Pet planning is very important if you have any animals under your care. Your animals depend upon you and it is up to you to make sure they can be provided for and kept safe. Because of the responsibility that you have taken on and because of the love that you have for the animals in your life, you should not hesitate to make a pet plan as soon as you have brought animals into your home. 
Unsworth LaPlante, PLLC provides assistance with pet planning to dog owners, cat owners, owners of farm animals, and owners of people with companion animals. We know how much you care about your pets and we understand that they are a part of your family. We will help you to make sure they can be provided for. Give our Burlington pet planning lawyers a call today to find out more.
When Should You Start Pet Planning?
It is very important to begin the pet planning process as soon as you get your first pet. This is true even if you are young and you don’t think anything is likely to happen to you. There is never any guarantee that you will remain healthy and able to care for your animal for the life of the pet. You need to make certain you have made appropriate provisions so your animal is not put into a bad situation if you become incapacitated or if you pass away.
Far too many pets end up homeless after the death of an owner or after an owner gets sick. These pets can face challenges finding a new home. According to the ASPCA, 7.6 million pets come into shelters annually and approximately 2.7 million are adopted. Some of the remaining pets are returned to their owners when their owners are found, but others are not able to find new families. You do not want to take a chance on your pet ending up without a caregiver if something happens to you, so you must make certain you’ve taken steps to ensure that this will not happen.
What Should be Part of Your Pet Plan?
Naming a guardian for your pet is the first and most essential part of your pet planning process. You need to make plans for someone to take care of your animal if you cannot do so. You should be sure to talk with whomever you are naming as a pet guardian to ensure that they are willing to accept the responsibility of pet care.
You should also strongly consider naming a backup guardian in order to provide extra protection for your animal. There are many situations where someone agrees to be a pet guardian and then circumstances change and they become unable to take on this responsibility. If you have named a backup guardian, you will have someone else who can step up.
Making financial plans for your pet’s care is also important. It can be expensive to pay for veterinary bills and to provide food, treats, and other things that your pet needs. You don’t want your animal’s quality of life to suffer as a result of insufficient funds to provide care. You can create a trust to provide money to be used specifically for the care of your animal so this never happens.
Creating a trust is a preferable solution to just leaving money in your will, because you can name a trustee who is in charge of managing the money and who will have a legal obligation to use the money for its intended purpose: caring for your pet. If you simply leave money in a will, you don’t have the same level of control over making sure that the money is used to provide the things you want your animal to have.
Pet Owners: Get Help from Our Pet Planning Lawyer
You don’t want to leave the lives of your animals up to fate, especially as your family may not be equipped to provide care for your animals in the event that something happens to you. With help from Unsworth LaPlante, PLLC, you can make sure you have planned in advance to provide security and a good life to your animals, even if they cannot live out the rest of their lives with you.
To learn more about pet planning as part of your comprehensive estate planning process, join us for a free seminar. You may also wish to contact us to get personalized advice about the plans you need to make for your companion animals. You can give us a call at (802) 879-7133 or contact us online today so we can get started on protecting your beloved animal family.
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