Pet trusts now legal in California

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The California legislature took time out from the state budget crisis to pass a bill giving California pet owners the right to set up a legally enforceable trust to care for dogs, cats, horses or other animals.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill, SB685, last week. It takes effect Jan. 1.Before now, pet trusts in California were honorary, meaning they could not be legally enforced."When people originally set up trusts, they said I'm giving $10,000 to Dan, I want him to use it for my dog. Once it got into Dan's hands, the trust didn't have any teeth. Dan could do whatever he wanted," says Dan Meek, a Florida attorney who writes Pettrustlawblog.com.Under the new law, pet owners can set up a trust that provides a certain amount of money for the animal's care if the owner dies or becomes incapacitated. The trust can be separate from, or part of, a broader estate plan.The owner names a trustee to manage and disburse the money and a caretaker for the pet. Ideally, they are two different people."You want the guardian to be the emotional one. You want the trustee to be independent, calculating, someone who will say your dog doesn't need a $16,000 doghouse, just like your kid doesn't need a Ferrari when they are 16," Meek says. "If I'm the caretaker and the trustee, maybe I want to take that dog on a vacation to Acapulco."The owner should specify where any remaining money will go after the last pet dies.If the money is not being used properly, anyone "interested in the welfare of the animal," or any nonprofit group devoted to animal care, could petition a court to enforce the trust, the law states.The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, says, "When we put this bill through, the courts did not indicate this would create a burden." He says it should save taxpayers money by keeping orphaned pets out of shelters.But Meek says more pet cases will end up in court. For example, if the caretaker died and a successor was not named in the trust, the trustee might need court approval to appoint a new one.Meek says pet trusts are enforceable in at least 40 states and are another step in the legal evolution of pets as family members."There are cases where owners have received money for emotional distress" caused by pet death or injury, he says. And some courts are awarding joint custody of pets to divorced couples.Judi Geldermann of Carmel has already put $50,000 into a trust for her three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels: Duet, 12, Beth, 5, and Bronson, 3.She says she plans to "redo the trust" to make it enforceable.Geldermann has been raising and showing Cavaliers for 25 years. "They're collectible, they're like potato chips. No one has just one Cavalier," she says.She says it takes a lot of money to care for them "if you have the money and you love them enough."Margaret Mazotta of Huntington Beach (Orange County) plans to add Calli, also a Cavalier, to her trust."She is a very important part of our life. She is our additional child. We have kids who are grown and part of our trust. They are taken care of. Now we want to make sure Calli is taken care of and our wishes are followed."Mazotta says she plans to make her trust "very specific," to make sure Calli gets the food, medical care and busy social life she is used to. Calli is trained to visit cancer patients and "loves going shopping and to Starbucks," she says. Mazotta also wants to make sure Calli is buried next to another beloved pet and "added to the headstone."Katharine Davidson, an attorney with Dreier Stein in Santa Monica, says most pet trusts are set up as part of an estate plan. The cost, she says, ranges from $1,500 to $5,000. "For this to be feasible, you'd need to put in $10,000 to $50,000 per animal," she says."As with any trust," she adds, "it could be challenged by heirs or beneficiaries."A court in New York recently reduced the trust fund for Leona Helmsley's dog Trouble, to $2 million from $12 million. The rest will go to her charitable foundation.Mary Randolph, author of Nolo's "Every Dog's Legal Guide," says, "For some people, a trust gives them a lot of peace of mind. But it's not necessary. It's simpler to just pick someone you trust. If you trust them with the pet, trust them with the money."E-mail Kathleen Pender of the San Francisco Chronicle at kpender(at)sfchronicle.com.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)