What will happen to my pet when I am not around?

A common fear among many pet owners is what may happen to their pets upon their death. To many people, pets are like family. Since they cannot inherit property or money, it becomes hard to dictate what will happen to them after you are gone. The State of North Carolina considers pets to be property. Since the law does not allow them to inherit property, it enables you to create elaborate plans for your pets by providing you with pet trust planning tools that you can use to safeguard your pet care.

If you own any pet, be it cats, birds, dogs, reptiles, horses, or reptiles, you can make them part of your estate plan and be satisfied that they will receive care even without your presence. But how do these pet planning tools work?

Instead of just setting money aside for pet care, you will need to create a pet trust where you will deposit the funds for the pet upkeep. Then, it comes to name a trustee who will manage the funds’ distribution in a way that meets the terms of the trust. According to the North Carolina General Statutes that address the pet trust, the trustee may not use the amount in the pet trust for anything else other than what is in the benefit of the pet.

You can set aside money for pet care in a will. However, it is not the best way to go since a will may have to go through probate, which consumes a lot of time compromising on pet care. Apart from setting aside money for the pets, you also need to choose someone dependable to become the caregiver once you are not able to care for the animal yourself.

This article only aims to educate about creating a pet trust. It is not legal advice.