Estate Planning

Planners for Pets

By Hull & Hull LLP

I recall a good deal of discussion when Leona Helmsley left millions to be held in trust in her Will last year, some of it on the Hull & Hull blogs and podcasts.

Well, the website for Estate Planning for Pets provides some interesting reading in this vein, although the kind of trust established by Ms. Helmsley is obviously rare.  My own eye was drawn to the “for skeptics” section, which admonished professionals to put their clients’ wishes first, not their own priorities.

The point seems to be that rather than focus on one’s own, subjective opinion that money to pets could be used for other purposes, it is more appropriate to consider what happens to the pet if the testator makes no provision.  Absent provision, the pet could end up abused, ignored or euthanized.  Anyone who has lost a beloved pet can probably understand why testators want to soften the blow to a pet who loses them.  

Thanks for reading.

Sean Graham

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on June 27, 2008 (boomark / email).