New Law Allows for Trusts
for the Care of Animals 

 

On January 7, 2011, Governor Patrick signed into law “An Act Relative to Trusts for the Care of Animals.” This act provides for the first time that an individual may establish an enforceable trust under Massachusetts law for the benefit of one or more specific animals. It enables pet owners to provide for pets that survive them through special estate planning. The new act will be codified at section 3C of Chapter 203 of the General Laws and will come into effect 90 days after its enactment.

Previous to the enactment of the law, pet owners were limited in how they could provide for their pets after the owners had died. The Act now provides that a trust for the care of one or more animals alive during the settlor’s life is valid following the donor’s death. During the trust term, the trustee may use the income and principal for the benefit of the covered animals. Unless expressly provided otherwise in the trust instrument, the Act forbids the trustee to convert any of the trust property to his or her own use other than for the payment of reasonable trustee fees and administration expenses. The settlor or other custodian of an animal benefiting from the trust may transfer custody of the animal to the trustee at any time after the creation of the trust, although the act does not appear to require it.

The trust will terminate upon the death of the last survivor of the animals named as beneficiaries or upon such earlier time as is specified in the trust instrument. Upon the termination of a trust for animals, the act directs the trustee to transfer the remaining property in the following order: (1) as directed in the trust instrument; (2) to the settlor, if living; (3) as part of the residue of the transferor’s estate, if the trust was created under a non-residuary clause of the transferor’s will; or (4) to the settlor’s heirs at law.

The amount of property with which a trust for animals may be funded is not unlimited. The act gives the court the power to reduce the amount of property held in the trust if that amount “substantially exceeds the amount required for the intended use and the court finds that there will be no substantial adverse impact in the care, maintenance, health or appearance of the animal or animals” benefiting from the trust. Presumably, the appropriate amount of property with which to fund the trust will depend upon the type of animal benefiting from the trust. An animal with a long life expectancy or high cost of upkeep (such as horse) should merit a larger trust than an animal with a short life or low cost (such as a gerbil). Any property removed from the trust by the court will pass as if the trust had then terminated.

The court may fill any vacancy in the office of trustee if the governing instrument creating the trust for animals does not provide a mechanism for doing so. In addition, the court may order the transfer of property to another trustee if necessary to ensure that the intended use of the property is carried out.

-From “Alert: New Act Allows for Creation of Trusts for the Care of Animals”, by Matthew Hillery, Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge LLP, Massachusetts Bar Association Trusts & Estates Section, Tuesday, January 11, 2011, http://bbatrustsandestates.blogspot.com/2011/01/alert-new-act-allows-for-creation-of.html, retrieved 1/25/11. Cited in/linked from News from Margolis & Bloom, LLP - January 24, 2011. Margolis & Bloom, LLP.

View the law here: Trust for Care of an Animal

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