Being left pets in a will

[petsconundrum]

An older family friend, let's call him John, invited us to dinner last night. He broached the topic of his will and told us that he is leaving his dogs and cats to me. He understands that they wouldn't be able to live with us after his death, but said that I am the only person he trusts to do their best to find them all new homes. He has asked me to move temporarily into his house after his death to look after his pets until I have been able to rehome them all. This might be tricky in terms of their various ages and some health and behaviour issues, although they are all lovely animals.

John is single, in his 70s, childless and presently in good health. His properties will be sold and, together with the rest of his estate, the proceeds will be divided up between his extended family. He is very fond of them but not particularly close or involved with their lives, or they in his, and they don't live nearby. I don't know them, nor they me.

We have been friends with John for a long time and we are very fond of him and of his pets. He adores his pets and I want to help him and them. He says that he will ensure that the financial costs of looking after them in terms of food, vet bills and so on and running his house until they are rehomed will be met by his estate and family. He says that he intends to write a letter of wishes about this and talk to his executors who are family members/beneficiaries and also have POA.

Despite wanting to help, I do have some concerns about the legalities of all this, the costs being met, dealing with his family and finding suitable homes.

Advice gratefully received.

The Dog's Trust has a scheme for this type of situation and the owner can name a "Dog guardian." https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/how-we-help/ownership/canine-care-card#:~:text=Choose%20your%20Dog%20Guardian,you%27re%20not%20able%20to.

He would need to make sure that financial provision was made in his Will, not just in a letter of wishes, as that would not be legally binding and could cause issues.

Have a look at the cinnamon trust. They have a scheme which solves this dilemma.

I've just done a Will and left my dog to someone (spoke to them about it before writing the Will though) and the solicitor suggested between 5 and 10k per dog under 5yo. I decided on 5k because dog is 5 this year and I'm hopefully going to outlive her 😅 (sorry ddog)

Thought I'd post and say what the sol suggested cost-wise anyway.

Cats protection also do a scheme where they will re home your cats when you die.

The Dog's Trust has a scheme

Thank you JennyMule. He doesn't want to leave his pets to a national organisation like the Dogs Trust. He has heard some horror stories - not specifically about the Dogs Trust, I don't think - about organisations accepting a donation in a will to do this but being full at the time of a person's death and pets being turned away or moved far away to different shelters around the country.

Op I would just tell him you're not going to take on that responsibility. It's cheeky of him to just tell you he's going to do all this and all the expectations with it. He should have asked you not just landed it on you like that. There are plenty of other options as PPs have mentioned.

The same applies to Cats Protection and the Cinnamon Trust, Snozzlemaid and Alphabet1spaghetti2. I think the stories he heard were about CP. Thank you both though.

But the same can also be said of private adoption of pets - can you really ever guarantee to find the absolute best home for all his varied pets? Or are you going to be living in his home until the last pet dies as that is they only way you can guarantee not making a mistake in rehoming them yourself. Every form of adoption/animal ownership has horror stories. Beneficiaries of his estate may not be willing to wait many years until that happens. It really does need more though than why he’s proposing. (You’ve said you can’t have them to live with you and rehoming could be tricky.)

As an aside note, he needs to also to think of carrying contact details for whoever will be seeing to his animals in the event of his death. As someone will need to see to them within hours of his death if they are not to suffer. (It might be a sudden death eg vehicular).

One of our horses was gifted to us after the death of his owner. The executor of lady's will had 6 to re-home and there were strict instructions that they were not to be sold,but given to the right home.
The executor asked around about us and came to see us to see where he'd live,then DD1,went to ride him to see if they'd get on well together. They did and we've had him 3 years now. If he'd been for sale,we wouldn't have gone to see him because he's quirky and we wouldn't have been able to afford the £10k he was probably worth then.
Your friend might be best to write his wishes into his will,and also give you details of any quirks/ likes/ dislikes his pets have and the type of homes they'd best suit. It would make things easier for everyone involved.

