal companions without loosing control of your assets. A holistic plan allows you to adjust your plan whenever you want. Call me at (925) 274-0432 to discuss your animal care options.