Kathryn Pilkington at Hull & Hull wrote several posts recently on providing for pets through a will (you can find them here, here and here). These were inspired by the recent will challenge to the estate of Gail Posner, a Florida millionaire, who left her $8 million home and over $3 million in assets for her three dogs, while leaving only $1 million to her only child (you can read the Globe and Mail article about her estate here).
This type of challenge is common when people leave large assets to pets and minimal assets to people. If you want to leave money to care for your family pet, it is even more important to have your will properly drafted by a lawyer to ensure that no one will challenge your wishes. You can leave assets that will allow them to be cared for the way you cared for them; you simply need to be careful not to do that at the expense of people who are legally capable of challenging your decisions.
