Did you know that if you only have a will, you open yourself up to anyone claiming all your money? Not to get all morbid. But that was an eye-opening statement for me.
As a dog mom and a first-time homebuyer, I’ve become more intentional about my financial plans and my future. I’ve spent the last several months attending weekly workshops on homeownership, financial planning, investing, and legacy planning.
The pet estate planning topics have really stuck out. Especially since I have Sugar. Like, what happens to her if something happens to me. So, in the spirit of getting my financial shift in order, I booked my first consultation with an estate planning attorney.
In this blog post, I’m sharing my experience and how you can get ready for your consultation as well.
What is a Pet Estate Plan? (More Than Just a Will)
An estate plan is a personalized blueprint for what happens to your assets, responsibilities, and loved ones after you’re gone or if you’re unable to make decisions for yourself. It can be as simple or as detailed as your life requires, but most estate plans include:
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A will, which outlines who receives your belongings and who cares for your dependents—including pets.
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Beneficiary designations on accounts like life insurance, retirement accounts, and investments.
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Advance directives, such as a healthcare power of attorney and living will.
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A financial power of attorney, authorizing someone to manage your financial affairs if you can’t.
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Instructions for your pets’ care, including custodianship, routine care preferences, and how their expenses should be covered.
Think of your estate plan as a set of instructions that makes life easier for the people and pets you love.
Why Pet Estate Planning is Crucial for Dog Moms
Listen. Do you want your shady cousin deciding what happens to your dog and your money? I don’t. And before you say, “I don’t have a shady cousin.” Yeah girl, you do. We all have one. And there’s no need in anyone arguing about what I said.
Creating an estate plan will help me make sure Sugar’s good and get rid of my shady cousin’s opportunity to make all the decisions.
Why it matters for everyone:
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It ensures your belongings and financial assets are distributed the way you intend.
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It helps your family avoid court-appointed decisions and unnecessary conflict.
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It outlines who can make financial or healthcare decisions if you cannot.
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It saves your loved ones’ time, stress, and uncertainty during emotionally heavy seasons.
Why it matters for dog moms specifically:
I’m not gonna have Sugar turning into the poster child for the ASPCA commercial with Sarah McLachlan singing in the background. Creating an estate plan will give clear instructions for what should happen with your dog. It will help:
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Identify a pet guardian or caregiver for your dog.
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Avoid your dog’s caregiver being unclear or contested.
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Prevent their lifestyle, diet, and vet routine from changing dramatically.
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Ensure financial responsibility for their care doesn’t fall unevenly on someone not prepared for it.
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Ensure they don’t end up in a shelter if no one steps forward immediately.
Including care for your dog in your estate plan is more common than I thought. In fact, a 2024 Millennials & Estate Planning report revealed that 83% of Millennials have appointment someone to care for the pet if something ever happened to them.
Checklist: How to Prepare for an Estate Planning Consultation
I’ll be completely honest. I had no clue where to start, which is why I scheduled a consultation with an attorney from one of the workshops I attended. I didn’t even know what questions to ask. So, to prepare for the consultation I did the following:
1. Make a List of Assets & Belongings
I sat down and made a list of everything that I own. Nothing formal. Just a quick list of my belongings. This includes financial accounts, insurance policies, property, medical records, pet records, and digital assets. This even includes sentimental belongs like the dollar bill that my uncle signed when I was little. During the workshop, the presenter stated that my belongings don’t have to have a monetary value.
2. Create Brief Descriptions of Assets
I created a brief description for each of the items that I listed. This way I could talk through each item during my consultation. Since I’d never met with an estate planning attorney before, I wanted to make sure that I could give as much detail as possible so that the attorney could provide advice on next steps.
3. Prepare Questions for the Attorney
Estate planning is new to me. So, I thought having a few questions would be helpful. I didn’t really know what questions to even ask. That’s where ChatGPT and Google came in handy. At least for those preliminary questions. Here’s a list of the five questions I used for the consultation:
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What documents do I need based on my life right now?
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How should I plan for my dog’s care—legally and financially?
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What information and documents should I gather to prepare my plan?
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How much will my complete estate plan cost, and what’s included?
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How often should I update my plan, and what changes should trigger a review?
4. List Your Dog’s Daily Routine (Pet Care Plan)
This sounds weird. However, understanding my daily routine helped me identify Sugar’s needs as far as pet care. Writing down our daily routine helped me catch some of those daily, weekly, and monthly essentials that support Sugar’s well-being. It also helped establish how much money would be needed to take care of her.
Dog Mom Math Rule #4: Investing in Pet Estate Planning
After my consultation, learned two major things:
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Estate planning isn’t a one-time conversation. It’s on-going. An estate plan needs to be updated as our lives change.
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Dog Mom Math Rule #4: Big Purchase Pay for Themselves Over Time aligns to creating an estate plan.
An estate plan is one of the few investments that keeps giving returns long after you’ve created it. It protects your assets, honors your decisions, and replaces uncertainty with structure. Even if it requires time or a small financial investment up front, the long-term outcome is invaluable.
For dog moms, the investment is even more personal. You’re ensuring:
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Your dog won’t experience disruption or instability.
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Their care won’t fall unexpectedly on someone unprepared.
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Their expenses are accounted for and funded—not guessed.
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Your values and lifestyle choices continue through the people you select.
Secure Your Dog’s Future Today
My consultation with the estate planning attorney went well. Sugar also stayed quiet the whole time. Not one bark while I was on the Zoom. The consultation also made me realize that I’m really into dog mom adulting.
I even got homework. The biggest is to go through all my financial and other important documents. Great thing I stared getting my financial shift in order with my dog mom spending audit. Now, all I have to do is expand the audit to all my documents.
I also put myself on a savings plan to cover the cost of hiring the attorney. My goal is to save enough to cover her fee by the end of March.
Now we’d love to hear from you. What information about your dog’s care would be included in your estate plan?
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