So, you have a pet, you love your pet. I don’t know if it’s a dog, cat, bird, fish. Many people will treat their pets and call their pets just like their family. In fact, some people love their pets more than their kids, but many, many people feel as though their pet is just a part of their family, like a family member, like a child. One of the things that people worry about is what happens to my pet at the time of my death? Hopefully for you, you’re able to live out your natural life and you live well, the statistics say probably into your 80s, but that might not be the case. Something may happen to you have medical condition, an accident, and you may not make it that far. You need to consider what happens to all of my assets and things like that if I should die and what about my pet?
You can make arrangements for your pet in your Last Will and Testament. In the state of Florida, a pet, an animal, is treated like property, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t make provisions for your pet in your Last Will and Testament. People talk about it like guardianship. You know, if you have minor children in your Will, you want to talk about a guardian for your children if something were to happen to you. You can do a similar thing with a pet, but it’s not considered guardianship. It’s simply making arrangements, both who gets the pet and then you may even provide financial distribution from your estate to that person to care for your pet. If you want to ensure that your pet is in the right hands and is being well taken care of, address it in your Last Will and Testament. An experienced and qualified estate planning attorney can help you do that properly.