Including the fate of pets in estate plans is not typical advice from an estate-planning attorney writes, Tony McReynolds. He shares advice about including what will happen to pets in end-of-life planning from attorney and author Kelli Brown, JD, LLM.
. . . many pets are relinquished because their owners went into an extended-care facility without having named a designated pet custodian.” – Kelli Brown, JD, LLM
Source: AAHA NEWStat, September 10, 2020. Link. Veterinarians shouldn’t shy away from raising the topic with clients, says Brown, because it’s basically about establishing continuity of care. It’s a difficult subject, but most pet owners who take really good care of their pets treat them like family and would want them to be taken care of. It’s just not something that occurs to most people until someone points it out, Brown says.
INSIGHTS: Need a topic for Rotary or Sertoma? Collaborate with estate planners in your group to help spread the word about including continual pet care in estate planning. A 24-year veteran of estate planning, Brown published Estate Planning When You Have Pets <link> {book<link>}, a step-by-step guide to making decisions on how to tailor estate planning to include pets.