Providing for Pets in Your Will

Pets are property in law

However much they feel like family, pets are treated as property under the law of England and Wales. You can't leave money to a pet directly, because an animal can't own anything. What you can do is leave the pet to a person, and leave that person money to look after it.

Name a carer, and ask them first

Choose someone you trust to take your pet, and check they're willing before you name them. A pet that arrives unexpectedly can become a burden rather than a gift. Name a backup too, in case your first choice can't take the animal when the time comes.

Leave a sum to cover the costs

Pets can live for many years, and food, insurance and vet bills add up. Leaving the carer a cash gift alongside the pet makes it far more likely they'll agree and do it well. For most people nothing formal is needed: a specific gift of the pet plus a cash legacy to the carer does the job.

Charity backstops

Several animal charities run schemes that promise to rehome and care for your pet after you die, often in return for a gift in your will. If there's nobody who can realistically take your pet, that's a sensible route.

With PureWill

You can leave your pet to a named person as a specific gift and leave that person a cash sum in the same will. For most owners that's all it takes. If you want the money tied tightly to the pet's care, so it can only be spent that way, that needs a trust, which is a job for a solicitor.