Question: If I leave a box of cash to someone via my Will, how do I make sure the cash is used for a specific purpose?
The person whom I want to receive the cash will get my cats upon my death. I want the cash to be used for their care and not something else.
Loraine’s Answer: If you just Will someone money and your pets, then you can’t ensure that the person will use the money for the care of your pets and not for any other purpose. You can only ask that they use the money for that purpose and hope they follow your wishes.
If you want to ensure that money you leave for the care of your pets is used for that purpose, then you have the option of creating a pet trust, which is allowed under Georgia law. In a pet trust, you leave money and your pets to a caregiver, and you leave the right to enforce the trust on behalf of the pets to another party. The pet trust can be enforced by a court. While this is an extremely simplified overview of how a pet trust works, the important part is that the goal of the pet trust is to ensure that the money gets used for the care of your pets. After the pet for whose benefit the trust is established dies, the remaining funds in the pet trust, if any, are distributed to your chosen beneficiaries.
If you’re interested in learning more, get an estate planning consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney and have the attorney explain the pet trust concept and how they work in more detail. If you decide to use a pet trust, then the attorney can help you prepare the right documents so that it will work.
Key Estate Planning Takeaways: If you want to ensure that money you leave for the care of your pets is used for that purpose, then you have the option of creating a pet trust.
This “Q&A with Loraine” blog series is inspired by answers from Morgan + DiSalvo Partner Loraine DiSalvo to actual user questions posted by individuals on www.avvo.com. This blog is a more in-depth response than can be given on their site under their character limits for answers. To view the original question and Loraine’s original response, click here.
