Pet Heirs

Leona Helmsley, the wealthy woman sometimes dubbed the “Queen of Mean” died this week, and the news has been filled with the lowdown about her estate. She left a trust fund of $12,000,000.00 to her dog, Trouble, an apparently ill-tempered Maltese. One interviewee I heard on the radio who had met Ms. Helmsley holding Trouble in an elevator said that her kids were not permitted to pet the pup, since apparently Trouble is troubled by children.

Trouble herself will go to Ms. Helmsley’s brother. I didn’t see who the trustee is, nor did I learn what happens to the remainder of the estate when Trouble is gone. Presumably, not even a spendthrift trustee can spend $12 million and any income from it on a dog during its lifetime.

And Ms. Helmsley’s human family? Well, she did manage to disinherit two grandkids, but I haven’t heard any speculation about why. Even more important, she left a fortune to various charitable trusts... so maybe the Queen of Mean wasn’t so mean after all.

In any event, the important lesson to me in all this--the method of inheriting for a pet-- makes sense. I did some research for one of my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries beyond what I already knew as an attorney, since estates and trusts is not my area of expertise. But pets, despite being family, are considered property, and property can’t generally be official heirs.

This is especially important to know for people who have pets that are likely to outlive them. Macaws, for example, live a long time, and since people don’t generally acquire one until they themselves are adults, their birds will probably be singing goodbye to them someday.

So what do you do? Even people who haven’t got much to leave should do a little estate planning to figure out what happens to whatever they have once they’re gone. And if you have a pet, who can’t inherit what you’ve got, setting up a trust on its behalf, with directions about how to take care of your baby when you can’t, is a great idea! At a minimum, why not put something in writing about who’s to get custody of your pet when you’re gone, even if you aren’t leaving a fortune in trust for its care?

Trouble, when she becomes a doggy angel, is to be buried near Ms. Helmsley. Maybe they’ll even meet on the legendary rainbow bridge. Hang in there, Trouble. I hope your trustee and guardian give you lots of hugs along with all the biscuits the trust will buy for you!

--Linda