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Pet Care After You're Gone

Denise Flaim | Animal House

April 2, 2002

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A PIANO LANDS on you tomorrow. Who will take care of your cat?

While Steinways rarely materialize from midair, the prospect of your passing on and leaving your companion animals' fates undecided is a very real possibility.

"Most people don't plan in their wills for their animals, and most attorneys don't even mention it," says Frances Carlisle, a trust and estates lawyer with Morrison Cohen Singer & Weinstein in Manhattan who helped create a brochure for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York titled "Providing for Your Pet in the Event of Your Death or Hospitalization."

While you cannot name an animal as a beneficiary in your will, there are ways to make sure he or she is cared for after you are gone.

Denise Flaim Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

One approach, probably the simplest, is to name a caretaker and bequeath the animal as well as a sum of money to help defray costs. Be sure to name several alternate caretakers, as circumstances - and people's commitment levels - can change.

Alternately, "New York State has a very good law that now allows you to create a trust for your animal that is enforceable in surrogates court," says Carlisle. When establishing the trust, you name a caretaker as well as a trustee to oversee how the funds are apportioned. Sometimes the trustee and caretaker are one and the same; other times, they are two different people, chosen for their respective financial and nurturing abilities. The statute also allows you to name a court enforcer who can report any noncompliance by the trustee to the court. And if there is any money left in the trust after the animal dies, you can leave it to a specific person or charity.

Trusts are an option for people who don't have family or friends to rely on or who have large numbers of animals. But they have their limitations. Courts can disallow excessively high amounts; Carlisle figures a minimum of $5,000 for every year the animal is expected to live is reasonable, considering projected costs for food, medication, grooming and vet care.

Also, the New York statute only allows the trust to go for 21 years - a real problem with long-lived animals such as parrots or turtles.

No matter which approach you choose, be sure to take into account the temperament of the humans you leave in charge.

"Select people to take care of your animals who you really trust and who love animals and will do the right thing," Carlisle stresses. That includes your executor, who, if he or she is an animal hater, can go a long way toward ensuring that your final wishes are not met.

"You just don't know what's going to happen," says Carlisle, citing the case of a woman who had lined up someone to care for each of her 13 cats. "But when the time came," says Carlisle, "only five took the animals."

The deceased, however, had chosen her executor wisely: Carlisle took the eight cats in until suitable homes could be found. "I ended up with them in my apartment with my three cats - it was a little crowded," she admits. "But you want an executor who's going to be willing to do that. Not someone who's going to dump the animals or take them to the pound."

New York is one of only a dozen states that permit trusts for animals. Congress is considering a bill that would allow "charitable- remainder pet trusts," but they would have to be funded with a significant sum in order to generate enough revenue to adequately support an animal.

Still, it's progress.

"Ten years ago, it would have been laughed at," says Carlisle. "But animals are really changing in the consciousness of people. We've always loved them, but now we consider them important and worthy of our protection."

While animals are technically considered property under the law, Carlisle concedes, "it's a very different kind of property."

***

Where There's a Will: To print out a copy of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York brochure, which includes sample language for your will, visit www .abcny.org; click on "Reports/ Publications" then "Brochures."

Save the Date: On Sunday at 10:30 a.m., All Saints Church in Great Neck (855 Middle Neck Rd., 516-482-5392) hosts its 15th annual Blessing of the Animals.