End of Life Planning For Your Pets

By: Lisa Bayer, J.D., CCM

Over the years as a geriatric care manager, I have been in hundreds of client’s homes. I also think that I have seen everything! I recently encountered a situation that truly threw me for a loop.

I was engaged by the legal guardian of a client who lives out of state to be her “boots on the ground” with respect to her loved one, Margaret. Margaret had a catastrophic event and suffered a TBI (traumatic brain injury) which requires skilled, nursing home level care. Before the TBI she was living independently in her own home with her dogs. She had never married, has no children, and has no other local involved family members.

One of my responsibilities was to help coordinate the emptying and selling of her home. The (living) dogs were surrendered to a local rescue but nothing prepared me for the 16 boxes of cremated pet remains that we found all over the home.

Part of the issue is that Margaret’s sister could not relate and would have thrown them in the trash if it were up to her. However, as the court-appointed legal guardian she was required to respect Margaret’s wishes, known or unknown, to the best of her ability. So, what to do?

Margaret’s sister had engaged an amazing realtor who partnered with me throughout the process to find solutions to each scenario that we encountered. And there were many!! In this case, we contacted local pet cemeteries to inquire about process and cost for burial.  One of them was sympathetic and worked with us to keep the cost down by offering to combine plots of more than one pet. This was the best way that the guardian could think of to respect what Margaret may have done, or directed, if she had been able to.

Personally, I learned from this experience something that I will bring to my practice in the future. While many wills address what happens to pets after a person passes, most power of attorney documents (especially older ones) that I have seen do not always address how the agent should care for the living pet(s). And I have never EVER seen one that addresses how to treat pet remains when your loved one loses capacity and cannot speak for themselves. I always ask clients as part of onboarding to share their planning documents with me. As a trained attorney, I am able to make meaningful suggestions when it comes to any updates to make sure that the documents will work if needed. After this recent experience I will be more cognizant of not just living pets but how to handle their remains if a client is no longer able to do so him or herself.