WHO CAN YOU DESIGNATE IN YOUR WILL OR TRUST TO PROTECT YOUR PETS?

What are the standard basic roles in a Will or Trust?

First let’s clarify the two basic roles in a Will or Trust, which are 

1.     YOU as the Testor in a Will or the Settlor in a Trust

and

2.     Your Beneficiaries, who are any people or entities who receive assets from the will or trust.

Next, it is also standard to designate at least one additional role in a Will or Trust: 

3.     Executor (now called a Personal Representative) in a Will

or

4.      The Trustee in a Trust

The role of the Personal Representative or Trustee is to carry out your wishes as documented in your Will or Trust, usually as it relates to finances and dispersing funds. 

5.     Enforcer: There is an additional role in estate planning that is not well known and that is the role of an Enforcer.

What is the role of an Enforcer in estate planning?

ENFORCER (PROTECTOR) : This is a person, business or organization whose duty it is to ensure that the terms of the trust are followed.

The role of Enforcer is not standard and you must ask your attorney to include it. There are those who believe that this is actually a critical role for any aspect of a trust, but more so, in regards to protecting your pets.

How does the role of an Enforcer differ from a Trustee or an Executor (Personal Representative)?

The first question to ask is do you have a WILL or a TRUST?

TRUSTEE:  A trustee's role is to manage and administer assets held in trust, acting as a custodian for the benefit of the beneficiaries, according to the terms outlined in the trust document.  In other words, the Trustee usually has more of a financial role in your estate.

EXECUTOR (PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE):  The executor of a will, also known as Personal Representative is responsible for administering the deceased person's estate according to their wishes as outlined in the will. This involves identifying assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing the remaining assets to beneficiaries. 

Can my Executor (Personal Representative) or Trustee serve as a protector for my Pets?

In short, the answer is yes, you can designate your Personal Representative or Trustee to oversee the care of your pets because they are required to carry out the terms of your will or trust. The question for you is, can they, or will they ensure the care of your pets?

If the Trustee or Personal Representative oversees the care of your pets, you should make sure that they are not the same individuals or organizations as the actual caregivers of your pets.  You want someone separate to oversee the Caregivers.  You should also have a primary caregiver identified and a secondary caregiver who can take your pets in case your primary caregiver is no longer able to take your pets. Hopefully, the Caregivers you designate are people you know well and who will provide a loving home to your pets, but at Perpetual Care, we received calls from people every week who have been left the family pets when their relative passes away and they are looking to turn that pet over to a shelter or rescue.

If you have designated a primary and a secondary caregiver, you do need the Trustee or Personal Representative or Enforcer to be an independent party who will verify that proper care is being provided to your pets before distributing any funds to the Caregiver.

The major concern we see with designating your Trustee or Personal Representative to serve as Enforcer/Protector of your pets may be that they do not know what to do to fulfill that role and more importantly, what to do if your pets are not being properly cared for at any time.  They also may simply not have the time or interest to perform that more demanding role.

So when does it make sense to add an Enforcer in relation to your pets?

EXAMPLE:  An example would be if you designate a person, perhaps a friend or family member, as the caregiver of your pets and leave funds for their care to be distributed annually as long as your pets are alive. This would require you to have a Trust and the Trustee would disburse funds annually to the Caregiver of your pets. The reason you would need a Trust in this example is that once a Will is executed and funds are dispersed, that is the end of the process.  A Trust continues as long as there are funds in the trust so annual payments can be made for the care of your pets.

The Trustee’s role would be to disburse those funds as needed or directed, but what if you want it based on your pets being given veterinary care, vaccinations and verifying that they are safe and happy? The trustee might be willing to perform that role, but most trustees would probably not know what to do or how to do it when it comes to your pets and so you may want to consider including an Enforcer (or Protector). The Enforcer would make a home visit to see the pets, verify medical records and be able to verify the wellbeing of your pets.

EXAMPLE:  Another example of when an Enforcer makes sense would be if the Trustee you designate in your estate is a business rather than an individual.  If you don’t have someone to designate as Trustee so you use a law firm to serve as Trustee, they will not have the time, skills or ability to oversee the care of your pets.

What does Perpetual Care do as an Enforcer or Trustee?

The primary purpose of Perpetual Care is to provide pet owners with the peace of mind knowing that we will serve as the Primary Caregiver for your pets, but we are also happy to serve as the Secondary Caregiver to give pet owners a backup plan in case their friend or family member cannot care for their pets and to serve as an Enforcer if requested. 

If you choose to designate Perpetual Care as Enforcer, here is what services Perpetual Care will provide:

1.     Perform Home Visit Checks to verify the wellbeing of your pets.  This is regardless of the state where your pet is living.  (If you are located long distance, we use a home visit checklist that can also be given to a local rescue organization to perform a home visit in states when we cannot be there.)

2.     Verification of proper care through review of veterinary records

3.     Current videos and photos of pets

4.     Seize your pets and bring your pets to the Perpetual Care Life Care Center if at any time it is determined that proper care is not being provided for you pets.

The cost of serving as Enforcer can be as little as no cost, or it may include the cost of travel which is applied to your trust, depending on your location.  We work with you as the pet owner to determine if any cost would be required, and those costs usually come from the estate.

Perpetual Care Life Care Center

If you have pets in your estate, Perpetual Care can be named as Caregiver, Trustee, or Enforcer as you need, to ensure the proper care and use of your funds. For information about enrolling your pets with Perpetual Care, visit our website at www.perpetualcare.org/servces-enroll.

Look for our next post which will provide you with some guidelines for how to select your Trustee or Personal Representative.