Pet inheritance: Writing your pet into your Will

We often think of our pets as part of the family, so it's not unusual to worry about what might become of them after we die. With some key conversations and carefully crafted clauses in your Will, you can make sure you’ve sorted out your pet’s situation before you pass away.

Sometimes it depends on the age of the pet. As sad as it may sound, some people say, “If I die before my animal, I’d prefer the animal to be euthanised, because it’s at such an age that re-housing it would be too difficult.”

More often, though, people want to preserve the life of their pet and to set aside a financial arrangement to help with pet care after they've passed. 

Gifting your pet to a friend or family member

In Australia, animals are property, and like other property, you can gift a pet to someone.

Whether or not that person wants the gift is another story – they can decline it.  This is a potential outcome if you leave your animal to someone without telling them.

The ideal scenario is to have a conversation ahead of time to make sure the person you intend leaving your animal to is happy to take the animal. After all, it’s a huge responsibility to adopt a pet – especially someone else’s pet.

One example is a bachelor who owned an elderly Labrador. He spoke to his neighbours who agreed to take care of the dog should he die before the dog. The Will-maker set aside $5,000 to meet the costs of the dog’s up-keep.

When he died, the dog was successfully rehomed with the neighbours; he became part of their family and lived out his natural life expectancy. The money paid for the dog’s everyday expenses as well as a leg operation. It was a great outcome.

Setting up your pet at a legacy program

Another option is taking advantage of animal welfare agency legacy programs. Similar to gifting your pet to a person, you can gift a sum of money to the animal welfare agency of your choice that is used to rehouse or care for your animal. The RSPCA Will clause, for example, offers a Bequest Animal Program that allows pet owners to make a gift for the life-long care of their animal.

Estate planning for pet owners: leave clear instructions

Apart from discussing your intentions with family and friends, the most important thing you can do is to provide clear instructions in your Will.

For example, you could include a clause in your Will that says, “I’d like to gift my dog Rover to my sister Amy”.  But what if Amy is no longer able to take care of Rover?  You need to try and deal with these kinds of scenarios. If your instructions are unclear or unable to be implemented, it then becomes a problem for your executor.

What will your executor do if they can’t successfully re-house Rover with someone else? They may be forced to euthanise the dog.

Pet inhertiance - taking care of finances and insurance

By law, pets can’t inherit money, but you can create a trust for them in your Will.  The money in the trust can be used to pay for their care and day to day expenses in accordance with the wishes you leave. You will need to nominate a trustee to look after the funds. This might be your executor but it can be some-one else. The clause should also say where the balance of the trust goes when the pet dies.

Raising awareness of your animals

One of the most important things is to make sure that other people know that you’re a pet owner. Tell people – your neighbours, friends, family – that you’ve got an animal. That way, if something happens to you, people know to make inquiries and either collect the animal or take steps to make sure it’s being looked after.

Having a clear plan and drafting a Will that includes provisions for Spot the spaniel or Mittens the cat means that your pet won’t fall through the cracks after you’re gone.

Having your Will written by a lawyer will give you peace of mind that your loved ones, including your pet, will be protected.