Can you can leave your estate to your pet?

By Alexandra Peers, CNN

(CNN) — Some people really do leave money to their pets. And it’s legal.

In June 2019, designer Karl Lagerfeld passed away. A chunk of his fortune, amassed after decades of helming the fashion house Chanel, was left to his cat, Choupette.

“There is no marriage, yet, for human beings and animals,” he told CNN in 2013. “I never thought I would fall in love like this with a cat.”

If the bequest seems unusual, it’s not. Estate attorneys told CNN they’re seeing more incidences of people making financial plans for their pets after they die. Some of the bequests are quite generous.

Twenty-nine states have enacted pet trust laws since 2008, and now every state, plus Washington, DC, has some form of guidelines, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

It’s a twisty money matter, though. Pet bequests have been known to be challenged in court, sometimes successfully, by disinherited heirs. And since pets are considered, in all US states, property, you can’t actually leave them money. But there are, increasingly, ways around that — and pet owners-slash-parents who want to find them.

Keeping a pet at home

An animal can’t inherit a house. However, if a person names a guardian for their pet, they can leave money and property to that person. And they can request that the guardian uses those assets to care for the pet, even in the deceased’s home. But there is no guarantee the guardian will follow those desires — and, in many case, they aren’t legally bound to honor the requests.

If a person favors pets over family, attorneys caution the reasons for disinheritance must be made clear. Sometimes people leave their children or grandchildren nothing out of anger and disappointment — document incidents so the court upholds your wishes.

In 2008, a New York probate court overruled controversial real estate mogul Leona Helmsley’s $12-million bequest to her beloved Maltese, Trouble, knocking down the dog’s share of her estate to $2 million. The judge also awarded $6 million to two grandchildren she had disinherited for “reasons known to them,” wrote Helmsley.

It made headlines across Asia early this year when one elderly Shanghai mother announced she was leaving her $2.8 million estate, through a veterinary clinic, to her cats and dogs because her children never visited her.

Setting up a trust

So if a person wants to set aside money for their pet’s care with a legally binding obligation that it’s used only for the pet’s benefit, then they usually need to establish a trust.

That was the route Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, actress and widow of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, took. Before her death in 2009 at the age of 76, she set up $4 million trust for the couple’s dogs, and allocated an additional $1 million for an employee to care for them. (The arrangement triggered headlines “Star Trek fortune goes to the dogs.”)

Florida attorney Peggy Hoyt, author of “All My Children Wear Fur Coats,” told CNN she urges her clients to leave comprehensive instructions for pet caretakers. They “should have access to your home, care and feeding instructions for your pet, the name and contact information for your veterinarian and written instructions for the long-term or permanent care of your pet,” she said.

If a pet outlives its caregiver, state laws differ about who must take responsibility for the animal (The ASPCA offers an online guide, state-by-state.)

Leslie Ann Mandel, widow of science-fiction author Arthur Herzog III, thought of pretty much everything for her cat, dog and more than two-dozen cockatiels, each bird identified by name, in her will. Specifically, a trustee was awarded $100,000 and access to additional funds, but the birds had to be allowed to remain living in the aviary of Mandel’s Wainscott, Hamptons home after her death (in 2015). Her chief demand: “no cages.”

When things go wrong

What could go wrong? A lot.

Estate attorneys recommend people who want to add their animals to their wills set up a separate trustee for the trust who is not also the pet’s caretaker. It’s far more likely that their wishes will being carried out if there is more than one person administering the terms of the trust. If hit with a layoff or slew of medical bills, even a well-meaning caretaker may be tempted to divert funds towards their own needs.

A simpler solution is to leave a sum of money to an animal protection group. A handful of them, such as the Associated Humane Societies, run shelters throughout New Jersey which will care for cats and dogs after their owners have passed on.

“We require a $10,000 minimum donation for future care of the animal,” said Director of Development Danielle Mania. But “we don’t want them to have to live out their lives in a shelter. We try to find them a new ‘forever home.’”

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