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What happens (or doesn't) when Spot outlives you
What happens to Spot when his master passes on? We look at what goes into making sure your dog has a home when you're gone -- and what happens when you don't.
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Kai Ryssdal: Pets, cuddly and companionable as they are, can run you a pretty penny. You gotta feed them, board them when you're out of town, take them to the vet when they get sick. Maybe splurge and buy them a super cute witch costume for Halloween (or not).
But what happens when you're not around to do all that stuff anymore? Who's going to take care of Fido then? The ASPCA wants more people to start considering their pets when they do their estate planning.
Marketplace's Adriene Hill reports.
Adrienne Hill: I'll admit it. When I got assigned this story, I giggled. I mean, pet estate planning? It seems like a concern of a very, very small percentage of us -- those with standard poodles and Bichon Frises out there. The Leona Helmsley's of the world...right?
Kim Bressant-Kibwe: Not at all. Not at all. Quite the contrary.
OK. I stand corrected.
Kim Bressant-Kibwe is a lawyer with the ASPCA. She says it's not just a rich person thing: everyone should plan ahead.
Bressant-Kibwe: There's a lot of situations where people don't leave money at all.
Lawyers say the most important thing is to put in writing who will take care of your pet. Have it in your will, a legal trust or contract. If you don't have a plan for who's going to take Buddy...
Rachel Hirshfeld: People won't know who to give the dog to.
Attorney Rachel Hirshfeld specializes in pet estate planning. She says, if no one steps forward--
Hirschfeld: Your dog will most probably go to a shelter and be euthanized. Those are the numbers.
The experts also recommend you keep a pet dossier, a document with information about Scratchy's drugs, his vet and whether he eats wet food or dry. And if you are one of those people lucky enough to be able to set aside money for your pet, Bressant-Kibwe suggests you not start a conversation with a potential guardian there.
Bressant-Kibwe: I certainly would want to know where the person's intentions lie. Do they really love my pet or are they out for the dough? The pet's dowry, so to speak.
Gotta keep the gold diggers away from the yard diggers.
I'm Adriene Hill for Marketplace.
While "pet estate planning" might be a bit much. Plans definitely need to be made for pets of the elderly or ill. My wife is a hospice nurse and she routinely spends time trying to help place her client's pets with new homes before her clients pass. This is something every pet owner should think about.
I'll admit it. When I heard Kai Rysdall's opener for this story, I rolled my eyes. Good story, I thought, but aren't there more salient, topical things going on for Marketplace to report on? Then Adriene Hill's snarky, tongue-in-cheek coverage made me gag. Poodles and Bichon Frises? Leona Helmsley? Does Ms. Hill or Marketplace think that only people who spend big bucks on purebred animals (or have children), or have bucks to burn, are capable of love for and commitment to a non-human life? Yeah, Marketplace assigned this story to the wrong person...unless, that is, Ms. Hill learned something about relationships between people and their companion animals -- relationship of which she has been deprived, apparently. Dogs and cats are as susceptible to fear and pain, as well as love, as humans are. When I go, I no more want my motley, rescued animals -- who have enriched my life as much as I've saved theirs -- to get dumped in a shelter and euthanized than I would want that to happen to my human loved ones. Marketplace is typically so enlightened. This was a gratuitous lapse that simply poked fun at people, including the sincere individuals interviewed for this story, who care deeply for species and lives other than our own.
