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Hello, I’m Blake Johnson and I am your host of the trusted podcast where we talk about all things that require a trusting others, especially attorneys. And today, uh, I want to talk about trusts for your pets. It seems to be a growing trend in the estate planning realm. Um, you know, a lot of people, uh, either don’t have kids, um, or if they do have kids, they still have pets. And as I usually hear, Trust Attorney Las Vegas the pets are the favorite child. So, uh, those are part of your family. And we want to talk about ways in your estate plan, how you can provide for them so that they are, uh, taken care of. They’re not kicked out on the street, put down or you know, put in a shelter. So what can you do and from an estate planning standpoint to help, uh, provide for your pets?
Well, really it can be just like any other, uh, beneficiary that you have with the trust. Just a, you can name them as the beneficiary and you can provide means for them and you can really kind of be creative with this. So, um, you know, ideally you want to name who the person who’s going to care for those animals are talked to them ahead of time. Make sure they’re okay with that. And, um, you know, the other thing is you, if you typically wanted to say all of my pets or all of my dogs go to this person, all of my cats, I go to this person because sometimes you know, they, they pass away before we do. They don’t have as long of lifespans, but you are, you get a new pet and you may not, um, update your documents to put that pet’s name in there.
And if that’s the case, then there’s no direction on there. So that’s why if we can put all of the pets or all of the dogs or all of the cats, um, you know, specifically in there that provides a little bit more clarity. Um, and you know, uh, wiggle room in case you don’t have time to amend your documents. If a, if one of your pets dies, now what can you do? Trust Attorney Las Vegas What’s the best way to provide for them? Because technically if a pet is named as a beneficiary, there’s no one who has the right to Sue the trust if they don’t follow through on it. Uh, because pets don’t have legal rights in the same sense that humans do. So once again, it’s really important that you do talk to the person who you want to name to take the pets to make sure they’re okay with it, that they have the same beliefs about pets, care for them the same way you would.
Um, because if not, there’s not a whole lot there because there’s no one who has, we have, it’s called standing and you have to have standing or really a right to Sue to be able to enforce things in the pet doesn’t necessarily have those rights. So that’s, that’s number one. Number two is you probably want to separate the person who is taking care of the pets from the person who’s handling the money. Because if the person with the money, um, is also taking care of the pets, they’re just going to use it for their own benefit. And so, uh, typically I don’t like to do lump sums. Uh, unless you’re just saying, Hey, it’s gonna be, you know, they get $10,000 for taking my pet on them. It’s kind of a gift to them. They can use it for their care. But if you’re saying, I want them to use this $10 or this $50,000 to pay for the care of my pet, I’m most likely there, they’re not going to do that Trust Attorney Las Vegas.
You can also specify in your trust that you want to have the pets, you know, they cannot be put down. They have to go to at least, um, you know, a shelter or, um, you know, they have to find a good home for them to go into. Uh, but by separating it out, then, you know, if you typically, if you do monthly amounts or quarterly amounts or a yearly amount to over takes the pets until they pass away, that’s the best way. I’ve seen things work as far as an estate planning for your pets Trust Attorney Las Vegas. So, you know, let’s say it’s $1,000 a month to for their, you know, their food and for their grooming and um, you know, to make sure they’re, they’re well pampered. And I think that, um, you know, probably your best way of do it, but you can, like I said, you can be specific.
You can be creative. That’s the great thing about planning ahead of time is you can rule from the grave. You can say what you wanted to have happen through your trust or your will. And, um, if you separate it and you have individuals that you really trust, they’re going to fall that out and make sure those things are taken care of the right way. Um, other thing I’ve seen with pets is I’ve had clients say, Hey, look, I want my pets, um, you know, buried with me. And so they had such a close relationship, the pet, and they wanted their pets to be put down and put in and cremated with them. So their, their remains were mixed in and put in the, the crypt with them. Now that’s an extreme on the other side. Uh, but there, you know, you can do, that’s just an example to show.
You can really make it whatever you want. Um, because this is your state plan, your trust, and you can make sure that your pets are taken care of. Uh, other issues that you wanna, um, take care of is, um, you know, making sure that, uh, that not only that you trust the person that they’re going to be, um, you know, similar atmosphere. If it’s somebody who has a super small outhouse Trust Attorney Las Vegas, um, you may want to provide funds for them, um, or have the trust provide a place where they can live with the Pat, with the pets so they have enough room to run around and, um, and have the, you know, the care and lifestyle that they had before you passed away. So that’s another consideration. Typically, that’s, you know, if the, if you only have pets, you don’t have children, that’s a little bit easier to do.
Um, but just once again, this is your state plan. You can do what you want with it. And I know pets can be, um, you know, they’re not really pets, they’re family. And so we want to be able to care for them as well. So just bring it up to your estate planning attorney and they can help you with, um, you know, planning and making sure that they’re taken care of Trust Attorney Las Vegas. But if we don’t know, then we can’t help you out. So, you know, that’s with everything you give full disclosure to your attorney. Um, you know, they’re going to keep things confidential. They just need to know it so they can help provide the best plan and the best advice for you. So that’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed that and we’ll talk to you next time.
