What Can We Learn From the Cats With an Inheritance? Insights and Lessons

At her passing in November of 2022, 84-year-old Nancy Sauer left her $2.5M South Tampa home to her SEVEN purebred Persian cats. The last will prevented the mansion from being sold until all of the cats have passed. Her obvious concern was the cats would be separated after her death and would struggle to adapt to new homes.

After living alone for six months, Cleopatra, Goldfinger, Leo, Midnight, Napoleon, Snowball, and Squeaky were ordered by the Probate Judge to find a new home, one with living parents. It turns out, one may not bequeath assets to an animal.

Lessons from Nancy’s Story

• Probate Process:

Through the probate process, the Judge has the final word on the terms of the last will. We draft the last will with all of the right intentions, but the Judicial process gives the Judge the ability to change the terms of the last will to make it make sense.

• Pet Trusts:

A trust, or better yet, a pet trust, would solve some of the issues with Nancy’s situation. However, even a trust may be changed at the discretion of a Judge if they feel that the terms of the trust don’t make sense.

• Assets to Pets:

In the year 2023, leaving assets directly to pets is like leaving your desk or your chair an inheritance, it’s problematic. A trust, with an appointed trustee, is a better tool to leave assets for the benefit of pets. A mansion for the benefit of pets, even if it were held in trust, would be an issue, albeit less problematic than an outright distribution to the pets.

As to Nancy’s situation, the Humane Society, also a named beneficiary in Nancy’s last will, has taken temporary custody of the felines until a suitable home can be located for all 7 fur babies (they are to be kept together, of course). Since the 5-year-old cats come with a substantial inheritance of $300K, as you can imagine, there are hundreds of folks lined up to adopt them.