You’ve heard about pets being pampered by people who have far more money than they have to do with. You may even have heard about pets who receive trust funds, even if gr andchildren are left out of the will. Then, you start thinking to yourself. "You know, my dog greets me at the door every day with a wagging tail. He snuggles up when he knows I’m upset. He doesn’t talk back, dem and expensive things or forget about me."
Yes, it’s true, you can list your pet as the beneficiary to your life insurance policy. Doing so may even be a very good thing. After all, who is going to take care of your animal if something should happen to you?
Often times, pets as a life insurance beneficiary will need to have a trust set up to manage the funds. Don’t worry. You can control what happens to those funds and your attorney can make sure it happens. The funds, upon your death, would go into a trust. The trust, which doesn’t need to go through probate court, is like a place to store the funds until they are needed. You determine who gets to care for your furry friend, what they can spend the money on and even what to do with anything that’s left over should something happen to your pet.
Should you skip the kids and list your pet as a beneficiary on your policy? That depends on just how much you want to sock it to them after you are gone. Of course, you could have more than one plan in place to cover everyone’s needs.
