Two-thirds of U.S. households have pets and 97% of us consider our pets members of the family or valued companions. We spend more than $147 billion a year to provide for our pets and go to great lengths to make sure they are healthy and happy. In return, animals enrich our lives and make us happier and healthier as well. Both humans and animals benefit from our mutual relationships and bonds.
Our pets depend on us for everything. What will happen to your pet if you are hospitalized or enter a nursing home or rehab facility? What if you become ill or forgetful and can’t care for your pet? What will happen to your animals if you die? What if you need help to continue living with and caring for your pet as long as possible? Family or friends will sometimes volunteer. Unfortunately, many pets aren’t this lucky and may go days or longer without food, water, exercise, and necessary medications. Countless pets are abandoned, euthanized, or worse when their person gets sick or dies.
Pet Planning is estate planning for animals and the people who love them. It is the process of planning and preparing in advance to maintain your own relationship with your pets as long as possible, and to provide for and protect your animals if you are unable to continue caring for them.
Pet Planning often involves adding pet-specific terms to routine estate planning documents you may already have, including:
Pet Planning sometimes involves creating more specialized documents just for pets, such as:
A Pet Power of Attorney is a separate power of attorney just for pets. You can use a Pet Power of Attorney to give someone authority to make decisions and provide day-to-day pet care, veterinary treatment, alternative pet placement, and more. A Pet Power of Attorney may be a valuable addition to your estate plan if you need to protect your pet from family members or next-of-kin who are not “pet friendly,” to plan for different species of animals, or to provide the highest degree of protection for your pet. A Pet Power of Attorney is more protective than a Durable General Power of Attorney because your agent’s sole responsibility is for your pet.
A “Pet Trust” is a statutorily enforceable trust relationship for the care of one or more animals. You can use a Pet Trust to designate your animal’s future caregiver and a trustee to manage and disburse money and other property for your pet’s care. A Pet Trust is unique – it is the only estate planning tool designed and intended to benefit pets rather than people. As a result, a Pet Trust is the most protective planning option available for a pet. Many animal owners choose Pet Trust planning to ensure the future care and ongoing well-being of their pets will be prioritized over the interests of people.
A Pet Trust can be used to protect your pet and money for pet care from family members and next-of-kin who are not “pet friendly.” A Pet Trust can also provide continuity of care and access to financial resources if your pet’s caregiver or a trustee dies or resigns – a designated alternate can take over and there is little risk of your pet going without care. In addition, creating a Pet Trust gives you the opportunity to exercise post-death control over how your pets will be cared for by establishing standards for animal care, monitoring requirements, and providing for the removal and rehoming of any pet that is not being adequately cared for.
Please click on the arrows above for more information about our pet-specific planning tools.
In Ohio, there are no limitations on the type or species of animals that may be planned and provided for. We can provide for and protect dogs, cats, birds, horses, exotic and non-traditional pets, service animals, commercially valuable animals, farm-type animals, and others. If you are responsible for the wellbeing of any animal. Pet Planning can help ensure their future care and your peace of mind.
While we may treat our pets like family and friends, all animals are considered property under the law. When you become ill or die, the law may treat your pet no differently than your furniture. This is a problem because unlike a table, a pet is not “set and forget” – living animals have daily physical and emotional needs. Most estate planning laws are not good fits for pets. Apart from statutory Pet Trusts, the law protects the economic value of things, not the sentimental value or quasi-family member status of pets.
This means that you need to take deliberate steps to adequately provide for and protect your animals. You can do this by adding pet-specific terms to your estate planning documents – we can deliberately create what the law allows but does not provide. If you don’t currently have an estate plan or your estate planning documents lack pet-specific terms, your pet is not protected.
Pet Planning involves planning and preparing in advance to meet the needs of both pets and their people. Creating a Pet Plan is an opportunity to do all of the following, and more:
If you cannot care for your pet or need assistance, someone else must have the power to provide for and protect your pet. During your lifetime, a power of attorney agent or the trustee of a trust may fill this role. Upon your death, this responsibility may be given to the executor of your estate or a trustee. Whomever is responsible for your pet will need some or all of the following “pet powers” or the authority to:
News and social media reports of extravagant celebrity pet planning can leave the impression that Pet Planning is for multimillionaires or eccentrics, not regular animal owners. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pet Planning is for everyone with pets! You don’t need to be rich - you just need to be part of the growing majority who care about the fate of our non-human family members. Pet Planning is one of the fastest-growing estate planning services. There are Pet Planning options available to fit every family, animal, and budget.
As a child, I loved, loved, loved animals! I grew up in a rural Iowa agriculture community surrounded by a variety of dogs, cats, horses, sheep, goats, cows, pigs, pet rabbits, birds and fish. My first real job was working summers and after school on a horse farm. Much of my free time was devoted to showing horses, trialing dogs, participating in dairy and livestock judging competitions, and assisting a local police dog trainer. Through these experiences, I developed tremendous appreciation for the incredible value animals have in our daily lives and how their welfare touches and impacts us all. I still love animals and working with and providing for their welfare continues to be an important part of my life and career. It is my personal mission to increase the prevalence and quality of Pet Planning throughout Ohio by educating both animal owners and fellow attorneys.
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