Pet Trusts: Yes, They Exist
Recently, a cat belonging to Taylor Swift made headlines for its apparent net worth of $97 million. Perhaps even more incredible than this headline is the fact that it is only the third-most valuable pet alive. Apparently, there is a dog named Gunther VI that is worth half a billion dollars. While I’m not so sure of the precision of the methodology for how these pets were valued based on their perceived influencer capacity, I won’t spend time diving into these numbers because even a conservative estimate is mind-blowing if you think about it.
Actually, upon review, the pet worth half a billion dollars actually has the funds to back it up. Yes, a pet trust is most likely exactly what you think it is. It is a trust created by someone who wishes to use their wealth to promote the general well-being of their pet. Okay, perhaps they want to promote a lavish lifestyle for their pet. Believe it or not, there is very little difference between a pet trust and a trust that you would create for your human heirs. The grantor (creator) of the trust names a trustee (reliable person, company, or maybe even a small-business dog sitter) who has access to the trust assets in order to best care for, feed, provide shelter and do what is in the best interest of the pet. The grantor can get as detailed as they want in the creation of the trust by naming a fiduciary to oversee the investments of trust assets and even nominate an impartial third party to ensure that everyone is doing their job and what is in the best interest of the pet(s) named in the trust.
Seriously, this is not a joke. What type of person would leave behind a massive sum of money for a pet? Who knows. Everyone is different. Perhaps they had no descendants to give their wealth to, didn’t like their family, didn’t feel terribly inclined to leave the money to charity, really loved their pets, didn’t want their money to go to the government, all of the above, or none of the above. Maybe they just wanted to carve out a small share of their wealth and do something nice for their beloved canine(s). At the end of the day, planning your wealth is a personal decision with no right or wrong answers. It is YOUR money, and YOU can choose exactly what to do with it.
