How a Pet Trust Protects Your Dog or Cat After You're Gone

Legal background for this piece comes from attorney Mary Randolph, with updates from Jeff Burtka.

A pet trust lets you set aside money for your dog, cat, or other animal, and name someone to manage and spend it. You write out instructions, and that person is legally bound to follow them.

Not long ago, most states refused to recognize trusts for animals. That's changed. Today, every state lets you create a pet trust with no human beneficiary named.

• How a pet trust works
• Legal challenges to pet trusts

How a pet trust works

Most pet trusts are set up to kick in when the owner dies. When you draft the trust document, you'll need to work through several key decisions.

Which animals the trust covers. You can set up a trust to provide for any animal that's alive during your lifetime. The trust ends when the last of those animals dies. You cannot write a pet trust that runs on indefinitely — for instance, covering future litters or animals your caretaker might later acquire.

Who will take physical custody of the animal. Naming a caretaker is the single most important choice here, trust or no trust. This person will have your pet day to day and handle its ongoing needs. Don't assume that someone — even a spouse or close friend — is willing to do this. Ask them directly. And name a backup caretaker in case your first pick can't step in when the time comes.

How much money to set aside for care. Try to estimate realistically what the caretaker will need. The right figure depends heavily on the animal's age and health.

Setting aside an amount that looks excessive invites a challenge from relatives, and a court will often cut it down. In one case, a Pennsylvania woman left a substantial sum in her will for the care of four horses and six dogs. The amount far exceeded what the animals actually needed. The court let the care arrangement stand but reduced the gift to a reasonable figure, and ordered the leftover funds paid to the alternate beneficiary named in her will. (Lyon Estate, 67 Pa. D. & C.2d 474 (1974).)

Detailed instructions for the caretaker. Pet trusts are often written with a level of detail that would seem unnecessary in most other documents — because your pet can't speak up about what it needs. Owners frequently spell out favorite foods, preferred toys, and even sleeping arrangements.

Someone to enforce the trust. Name a person who can go to court if needed to confirm the money is actually being spent on the animal, not diverted elsewhere.

What happens to leftover funds. If money remains after the animal dies, decide in advance where it should go — family, a charity, whatever you prefer.

What happens if you become unable to care for your pet before death. A pet trust can take effect while you're still alive, if you become incapacitated. The caretaker you named can step in immediately and take custody. A will, by comparison, has no legal force until you actually die.

Legal challenges to pet trusts

Trust challenges in court are rare overall. Still, as noted above, disinherited relatives sometimes contest a pet trust's terms — particularly when the sum set aside for the animals looks far larger than needed. Other grounds for challenge come up too.

In one instance, the nephews of a New York woman contested her trust, which left $100,000 for the care of her cat, Kissie Meouw. They argued that her friend and caregiver had unduly influenced her. The court disagreed, finding that the evidence showed she had been

very intelligent, private and strong-willed

and had been entirely clear about how she wanted her estate distributed. (Estate of Stafford, N.Y. Sup. Ct., App. Div., No. 516429 2013.)

For more on this topic, see Undue Influence in Estate Planning.

Because trust and estate law varies by state, check the specifics of pet trusts where you live, or talk with an estate planning attorney before you finalize one.