If animals can inherit property from humans, then they also have a right to contractual agreements with them, which means... oy vey.
How long until they get to marry? :)
No. This is a law which allows a trust to be set up for the purposes of taking care of an animal after it's owner's death. The trustee is still a human being.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
So, does this mean that you can marry your Doberman?
If Uncle Loony wants to leave his entire estate to his parakeet, that's his call. His relatives and the state should have nothing to say about it.
The animal isn't inheriting. The human is making a contract (a trust) in order for certain services to be provided regarding his property, the pet. No different from a contract to board your pet while you're on vacation, except that it's a permanent vacation :-).
I'm surprised this requires a new law; it should already be legal for a trustor to designate his trust to do whatever he wants it to do.
I also don't think the government should have the right to amend the trust deed if they think the provision is unreasonable. It's the decedent's money. If he wants to assign his wealth for his parrot to live at the Ritz for the next 80 years (or until the money runs out) it should be his business, not the state's.
(/freedom of contract rant)
This is a parody of the origin of property rights.
It's OK, as long as the animals are subject to the new rules of eminent domain, the same as us. /sarcasm
Well, if there is a freedom to disinherit an obnoxious relative, then there should be no limitations on the amounts transferred to such trusts.
*headbanging*
Well if they are good enough to inherit property they are damn good enough to wear underpants! I am sick of seeing animals running around naked! Sick!
*headbanging off*
We've had laws like this in Texas for a while. At the Texas A&M vet school there is a center where people can setup a fund so if they die before their pets then the animals will be taken care of for the rest of their lives. It does so well they just doubled the building's size.
Will they be able to sue in their own right, or will they be deemed incompetents and require a litigation guardian to sue on their behalf?
If a trust is set up for a pet and its descendants, who will fall within the enumerated class of descendants?
If the minor beneficiary of a trust can take the proceeds of the trust upon reaching the age of majority per the rule in Saunders v. Vautier , at what age is a pet deemed no longer to be a minor. (Dog years?)
How will the cy-pres doctrine be applied if the original terms of a trust for a pet cannot be carried out?
So many questions....
-Eric
Teacher's pets can now inherit.
Will PETA be the executor of the trust?
That's what this is all about. Greedy lawyers becoming "trustees" of old folks' estates. I seriously doubt the animals care.
Even if there's not law like this, you can do it by conditionally bequeathing a sum of money to an individual on condition that he or she properly care for an animal and providing that, if the animal is not properly cared for, somebody else will get the money. Beneficiary #2 will likely, just about when yhou will's read, become the world's greatest animal laover.