'Pet trusts' look after animals' welfare
By Edward M. Eveld
Knight Ridder News Service
| • | EMERGENCY PLANNING
While considering such arrangements for your pets, here are a few steps you can take today: Ask two friends or relatives to be temporary caregivers in case of an emergency. Make sure they have keys to your house, instructions for feeding and care, the veterinarian's name and number and any details you've made about permanent care. Make an emergency card with the names of your temporary caregivers and their contact information. Keep it with you at all times. Post signs on the front door or on your most prominent window listing the names and type of pets. You also could post more detailed signs inside your doors listing emergency contact information. RESOURCES • estateplanningforpets.org |
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Next thing she knew her fingers were filled with fur, plush-toy soft. Her eyes flew open, and there sat a tiny kitten with a jet-black coat looking up at her.
Forty-two years later, Longstaff's love affair with cats has willing recipients in Peanut, Purrsy, Pawley and Pfreckles. Her house is cat heaven, including the sofa pillow that reads, "The cats and their housekeeping staff live here."
That's why, when she started traveling on business, she began to ask herself the what-ifs that any loving caregiver should: What happens to them if something happens to me?
It's a question more and more pet owners are posing, and estate-planning laws are catching up with such concerns. Starting in August, a Missouri statute will authorize "pet trusts," enforceable plans that set aside money for pet care and designate pet managers. Similar rules in Kansas are already in place.
Pet advocates say it's past time for owners to think about trusts and other arrangements for their pets. People provide for children and other loved ones, they say, and even make decisions about cars and furniture. For years the future of their pets got little consideration.
"A lot of people just didn't think about it," said Gina Spadafori, an author and national columnist on pets. "My pets are a lot more important than my Beatles album collection."
Spadafori met with a lawyer a few years ago to talk about her will before going to the hospital for surgery.
"First we need to talk about the house," the lawyer said.
"No," Spadafori answered, "first we have to talk about my pets."
Americans keep a huge number of pets, more than 68 million dogs and 73 million cats, plus horses, birds and a variety of reptiles, rodents, fish and other mammals.
And Americans increasingly view their pets as members of the family, said Patti Glass, president of Wayside Waifs animal shelter, in Kansas City. It makes sense that many now want good care if there were an emergency.
Pets can't be the beneficiaries of a will or trust because they are considered property. Instead, money can be set aside and overseen by a trustee. Pets also can be placed with organizations that, for a fee, will care for them for the rest of their lives.
Pet owners who make their wishes clear give themselves peace of mind and also provide instructions that could save a pet's life, Glass said. Families in the throes of grief over a relative's death sometimes give pets short shrift, and the pets can end up in shelters and forgotten.
Longstaff's cats are too important to her to allow that to happen. Plus, in her case, she wanted to keep the cats together. Pawley and Peanut are best friends.
"Pawley would just wither away if they were ever separated," she said. "My animals are all very attached to each other. And not everybody would be willing to take four cats into their home."
Longstaff has arranged for her parents to be the cats' primary caregivers, and they have accepted that role. But there's a Plan B. If her parents aren't available, a friend will live in her house and, for a monthly stipend, take care of her cats.
Jim Betterman, a lawyer with Lathrop & Gage in Overland Park, Mo., said pet trusts are getting a lot of interest among middle-age couples. Some are setting aside large amounts of money — $50,000 is not unusual, he said.
Such documents generally designate a trustee, the person responsible for using the money for pet care, and a pet manager, the person who either has custody of the pets or is responsible for finding a place or family for the pets. The money is set aside for food, veterinary expenses, kenneling, even expenses if the pet travels with the pet manager.
Betterman said owners can be specific about accommodations and supplies, including the style of leashes, cages and toys the pet should have. One owner described the type of property a family would need to be eligible to adopt the pet, down to the number of acres and the setback from the road.
"You can tailor it for what the client wants for the pet," Betterman said. "The more guidelines you can give the pet manager, the better off they are."
Spadafori said her pets had different needs, and she made arrangements specific to each one. Her parrot will go to her avian veterinarian, with instructions to find an adoptive family.
"I trust him to make that decision," she said.
Her 10-year-old retriever will go to her brother. Her 7-year-old retriever will go back to its breeder in Texas. Her sheltie will be placed with a friend. And her youngest, a 2-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, will be cared for temporarily by a friend who helps place pets with senior citizens.
Along with the instructions, Spadafori has designated $1,000 to $2,000 for each person.
"I'm not paying for lifelong pet care," Spadafori said. "I want to offset some of the time and expense of either keeping or placing my pets."
