Include your Veterinarian in your Estate Plans for Your Pet
We have discussed in detail the various parties that need to be consulted regarding your estate planning for your pets.
Certainly, your own family members, the potential trustee and the potential caretakers of your pet must all be in accord with your plans and wishes.
Your estate attorney and financial planer also need to be involved to make sure that your documents conform to the legal and financial standards.
But, don’t forget to meet with your Veterinarian.
Very few individuals have the same insight about the health and well being of your animal as your pet’s own Vet.
A discussion with him or her during your estate planning process can assist greatly.
Medical records and the future potential needs of your pets can be outlined for the caretakers.
Special dietary schedules or exercise or medication routines can be easily established for future reference.
You and your Vet can discuss the potential time line for the duration of the life of your pet. This can provide some guidelines for the total costs that will be necessary for the care of your pet and the necessary funding of the Pet Trust.
Your Vet can also play an integral role in the transfer of physical custody of your pet to the caretaker on a temporary or permanent basis and is indispensable when the final arrangements must be made for inevitable death of your pet.
Talk to your Vet on behalf of your pet.
It is a necessary part of your overall estate plan..
Can You Direct Euthanasia for Your Pets in Your Will?
Many pet owners, who have devoted a great deal of their lives to their animals, believe that if they are no longer around to take care of them, no one else will be equal to the task.
Some may rationalize that it would be better for their pets not to survive, then to be placed into a facility or a home where they might be treated poorly.
Pet owners have tried to eliminate this possibility by inserting a clause into their will that directs that euthanasia be utilized upon their animals at the death of the owner.
Ida Capers of Pennsylvania passed away in 1963. At the time of her death, she had two pet Irish Setters. Ms. Capers inserted a clause into her will that stated:
"I direct that any dog which I may own at the time of my death be destroyed in a humane matter and I give and grant unto my Executors hereinafter named full and complete power and discretion necessary to carry out the same."
The public outcry again this action eventually led the court to decide that the clause was invalid and void as against public policy. In re Capers Estate, 34 Pa. D. & C.2d 121, 122 (1964).
Since that early case, a long line of court decisions have followed that reasoning and subsequently, clauses of this nature are generally not upheld.
As we have seen in other postings, many states and even cities are leading the way in providing their citizens needed information on estate planning for their pets
Many states have authorized the establishment of Statutory Pet Trusts and the courts are slowly but constantly moving toward the acknowledgement of more rights for pet owners.
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York is one of the organizations that is providing extensive information in this area.
Their brochure of public information provides some insight into the area of pet euthanasia. A part of the booklet provides:
“Provisions in a Will directing that an animal be euthanized upon the death of its owner have been invalidated by the courts. While a pet owner may feel it is important to protect a pet from subsequent mistreatment or a "bad home," it is questionable whether a healthy pet's life must end by euthanasia when its owner dies. Nevertheless, if a pet owner wishes to provide for euthanasia, it is preferable to specify in a Will that the pet be cared for by the Executor or a friend for a period of time and ask that this person attempt to find a good home for the pet, and if no home is found after a specified reasonable period of time, that the animal may betaken for euthanasia. A court may be less likely to overturn such a provision”
The entire document can be viewed here.
On final thought by the New York City Bar is somewhat ominous,
“It should be noted that if you bequeath your animal to a friend or relative, that person becomes the owner and has all the rights and obligations of the pet's care, including the right to euthanize the animal.”
Does your friend love your animal as much as you?
