Estate Planning for Pets

Monday, April 19, 2004

Interesting story via TaxGuru about a Charlton, NY widow who left $500,000 at her death to care for her pets: a horse, a dog, and 2 cats. Now, 8 years later, only 1 cat ("Teddy Bear") is alive and lives in the family home along with a caretaker (cattaker?) hired by a local trust company. Interestingly, no one has ever seen the cat, but a neighbor claims "the cat has a special tattoo to prevent anyone from replacing him with a look-alike when he dies." (Oh, oh: cat tattoos: can PETA be far behind?) Enterprising reporters have not been able to see the cat either. According to the will, when the cat dies the property is to be rented out on a year-by-year basis with the proceeds going to a local animal welfare organization. Check out the article.