Advertisement
Pet owners who establish a trust for their animals guarantee their care in the event of the owner’s extended hospitalization or vacation, incapacitation or death, said Michael Ablan, the first local attorney to provide the pet trust services to Wisconsin and Minnesota residents.
“Pets have become a family member, and we, as their caretakers, have a duty to treat them in a way they are accustomed to when we’re not able to ourselves, especially when we’re so endeared to them,” said Ablan, owner of the Michael Ablan Law Firm. “I wouldn’t say it’s like a child, but you talk to pet owners, and they don’t make much distinction.”
A pet trust can detail everything from appointing a caretaker to everyday care for the animal to euthanasia. The trust takes about two to four hours to write and can be amended at any time, Ablan said.
Wisconsin law prohibits owners from leaving money directly to an animal, but the funds can be left to a trustee or caretaker who will oversee the animal’s life by the owner’s wishes, Ablan said.
Pet trusts grabbed national attention in August when New York real estate billionaire Leona Helmsley left $12 million to her white Maltese, Trouble. Most pet owners aren’t quite so generous, leaving behind an average of $10,000 and $20,000 to their animals, said Stephan Otto, the director of legislative affairs for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
It’s too early to tell how much local pet owners will leave to their animals because they haven’t bitten into the trusts idea yet, but Ablan expects them to catch on by the end of the year.
“I think this is something people want to do already,” he said. “But I think the idea is going to take a little time for people to make a decision to do. People have a tendency to put off their own estate planning, and to do it for a pet is probably a similar situation.”
Ablan — who studied pet trust law at the William Mitchell College of Law — was his own guinea pig, as he and his wife established a pet trust Tuesday for their Italian greyhound, Diogi.
“We’re dog and horse lovers,” he said. “My wife has always been interested in something like this, and that’s what got me thinking about it.”
Anne Jungen can be reached at (608) 791-8224 or ajungen@lacrossetribune.com.
