Episode 40: Can You Leave Money to Your Dog?

Written By Jillian Mastroianni

Episode 40

Host: Jill Mastroianni

Can You Leave Money to Your Dog?

Your dog might run your home, your heart, and your schedule, but legally, he’s still property. In this episode, Jill explores how to make sure your beloved pets are cared for after you’re gone. From Diane Keaton’s rumored estate plan for her dog, Reggie, to Jill’s own story of Oliver—the “best dog in the universe”—this episode walks through what pet trusts are, how they work, and how to decide if you need one.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • What a Pet Trust Is. A legal arrangement that sets aside money for your pet’s care after you die. You name a trustee to manage funds and a caretaker to look after your pet.

    Why Pet Trusts Exist. Under the law, pets are considered property, not people, so they can’t directly inherit money. A pet trust bridges that gap.

    How a Pet Trust Works.

    ·         You (the settlor) create the trust during life or through your will.

    ·         You name a trustee (manages the funds) and a caretaker (provides day-to-day care).

    ·        You decide how much to set aside and how detailed to make your instructions, down to your dog’s diet, vet, and favorite toy.

     Real-Life Examples.

    ·         Leona Helmsley left $12 million to a trust for the benefit of her dog, Trouble. A court reduced that amount to $2 million.

    ·         Headlines suggest that Diane Keaton’s estate plan may include a pet trust for her dog, Reggie.

    Cost-Benefit Perspective. Not everyone needs a formal pet trust. For some, sharing a completed Pet Information Sheet with a trusted friend is enough. The goal is to do what’s appropriately protective for your life stage—not necessarily the “perfect” plan.

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  • Jill Mastroianni (00:00):

    Your dog runs your house, your heart, and probably your schedule. You know him as your best friend. But legally? He’s property. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to create an estate plan that doesn’t leave your dog behind.

    Welcome to the Death Readiness Podcast. This is not your dad’s estate planning podcast. I’m Jill Mastroianni, former estate attorney, current realist, and your guide to wills, trusts, probate and the conversations no one wants to have. If your Google search history includes, “Do I need a trust?” “What exactly is probate?” and “Am I supposed to do something with mom’s Will?” you’re in the right place.

    (00:46) When I started preparing for this episode, I pulled out an old article I’d written years ago about animal trusts—and it brought me right back to my dog, Oliver.

    I first met Oliver in September 2012. I’d gone to the shelter planning to foster him, just to give him a place to land until he found his forever home. The shelter didn’t know anything about his story. Someone had tied him to a fence overnight and left.

    The day after I brought him home, I stopped at Costco to get gas. Oliver was riding in the backseat, all 85 pounds of him, with his big head and long, floppy ears hanging out the window. The woman at the next pump glanced over and asked what kind of dog he was. I told her I wasn’t sure—maybe part Weimaraner, since I’d picked him up through the Weimaraner Rescue—and that I was just fostering him until he found a permanent home. She smiled and said, “That dog’s already found his home.” Turns out, she was right.

    (01:49) Oliver had nine lives. He survived a coyote attack, a fall off a cliff in Chattanooga, and even a run-in with geese that left his ears glued together—though, in fairness, I think the geese were acting in self-defense. He once came down with pneumonia right before Thanksgiving, and I spent the holiday lying on the floor of the emergency vet with him, watching Hallmark movies on my iPad.

    My husband still calls him the best dog in the universe. And he really was.

    I spent a lot of money keeping Oliver alive and happy, and I was fortunate that I could.

    But the money wasn’t the hard part. It was the decisions.

    By the time Oliver came down with pneumonia, he was already an old dog—especially for a large breed. So every choice I made came with a quiet, heavier question behind it: not just Can I afford this? but Should I?

    Because it’s not just about extending life; it’s about making sure that life still feels good to the one living it.

    (02:58) Oliver’s runs had slowed to walks, and then to meanders. But his tail still wagged. He still greeted me at the door, still loved his meals, still claimed the best spot on the bed.

    When his back legs started to give out, I took him to physical therapy, an underwater treadmill that was supposed to help him rebuild strength. But when I looked in his eyes, I saw fear, not comfort. He was terrified. So we never went back.

    That’s the impossible balance we face as pet owners: trying to honor an animal’s quality of life when they can’t tell us what they want. We read their tails, their eyes, their breathing, anything to understand when it’s time to fight, and when it’s time to let go.

    (03:46) But what if I hadn’t been around? Who would have decided what “enough” looked like for him, not just in dollars spent, but in comfort, in peace, in the small ways dogs show they’re still happy to be here?

    That’s where animal trusts, also called pet trusts, come in. A pet trust is a legal arrangement that lets you set aside money for your pet’s care after you die. You name someone to manage the funds and someone else to care for your pet, so your wishes, and your pet’s comfort, don’t depend on luck or guesswork.

    Actress Diane Keaton died on October 11th, and I’ve seen headlines claiming that she left a significant portion of her estate to her dog, Reggie.

    I don’t know if that’s actually true, but it did make me think that you might have seen those headlines and wondered how that even works.

    (04:43) Back when I was practicing law, I used to get questions about animal trusts all the time. So when I saw Diane Keaton’s name next to her dog’s in the news, I figured it was time to talk about it here.

    Under the law, dogs, like all pets, are property, not people. And because you can’t give property to property, you can’t leave money directly to your dog.

    And this legal rule makes sense. Dogs can’t sign contracts, manage money or open bank accounts.

    So if you want to make sure your dog has everything he needs after you’re gone, one option is to create a pet trust.

    Let’s say my best friend, Lauren, has agreed to take care of my dogs if anything happens to me.

