Pet Trust Lawyer & Attorney : Dan Meek Law Firm : Estate Planning, Pet Guardians, Will Provisions

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I am curious as to how and why you became involved in estate planning for pet owners. I have been a practicing attorney for over thirty years and although it was in the corporate field, I have never met another attorney who even talked about this area of the law.

Mike, Atlanta, Georgia

Mike…my initial interest in this area actually began about seven years ago. Our firm was representing a very wealthy family on all of their business matters and I had been trying for a long time to meet with them to discuss and combine strategic business and estate planning.

They finally agreed and at the initial estate planning consultation conference, the wife, Pam, mentioned that they had two Abyssinian cats and asked what they could do to provide for them in their estate planning.

A young associate who was a part of the conference, burst out laughing and said,” You want to leave a bunch of money to some cats? ”

With that comment, both clients stated that they considered the cats a part of their family and that they would be more comfortable with counsel who understood their feelings…and that they had no interest in continuing with the meeting.

I then began to ask other attorneys if they regularly included pets as a part of their estate planning. Even though many of them were pet owners, not a one of them had even discussed pets with their clients.

With an estimated 65%-75% of all homes in the United States having pets, it was not hard for me to determine that estate planning for pet owners would be an area of growth and future interest for attorneys.

Finally, you might be interested to know that Georgia is one of the few states that does not yet have a Statutory Pet Trust. However, there are other legal methods available to provide for your pets in Georgia and, if you request, we can provide additional information in those matters.