PET CARE LOVING
TRUST
A
pet owner who would go to the trouble to make a Trust to take care of
her pets really loves those pets, is a responsible person and
considers her pets to be family.
The only way to guarantee the care
of
your pets after your death is to do the proper planning.
Typical estate documents used to help protect your pets (as well as
your human loved ones!) are:
- Will
- Pet
Care Loving Trust
- Pet
Care Power of Attorney
- Instructions
to the Pet Guardian
The purpose of the
Pet Trust and Plan is to assure that your pet will have wonderful and
loving new guardians who will responsibly use the trust money to pay
for things that the pet needs such as:
- food;
- supplies
(beds, blankets, toys, etc.);
- veterinary
care;
- kennel,
hotel and/or paid petsitters while the new guardians are on vacation;
- dog
walkers, if necessary on a regular basis;
- a
fenced in yard (or electric fence) for a dog.
Also, it is very important that you name the person or people who will
get custody
of the pets.You want a first and second choice of new guardian. The new
guardians would need legal permission to make all decisions regarding
the pet-some vets may require this in writing. This planning
will prevent the big fear of any loving pet owner is that if no one
will take the pets and give them a good home, the pets will be taken to
a shelter and possibly euthanized or fail to thrive.
As an example, when
one set of clients were last in Costa Rica, they observed:
"An
old German Shepard was brought to an animal
shelter. His owner was a sick, elderly lady confined
to a wheel chair. Her sister wanted to get rid of the dog
so left him at the shelter. The sick owner
called crying and said she wanted her dog back but couldn't walk and
had no transportation to the shelter. The poor old dog was
in the process of pining to death for its owner. He wouldn't
eat, drink or move. The shelter was supportive of
the dog and his owner. There is a happy
ending to this story as one of the receptionist WALKED the dog back to
his owner's home where, as far as I know, they are both still happily
together."
A
good Pet Loving Trust and plan can protect you and your pet
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