How to Leave Money for Your Pet's Care in an Ontario Will

Pets can't own property or receive a gift directly under Ontario law, which means leaving money for pet care takes a bit more thought than simply naming your pet as a beneficiary in your will. The good news is that the mechanics are well understood, and a lawyer can build a workable clause around almost any budget or level of complexity you need.

Here's a practical walkthrough of how it's typically done.

Step 1: Choose a Caregiver You Trust

Every version of this plan starts with a person, not the pet. Choose someone who is not just willing but realistically able to take on the day-to-day responsibility, ideally someone in a stable living situation who is already familiar with your pet.

Step 2: Name a Backup Caregiver

Circumstances change between when a will is signed and when it's actually needed. Naming at least one backup caregiver protects against your first choice being unable or unwilling to take the pet when the time comes, without leaving the question unanswered.

Step 3: Decide How to Structure the Money

There are two common structures:

• An outright gift to the caregiver, often paired with a non-binding letter of wishes describing how you'd like the money used for your pet. This is simple, but relies entirely on the caregiver's good faith, since the gift itself generally isn't legally tied to the pet's care once it's given.
• A trust for the pet's care, where a trustee, who can be a different person than the caregiver, holds and disburses funds specifically for the pet's needs over time. This adds oversight but is a more involved document to draft properly.

Step 4: Be Specific About Your Pet and Its Needs

Whichever structure you choose, specificity helps. Useful details to include or attach separately include your pet's name, age, any ongoing medical conditions or medications, dietary needs, and your veterinarian's contact information. This isn't strictly a legal requirement, but it makes the plan far more useful to whoever actually implements it.

Step 5: Consider a Trustee to Oversee the Funds If the Amount Is Significant

If you're setting aside a meaningful sum, it's worth naming someone other than the caregiver to act as trustee, so no single person controls both the money and the day-to-day decision of how it's spent. This separation of roles is a common safeguard in more carefully structured pet care plans.

What Happens If Your Named Caregiver Can't or Won't Take the Pet

This is exactly why a backup caregiver matters, but it's also worth thinking through what happens if no named caregiver is available at all. Some plans direct an estate trustee to find a suitable home, sometimes with the involvement of an animal welfare organization, as a final fallback, worth discussing with your lawyer if this is a real concern for you.

Keep the Plan Up to Date

A pet care clause written years ago can quietly go stale. Caregivers move, their own circumstances change, and pets age into new medical needs that the original plan never anticipated. Revisit your pet care provisions whenever you review the rest of your will, and especially after getting a new pet, losing one, or seeing a real change in your intended caregiver's own life.

Frequently asked questions