Slightly odd dog inheritance question

[Fortheloveofdogs2]

This is a very long story short

DH has a slightly wacky aunt that has recently died. Prior to her death she was big in the dog world, and if I'm honest an animal horder. Eventually this whittled down to 2 and she moved into a supported accomodation. She took one with her which she could manage, and the other came to us. Later the second came to us also.

To lessen the blow about her losing her beloved dog, we treated it like a Foster situation, taking the dog to visit regularly, sending photos and letting her feel in control of things like vet visits. We've had the dog for 5 years now, the second dog has now died

It's not been easy as the dog was poorly socialised, the older dog was incontinent etc but in general we are dog people and it felt like the right thing to do

Subsequently we have discovered she's left a significant amount of money to the dog. Our understanding was that she was going to do this via a trust set up with money specifically for the dog.

Anyway another family member who is the executor been complaining. We aren't clear if this is because the trust is in excess of what the dog will need and thus the trust may go to us post dog or she might have left it directly to us

This has caused a family rift as we happened to take the dog (believe me no one was fighting us for it!). Others feel like if they didn't have the opportunity to, or were in rented accommodation so didn't have the option of doing the thing that has lead to more money

There are some other cousins who provided a significant amount of personal care at one point, am aunt who did lots of organising etc who we would probably redistribute some money to. However this leaves DH's siblings out and many cousins.

Would you just keep the money? Equally dish it out? Or share it with the specific relatives who provided her with support?

My dear Chihuahua died in June but when he was living, i had a trust providing 25k to whoever adopted him. I was happy for them to keep any excess beyond what his keep and veterinary care cost.

I would estimate how much you think it’ll cost to keep the dog, based on food, vet insurance, and how long it’s likely to live, and take that amount of money. The rest I would share between the people who were most involved in her care. Or if that would be contentious, I’d share the remainder as per the original will distribution.

You can leave a bequest to pets. My friend inherited a tortoise which came with a nice sum to keep it in style for 40 years.

Take the money and ringfence it for vet bills, food etc (and take the last 5 years' worth out of that) for the rest of his life. At the end, I'd split the remainder between a local dog rescue and the vet's hardship fund for folk who've had a disaster and can't afford their bill.

The way I see it, if she'd wanted any of the other people involved in her life to have money, she'd have included them in the will. Executors don't get to add beneficiaries to the will as they feel like.