    You might wonder—why not just leave money to Lauren and trust that she’ll use it for the dogs?

    Well, Lauren’s a human, which means she’s mortal—and her money is exposed to her personal liabilities. If she gets sued, those funds could be taken to satisfy a judgment.

    There’s also no built-in accountability. Once the funds are in her name, there’s no legal requirement that she track them separately or spend them exactly as I intended.

    Can you still do it that way? Absolutely.

    (06:02) Like I said in a previous episode—Why You Need (or Don’t Need) a Will—estate planning is a cost-benefit analysis. You don’t need a 100% foolproof plan. This is your life and your death, and you get to decide what level of protection for your loved ones, including your pets, feels right for you. I’ll link to that episode in the show notes.

    If you do leave money to a friend for your pets, make sure your Will actually gives the pets to that person. You can use language like:

    “I give any pets I own at the time of my death to my friend, Lauren Smith, if she survives me.”

    And don’t forget to clue Lauren in on your plan, too.

    But, if you want a more foolproof plan, that’s where a pet trust comes in.

    All 50 states and the District of Columbia have pet trust laws on the books. 

    And given how much we love our pets, it’s no surprise that this legal tool has become mainstream.

    (07:09) According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the number of pet dogs in the United States has climbed from about 53 million in 1996 to an estimated 87.3 million in 2025.

    And we’re not just bringing more pets into our homes, we’re spending more on them, too.

    In 2025, pet owners reported spending around $1,700 a year on their pets, about $200 more than in the previous two years.

    So it makes sense to give some serious thought to how to provide for your pets if something happens to you.

    (07:51) Here’s how a pet trust works:

    • You create the trust, either during your lifetime or through your will.

    • You name a trustee, who manages the money.

    • You name a caretaker, who takes care of your pet day-to-day.

    And you can make the trust as detailed, or as flexible, as you want. 

    For example, you might want to provide instructions regarding veterinary care and end-of-life decisions, or attach an exhibit to the Trust with your pet’s medications, dietary concerns, daily habits, pet insurance, and veterinarian and dog walker contact information. 

    I have a Pet Information Sheet that I’m going to link to in the show notes for this purpose. It’s a great starting point for capturing relevant details about your pet.

    When creating the trust, you’ll also need to decide how much money is enough to cover your pet’s care for its lifetime.

    (08:51) Each state has its own rules, but in Tennessee, for example, the law says that if a court decides the amount you set aside for your pets is more than what’s needed, the extra funds must go where your trust document directs.

    A rule like this came into play in one of the most famous pet trust cases of all time regarding the trust established for the benefit of Leona Helmsley’s dog, Trouble.

    Ms. Helmsley left $12 million in trust for her beloved Maltese, but a judge decided that was a little excessive, and cut it down to $2 million. The remaining $10 million passed to a trust for the benefit of various charities.

    So, back to Diane Keaton.

    If those media reports suggesting that Ms. Keaton included her dog Reggie in her estate plan are accurate, Reggie isn’t inheriting money directly. Instead, Ms. Keaton’s estate plan likely includes a pet trust for Reggie’s benefit, directing funds to a trustee with detailed instructions for his care, housing, and quality of life.

    (10:01) I have three dogs, and more often than I should, I contemplate a fourth. 

    Do I have a pet trust? No, I don’t.

    I’ve done my own cost-benefit analysis, and I’m comfortable with where I landed. Maybe you are, too.

    What I have done is fill out my Pet Information Sheet for each of my dogs and shared them with my friend who’s agreed to take care of them if something happens to me and my husband. That gives her everything she’d need: vet info, feeding notes, daily exercise routine, behavioral quirks, the works.

    If my circumstances were different, say I were older, single, or I didn’t live with someone who could (and would) step in, I’d absolutely create an animal trust.

    For me, it’s not about doing the “perfect” thing. It’s about doing the right thing for this stage of my life, something that feels protective and caring for the dogs I love, without overcomplicating the plan.

    (11:07) I do recommend downloading my free Pet Information Sheet from my website, which I’ll link to in the show notes. At the very least, you’ll give it to your dog sitter the next time you leave town. At best, you’ll make sure someone knows all the ins and outs of caring for your dog when you no longer can. 

    At the beginning of this episode, I talked about my dog, Oliver.

    Almost four years ago, when I turned forty, we splurged on a new couch for our living room. My husband, Jeremy, assembled it as his gift to me—and Oliver, of course, was eager to help. Before Jeremy put the cushions on, Oliver walked right across the base with his muddy paws, leaving a perfect set of prints. Jeremy was too tired to clean them up, so he just threw the cushions on and called it a night.

    Last week, as we took the couch apart to move into our new home, there they were, Oliver’s paw prints, exactly as he left them.

    A quiet little reminder from the very best dog in the universe that love leaves its mark, in our homes, in our memories, and yes, even in the plans we make to take care of those we love when we’re gone.

    (12:25) If you have a question you’d like me to answer on a future Tuesday Triage episode, submit it at deathreadiness.com/tuesdaytriage. That’s deathreadiness.com/tuesdaytriage. The link is in the show notes.

    Thanks so much for listening today.

    This is Death Readiness, real, messy and yours to own. I’m Jill Mastroianni and I’m here to help you sort through it, especially when you don’t know where to start.

    Hi, I'm April, Jill's daughter. Thanks for listening to The Death Readiness Podcast.  While my mom is an attorney, she’s not your attorney.  The Death Readiness Podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only.   It does not provide legal advice.  For legal guidance tailored to your unique situation, consult with a licensed attorney in your state.  To learn more about the services my mom offers, visit DeathReadiness.com.

Jillian Mastroianni
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