Estate Planning for Pets

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Program Description:

For many clients, particularly the elderly, the most urgent concern they have in an estate plan is that their pet, the source of consolation over many years, is taken care of once the client dies.  The challenge for estate planners is that substantive law is framed in a way to provide for human beneficiaries and rarely anticipates care for animals.  In some states, there are now statutorily defined trusts to provide for pets.  In most others, traditional trusts have to be adapted to particular circumstances - caregivers selected, instructed and compensated, trustees given defined standards of inspection to supervise caregivers, residuary beneficiaries designated, and much more.  This program will provide you a practical guide to the special challenges of creating and administering trusts for the safety and care of pets and the integration of the trust into a client's larger estate plan.

- Statutory and common law framework for estate planning for pets and animals

- Traditional trusts v. statutory trusts - which work best in individual circumstances?

- Choosing and establishing standards for caregivers and trustees, and understanding the relationship between the two

- Distributions to caregivers for the pet and for themselves

- Designation of remainder beneficiary or trust, terminating the trust, and final disposition of the pet

Faculty:

J. Alan Jensen is a partner in the Portland, Oregon office of Holland & Knight, LLP, where his practice focuses on tax planning for individuals and businesses, including corporate and estate planning for closely-held and family-owned businesses. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel and formerly served as a professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School.  Mr. Jensen received his B.A. from Carleton College, his LLB from the University of Michigan Law School, and his LL.M. from New York University School of Law.

Margaret A. Vining is an attorney in the Portland, Oregon office of Holland & Knight, LLP, where she practices in the areas of estate planning, business succession and tax planning.  She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Oregon State Bar Association's Estate Planning and Administration Section. Ms. Vining received her B.A. from Yale University and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.