4 Resources to Protect Your Pet

 In Pets
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While you can create a pet trust to set aside money to be used to care for your pet in the event of your incapacity or death, other steps you can take may be equally to protect your pet. These include the following:

  1. Animal Card. You can prepare a card that you keep in your wallet or purse which tells whoever reads it about your pet or pets, their care needs, their veterinarian, and who should be called in case of emergency. Here’s a sample wallet card and form to post at home.
  2. Animal Document. This can be more expansive than the animal card and kept on your refrigerator or wherever you store your pet’s food or other pet care items. You might also give your estate planning attorney a copy to keep with your estate planning documents. Here’s a sample document.
  3. Door Sign. This will alert emergency workers in case of fire, or your illness or accident that there are pets inside. Here and here are places where you can purchases pet stickers at a reasonable cost.
  4. Durable Power of Attorney. You might also add a provision to your durable power of attorney specifically authorizing your agent to care for your pet and to spend money on its behalf or create a separate durable power of attorney for this purpose. Here’s a form of the latter.

Without taking these steps, people who step in to take care of you may not know what to do and the pet could easily be sent to the animal shelter rather than put in the hands of the person or people you want to care for it. Remember, your pet can’t speak for itself.

Related Articles:

How Much are Pet Trust Trustees Paid?

4 Resources to Protect Your Pet

How to Create a Trust for your Pet

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