As things stand, I don't think the financial costs or staying temporarily in the house are specified in the will, just the letter. John said that he believes it will be ok as his family are decent people and will respect his wishes, especially given they will be benefitting significantly from his will.

I'm concerned it leaves John's pets and me in a potentially vulnerable position though. We would be relying on the goodwill of the family, having to ask them to pay all the pets' costs and the household bills promptly as they arise and months before they have received their bequests, and to be completely ok about me staying there, even down to respecting my privacy when they need to visit. Hopefully they would realise that I would be doing him and them a great favour in taking care of his pets and uprooting myself. I don't particularly want to stay there, it would be just to help our friend and his pets. I have a home and family and all the bills to pay for our own pets and house. I can't pay two lots. It will be a difficult enough time, having just lost my dear friend, staying in his house, trying to rehome his beloved pets, and I just don't want any difficulties with costs or the family at such a time. Even though I have a spare key now, having access to John's house after his death also concerns me, in that he knows that I am completely trustworthy and I obviously know I am too, but his family don't know me. I don't want to be accused by them of anything untoward. It seems likely that they would be perfectly decent about it all, and they are already comfortably off, but we all know that even the seemingly nicest of families can be funny around money and possessions at times like this.

He can’t ensure any of this unless it’s properly documented in his will. If there’s a POA in place can he even make this decision

I’ve got pet guardians in my will but also a clause that if they can’t or won’t accept the cats then I've got a cats protection rehome agreement in place

If there’s a POA in place can he even make this decision

He has capacity. He has organised POA in advance, for if ever it is needed, OnTheBoardwalk.

I know this is Legal Matters OP, but I don't see how any of this is your problem.
John has multiple properties, so is clearly well off. If he really cares that much about his pets, he can pay for professional advice. And follow said advice. The end.

There are too many issues here to untangle, for example..
Vague phrases like paying for the 'running of the house' is meaningless. What does that mean. Utility bills? Major repairs (in case needed during your stay)? What happens if anything gets damaged and you're blamed?

If he wants you to look after his pets he needs to make a legally binding document, together with an amount of money to look after them in his will, personally if I was happy to be his pets guardian I would make it perfectly clear that unless this is in his will you won’t be doing it. There is no way once money is involved will his relatives be handing out anything to you.

I don’t think legally he can bequest his pets to anyone - he can ask someone to oversee their arrangements, but that is an ask, not a demand. With my animals, I have left a friend a generous amount and asked them to oversee the comfort of my animals, including PTS if that is the best option

If you have your own family and home I think it's really cheeky of him to ask you to stay in his home for an unspecified period of time. That's not on.

While I don't want to put a damper on your kindness to your friend and his pets, this whole scenario would be a legal and practical minefield.

His family will be keen to get their inheritance, so how will they feel about his estate paying for the upkeep of the property, council tax, water rates, gas & electricity? What about vet's bills, house insurance, what if the house is burgled or there is damage from a water leak for example?
I would say there will inevitably be friction and pressure from his family, and really, why would you put yourself in that position @petsconundrum ?

Your friend is placing a huge burden on you, with his expectations. Was this the first you had heard of it? He could leave a pet to each of the relatives who are going to inherit his estate. Or he could leave you a property or two on the understanding you would do your best for his pets.

Also, consider how it would affect your own family, as it could take many months to re home all the animals, meanwhile your own life would be on hold.

What age are his pets? If he's in good health he'll likely outlive them, as long as he doesn't take on any more.

No matter how decent people are, or how financially comfortable they are, everything seems to go out of the window when someone dies. Even close-knit immediate family members can spectacularly fall out so dealing with distant family members could be fraught. This is a minefield if not done properly and, as you have already recognised, you could be open to all sort of accusations if anything is missing from the house for example. If there’s vet bills or food to be bought the executors wouldn’t have the authority to pay for it if it’s not expressly included in the Will. The executors do have a duty to secure the property,though, so they would be completely failing if they let someone live in the house without any legal authority to do so. If you both want this to work the best option would be to include a specific provision in the Will … but John is going to have to take proper legal advice and get everything written formally into the will.