Multi-Million Dollar Pet Wills Over Family Members Becoming Common

The dog is currently living at the Helmsley's Connecticut estate, being cared for by staffers at the 28-room mansion.

The gift to the Maltese was not unique, however is a part of a growing trend of people who are not all wealthy that have been providing for their pets in wills or setting up trust funds for the pets to make sure that they are well taken care of until they die.

Recent laws have been enacted to make these gifts easier because pet trusts were not recognized by most states in the late 1990’s. Washington D.C. and 39 states have enacted laws dealing with the gifts.

Reason For The Gifts

The actual gifts are very diverse, many owners leave tens of thousands of dollars to give pets the opportunity to live comfortably in their current home with a professional caretaker, as opposed to be shipped off to a relative. Most people set money aside money for potential future veterinary bills or to serve as compensation to the owner for taking on the new pet.

The history of pet gifts upon the death of their owner goes back decades, however pet trusts didn’t evolve until 1990 when the Uniform Probate Code was modified to allow states to make their own laws regarding wills.

Sara Amundson, a director of legislative affairs for the Humane Society of the United States, said even a small gift can keep a pet from winding up in dire straits. "As a nation, we still euthanize 4 to 6 million cats and dogs every year, and a good number of those are pets left without care when their owners die," she said.

Problems

Written in a private trust agreement, Helmsley’s spells out the trust to Trouble and specifically says that the dog will be cared for by her brother and will be buried next to her in a lavish family mausoleum. Perhaps she should have asked her brother and researched the burial laws before executing this trust. Her brother has recently refused the request to take care of Trouble and state laws forbid pet remains being buried per the terms of her request.

New York state law specifically allows courts to reduce testamentary gifts to pets if the judge concludes that the gift is more than necessary to care for the animal, also disappointed relatives are generally waiting to contest if they perceive a pet is getting too much.

Helmsley, a real estate and hotel magnate died August 20, at age 87, bequeathed the majority of her multi-billion dollar estate to charity and not her family. Helmsley did

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