Estate Planning for Pets (Live Replay)
Pets can be a substantial source of comfort and affection for elderly clients. Providing for their safety and care once the client dies can be a source of great urgency for the client and raises several unique challenges for the attorney. This program is 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 the a client’s larger estate plan. Among other topics, the program will cover the types of pet trusts and where they are available – some are universally available, others are the creature of statute, the special challenge of selecting trustees and caretakers for pet trusts, establishing administration standards, funding pet trusts, and a guide to challenges by other beneficiaries.
- Types of pet trusts and where they are available – universally available versus special statutorily created trusts
- Issues in selecting trustees and caretakers
- Establishing effective standards of administration
- Funding pet trusts
- Potential legal challenges
Gerry W. Beyer is the Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law at Texas Tech University School of Law, where he specializes in estate planning and teaches classes in wills and estates, trusts, and estate planning. He is widely recognized as a leading national authority on estate and trust planning for pets. He is a frequent contributor to both scholarly and practice-orientated publications and has authored and co-authored numerous books and articles focusing on various aspects of estate planning, including a two volume treatise on Texas wills law and a casebook on estate planning published by the West. Professor Beyer is a Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Eastern Michigan University, his J.D., summa cum laude, from Ohio State University College of Law, and his LL.M. and J.S.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law.
