Part of the Family: Planning for Pets

jenni — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:35:52 +0000

Creating an estate plan often involves serious discussion with your advisors about tax planning, asset protection, and charitable giving; but it is important to remember that at its core, estate planning is about protecting your family—and as this article in the Wall Street Journal reminds us, for many people the word “family” also includes our four-legged friends.

Some people will be tempted to roll their eyes and joke about Leona Helmsley at the mention of including your pet in your estate plan, but most will agree with article author Max Alexander that ensuring your pet will be taken care of after your death is not a frivolous indulgence but a simple matter of responsibility.

Providing for the care of your cat or dog does not necessarily mean leaving millions of dollars in a pet trust, what it really means is taking steps to ensure your pet doesn’t end up out on the street or in a cage in the local animal shelter. The Wall Street Journal suggests four simple steps pet lovers can take when planning their estate, including:

Choosing a “pet guardian”
Deciding whether or not to provide financial assistance for the care of your pet
Adding language to your will or trust regarding the care of your pet
Writing down a list of instructions for your caregiver

Over 50% of U.S. households own a dog or a cat. Those pet owners know that in return for companionship, love, and devotion pets rely on their owners for the basic necessities: food, shelter and protection. Why gamble with the future when ensuring their care can be so easy?

Estate Planning Lessons from Leona Helmsley

jenni — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 19:45:45 +0000

Hotel magnate and “Queen of Mean” Leona Helmsley has always been a figure of controversy, both in life and after her death in 2007. Reporters and bloggers went wild when she left $12 million dollars to her dog “Trouble” in a trust fund after her death. But that $12 million (later reduced to $2 million by the courts) wasn’t even the bulk of her estate. Most of the Helmsley estate (somewhere in the area of $4-$5 billion) was left to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. It is this charitable trust that is still carrying on the Helmsley controversy today.

Although the management of the Helmsley Charitable Trust was left up to trustees, with few specific legally binding instructions regarding beneficiaries, Helmsley did leave a “mission statement” (also called a “letter of intent” or a “memorandum of intent” in the Estate Planning world) stating that it was her intention that the bulk of the trust “provide for the care of dogs”. What trustees have actually done is given $1 million (less than 1% of the estate, according to the president of the Humane Society) to dog-related charities, with the bulk of the estate instead going to various medical centers—of the human kind.

The question from an estate planning perspective is not necessarily whether Ms. Helmley should have left her estate to the dogs, but whether or not her wishes are being followed. And the lesson to be taken from the controversy over her estate is this: If you have specific wishes as to the distribution of your estate, you must leave specific instructions in an updated and legally binding document created by a knowledgeable professional.

The best estate plan is the one that can be carried out without controversy.

Lawyer For Seniors » Leona Helmsley

Part of the Family: Planning for Pets

Estate Planning Lessons from Leona Helmsley