[WSBAPT] WSBAPT Digest, Vol 109, Issue 3

[Carmen Rowe]

If she wants to create an actual trust, you can do that in Washington:
https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=11.118

I'm not an estate lawyer per se, but have run into this in various ways in
the course of my professional and personal life (I have been in
animal-related personal arenas for some decades now on various fronts)

But from my understanding, and thus far practical experience in what I've
seen, for distribution as "property", while not "real" property (real
estate), they are "real" property in that they are, legally, property.
(Thus also why you need express legislative blessing in a state in order to
be able to have a trust for them)

So they can (and likely must) be handled as any other "property". The only
way that someone other than the person designated in the will might claim
they should have them instead because of emotional reasons is if that
person can show some pre-death claim to them - just like any other property
(proof they purchased the animal/were the true owners, etc.).

See, e.g., State v. Abdi-Issa, 199 Wn.2d 163 (2022)(pets as matter of law
are personal property); Flynn v Woodinville Animal Hosp (unpub 84106-8-I
2023)(rule against recovery for emotional distress damages extends to
emotional support animals, as "degree" of emotional attachment is not the
question); *In re Marriage of Niemi *2021 (in divorce, pets personal
property, not a "special category" of property allowing visitation or other
deviations from laws regarding distribution of property).

When considering pets are property after someone's death, a bit of a quirk:

I even know of a few cases where the probate PR (and at least one
bankruptcy) were selling off the animals (over heart-broken objections of
heirs) as assets as the estate ran short of otherwise being able to met
their debts - not because the PRs were heartless, but because the law
requires it (being large parrots they had meaningful value as an estate
asset. I've seen similarly with valuable horses, cattle, certain reptiles,
or anything with meaningful market value).

I would be curious if this can be avoided if transfer of the "property" is
considered immediate upon death, or how you would accomplish that. In my
days of drafting dog purchase and co-ownership contracts, and ownership of
potentially valuable semen, in the dog show world (where you both wanted to
avoid heirs getting into a co-ownership or inhibiting the breeder and/or
co-owner's contractual rights in the dog, and avoid the potential for
selling off anything of value), we tried to address this via an automatic
transfer to the co-owner upon death, akin to jointly held bank accounts. I
can't say whether a court would recognize it, it was just the best way I
could think of to try and minimize risk of the issue.

So in short: I think the principle is still pretty solid in WA law that
animals are personal property - and thus you'd handle them exactly as that
in any will.

A bit of popcorn thoughts from someone outside the estate planning context
specifically, but hopefully helpful.


Carmen Rowe



Phone: (360) 669-3576 (direct cell)
Email:  Carmen at GryphonLawGroup.com

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On Tue, Oct 3, 2023 at 6:57?PM Kate Szurek <kate at skagitlaw.com<mailto:
kate at skagitlaw.com>> wrote:
Client wants to be able to name who is to receive her pets (parrot, donkey,
and horses) when she dies using a TPP list.  Does that work?

Animals certainly aren?t real property and they are not intangible.  But
I?ve never seen it addressed and I?m not finding anything that clearly
makes this a realistic possibility.

Your thoughts??  Your experiences??

Thanks, as always.

Kate

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