You'll need 2 documents to provide for your cat on your passing

If you live in the UK - and I would suggest most other Western countries - and you want to ensure that your cat companion is looked after on your passing, you should employ two documents namely a letter of wishes and your will.

You can't leave money to your cat in your will because cats are not considered to be sentient beings under British law. They are objects, inanimate objects, and therefore cannot receive money in your will.

But you can leave your pet cat and money to somebody you trust in your will after you've spoken to them about their "duties" when you've gone.

And when you've got their agreement you can provide guidelines about their caregiving of your cat in a letter of wishes, which accompanies the will in an envelope. Both should be drafted by a solicitor or some other qualified person to make sure that they are legal.

Note: this is a cross-post. See the other post by clicking here.

Use a will together with a letter of wishes to make provision for your cat on your passing by Michael Broad

-------------

And it's important you don't leave too much money (whatever that actually is 😎) to the person who has been selected to look after your cat because it might be challenged by other beneficiaries. This might result in a court case and a judge possibly rewriting the will which you obviously want to avoid at all costs.

But the key point here is that there are two documents as mentioned in order to ensure that your cat is well cared for on your passing because of a weakness really in British law. 

It's time for British law to change to recognise cat companions and dog companions as sentient beings because they are regarded as sentient beings and members of the family by their caregivers.

------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Arrogant abusive big cat owner in Europe eaten by his lions. Karma.

This is another example of nature's way; to introduce some karma into the equation. In this instance a private zoo owner in Oškerda, Slovakia, who had a reputation for breaking the rules and whose license had expired in 2019 had the habit of personally feeding his lions every day. He kept them in poor conditions and therefore he abused them.

He'd had done this since the lions were cubs. His name was Jozef B. Why don't we know his name? He was labelled "Europe's Joe Exotic" after the American private zoo owner now in jail serving a very long sentence for conspiring to murder Carole Baskin.

Arrogant abuse big cat owner in Europe eaten by his lions. Karma. Image: NewsFlash.

I guess he felt entirely safe despite a 29-year-old woman being injured when petting a lion at his zoo. One visitor said:

"We used to come here regularly. I saw with my own eyes how he went to the cage and fed the lions. I always asked him if he was afraid, and he just said that he had been feeding them since they were babies."

One day he did not return from feeding the big cats and his family alerted the police. They discovered some human remains. Perhaps they were starving and ate part of him. The police shot two of the lions. Shame that the lions always get it when they kill humans.

A local, who only went by Peter, said:

"He was very arrogant, he didn't know how to behave, he abused the animals and they had very bad conditions."

The local authority are now considering putting down the tigers and lions at the zoo as the conditions are poor. Not good. Why not find new zoos for them. So much more humane, surely? This is a very poor and inhumane decision.

He was said to be an arrogant man. A local person, Peter, said:

"He was very arrogant, he didn't know how to behave, he abused the animals and they had very bad conditions."

Brenda Edwards’ Ragdoll cats lost their hair from stress after her son's death

Brenda Claudina Susan Edwards is an English singer, actress, television personality and presenter.

 

Comment

It seems that Jamal was very close to their two cats, and one in particular. Brenda says that they lost their hair immediately after his death. That's a very general statement which implies that all their hair fell out which is impossible. 

It is more likely that she is referring to bald patches appearing on the cats who began to over-groom themselves to alleviate the stress of losing Jamal. Grooming is a pleasurable experience for a domestic cat.

They stayed outside Jamal's bedroom door for ten days after his death waiting for him to appear as the door was kept closed for the entire time.

Tiny and Tempa. They have to be siblings. Image: Instagram. They are Ragdoll cats.

With respect to Brenda, I think it was a bad idea to keep Jamal's door closed. Left open the cats Tiny and Tempa could have entered and snoozed on the bedclothes which would have provided them with some comfort.

She added:

‘Tiny’s getting better, but Tempa – who was the main cat that he used to love and stroke – she’s still missing hair.’

She took them to the vet who recognised that something had changed. He diagnosed stress. You can alleviate stress by increasing interactions and play. You can add some artificial pheromones to the environment which may reduce stress.

It seems that she did not do these things. She didn't know, I guess. But the story does remind us that cats grieve on the death of a close companion (or do they?). Although this is probably anxiety more than pure grief. It is one of the more sophisticated emotions.

It reminds us that cats are sentient.

RELATED: Cats Feel Jealousy but Not Grief.

How do you make provision for your cat on your death?

This is actually quite straightforward. See a lawyer!! I've added some details below.

Status of the domestic cat

The first point to recognise is that under the law of Western (developed) countries and perhaps all others the domestic cat is like any other object possessed by a person. Therefore, you cannot give a gift in a will to a domestic cat because they are the kind of 'object' that you gift to a beneficiary! 

Domestic cats don't have the legal capacity to be a beneficiary. Therefore, if you want to give some money in your will to a cat you've got to give it through a person who then spends that money on the cat.

How do you make provision for your cat on your death? Image in public domain.

Executor

And that person will usually be the executor of your will. The executor is the person who causing all your assets on your passing, sells them to liquidate them and then distribute the money. They act as trustees of your estate.

Or it might be another beneficiary. You make arrangements with the person to look after your cat on your death. You trust them. That is the ideal. You could do this outside of your will. What I mean is the detail can be arranged outside of the will in a conversation or a letter. In the will you might refer to your cat going to the selected person.

Trust

But the key factor here is that you must trust the person to look after your cat as you would after you passed. If you don't have that advantage then you might consider setting up a trust. These are called pet trusts. This can be drafted into the will or it might be in a separate document. You'll need a lawyer to do this.

Under such a trust, the trustee will receive the money which can be used to care for your cat. The cat might be living with somebody else and that person will receive these funds in communication with the trustee or trustees.

The objective here is to take access to the money away from the cat's caregiver who is looking after your cat and give that responsibility to the trustees who under the law must act like trustees. They could be sued if it came to that if they pocketed the money.

Reducing the risk of misbehaviour

The advantage here is that if there are two trustees and the third party is the person looking after the cat, there's much less chance of misbehaviour because there are checks and balances between these three people.

If you give all the power and responsibility to look after your cat including spending your money to a single person there is a greater likelihood that that person will misbehave. If you share that responsibility between three people the chances are that it will be a success because if one person wants to misbehave and spend the money on a holiday the other trustee should stop them. That is the way it works but clearly it doesn't always work like that! People will be people.

Unusual

I have to believe that it is unusual for a person to set up a pet trust for their cat or dog. Normally this will be when a lot of money is involved. The cat's owner might be rich and they have a particular fondness for their cat and it is very important for them that their cat is well looked after on their passing. It will be exceptional.

Normally a cat owner will simply make arrangements informally or in a letter and indeed in the will for a person they know well to be the beneficiary of their cat with instructions to look after him or her.

Heartbroken dog lies across murdered owner’s grave

Will Warner was murdered in West Nashville last week. His girlfriend was shot in the head. She is critically ill. Police arrested Samuel Earl Rich. He is in custody.

Warner's mum said: "We laid Will to rest this afternoon due to extreme circumstances. This was not the plan but it was necessary."

Warner's body had sadly decomposed under the particular circumstances - perhaps the body was found late. An early burial was arranged. We see a bereaved dog on Warner's grave. That's pretty much all I know. The dog was Warner's companion.

Heartbroken dog lies across murdered owner’s grave. Image: his mum.

Associated: Video of white cat refusing to leave man’s grave goes viral AND Grieving cat refuses to leave grave of her late owner after a year