Law, the Implications For Pets
Author: Benjamin Anosike
What? A "Pet trust"? Pets as our "children"? We are
supposed to consider including our pet animals - dogs,
cats, birds, etc - as "family members" and "loved ones" who
should be covered in our testamentary trust or will and our
estate planning? Aren't these just mere "animals"?
Well, not quite so any more these days!
Americans own a huge number of pets, including about 68
million dogs and 73 million cats, according to a 2000
estimate by the American Pet Products Manufacturers
Association. What is even particularly fundamental,
however, from the sociological standpoint and the
transformation of the American society, is this: That for a
great many Americans, and a growing number of them, their
home pets are now considered a bona fide "member of the
family," and not just "animals" any more.
An October 1999 survey by the USA Today newspaper, for
example, found that more than 66% of American pet owners
said they consider their pets "a member of the family." In
a more recent survey by the American Animal Hospital
Association, a whopping 84% of American pet owners were
reported to think of their animal companions as being their
kids.
In deed, a more telling indices of the dramatic evolution
of the pet from mere 'animals' towards the highly exulted
status of a 'family member' in the American society, is the
general attitude of the pet owners towards their pets and
simply the way they treat, regard and relate with their
pets. For example, according to surveys, some 79% of pet
owners allow their pets to sleep in their beds with them,
while 3% of them even count pets in the number of IRS
withholdings they claim for tax purposes. The evidence is
simply astounding: 50% of American pet owners talk "baby
talk" to their pets; 37% of them carry a picture of their
pets in their wallets; 27% of them include their pets in
their testamentary trusts or wills; while 8% buy health
insurance for their pets. There's more. Nowadays, the
"custody fights" over pets among divorcing couples who own
pets, are among the most hotly contested issues in divorce
proceedings; pet owners now throw lavish wedding and
birthday parties for dogs, cats, and other pet animals,
more adults today have pets than children, and so on and on.
Summed up simply, just about all those kinds of special
rights, privileges and actions that have traditionally been
reserved for and directed towards protecting and caring for
human children, are, today, now used to protect and care
for pets, as well. In other words, gradually but surely,
there is now in the American society a new and increasingly
significant kind of "family members" and "children." It's
called the NON-human or pet animal family members and
children!
And that brings us to this major question: how has the
American law evolved in response to this developing new
sociological reality in the American society? In terms of
providing our new-found pet animal "infant children" the
essential legal rights, care and protections as would be
fitting for our human "infant children"? Suffice it simply
to say, that a new specialized area of law has developed in
the American jurisprudence pertaining to this issue. One
significant aspect of it is what is known as the "pet
trust" law. In point of fact, the American pet owners have
for centuries expressed concerns and interest in
establishing an estate plan for their animals in the same
manner as people plan for their spouses and children, but
that general impulse had for so long been resisted by the
State legislatures and the Courts based on one legal
rationale or the other. However, beginning in the 1990s,
under the guidelines established by the National Conference
of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws, State legislatures
(at least 40 of them as of 2006) and the courts have
adopted laws which address precisely those concerns and now
permit the creation of trusts specifically for the custody
and care of designated pets and their offspring in times of
the incapacity or death of their owner.
Basically, with a legally valid 'pet trust,' you (the pet
owner) can make specific provisions as to the care of your
pets in the event of your disability or death, and provide
for a reliable caretaker and funding arrangement for the
pet all of which will be legally enforceable by the
courts. Thus, with the "pet trust," a relatively recent
estate planning tool applicable for pet animals, you can
assure that in the event of any such emergency, your pets
will not likely wind up in the shelter or pound somewhere
awaiting euthanasia, but will be taken into a safe home and
will be properly cared for by a responsible, caring
caretaker.
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Benjamin Anosike holds a Ph.D in Jurisprudence, national
authority on self-help law techniques (author, 2 dozen
books on various topics of American law), estate planning
expert, author four texts on estate planning, his latest
book is "Pet Trusts & Wills: How to Legally Guarantee that
Your Pet Will Be Protected & Cared For If You're
Incapacitated or Gone." For more on the topic, the book or
author, visit:http://www.EstatePlanAndTrustForPets.Com
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