Final arrangements
What will happen if your parrot outlives you? Make plans now for peace of mind.
By Carla Thornton
WITH LUCK and good care, our Amazons, cockatoos, African greys, macaws and other large parrots can live a very long time. In fact, some will match us decade for decade - and last well into their seventies, eighties, even nineties.
Knowing you may never have to say goodbye to your bird can be a comforting thought. On the other hand, what if your bird someday has to bid farewell to you? Where will he go and who will take care of him when you are gone?
Exotic animals, especially noisy, messy parrots that need a lot of attention, can be more difficult to place than traditional pets abandoned when their owners die. So now might be a good time to start thinking about where your bird would end up without you.
If your children like your birds, this may be all the pet insurance you need. What better caretaker than a member of the family who loves Beaky as much as you do?
Some people pass their long-lived birds down like cherished heirlooms, knowing that the family parrot will always have a home with the next generation.
But most of us aren't so lucky. We have to think about making other arrangements to ensure our parrots will be properly cared for. These arrangements may not be perfect, and you may have to tweak them over the years to adjust for changes in your life. But at least you'll know you've prepared for the worst to the best of your ability, and more likely than not, someone will be there for your bird.
When illness strikes
Since most of us become incapacitated at some point in our lives, your first task should be to put an interim support system in place.
Decide now who could take care of your bird if an accident or illness should put you in the hospital for a month or leave you unable to manage your household. This person or organization could also step in during the time your will is probated and your bird is waiting to go to a permanent home.
Keep your bird-sitter's contact information on your person when you go out, and make sure you've provided a way for others to enter your home and take over care of your bird if necessary. This is especially important if you live alone.
The next step: taking a hard look at your estate and deciding what changes you need to make in your will (or living trust, if you already have one) to provide for your bird.
Where there's a will...
"I'll just put my parrot in my will." Sounds easy enough, but it can be a little more complicated than that.
Because animals are considered property and not legal beneficiaries, we can't bequeath money or possessions directly to them. You'll need to name a human stand-in who will use your money to take care of your bird for you.
If you don't have much money to spend on drawing up legal documents and don't anticipate leaving many assets, your best bet may be to ask your lawyer to include a bequest that wills your bird to a trusted family member or friend, along with a small sum earmarked for his care.
An outright bequest is the least legally protective arrangement, notes Steven D. Baker, an estate-planning attorney with Plattner, Schneidman & Schneider in Phoenix who has put his own parrot, an African grey named Dorian, in his estate plan.
Under the terms of an outright bequest, the bird's named caretaker could abandon it, spend the money well before the end of the parrot's life, or both, says Baker.
Moreover, an outright bequest doesn't legally provide instructions for who is to care for the parrot in the event that your first choice of caretaker is unable or unwilling to.
Choosing a sanctuary
as caretaker
IF YOU HAVE NO family or friends willing to take on the care of a bird, a parrot sanctuary is your next best bet. There, your bird should be able to live out his life in comfort and in the company of fellow psittacines (see ParrotChronicles' bird rescue groups for a list by state).
Small rescue groups, usually run by a few volunteers in a home setting, might offer your bird more individual attention.
However, larger organizations, which have paid staffs and big budgets, tend to be around longer, an important consideration for a pet that could live for several more decades. Most groups will place your bird in the first good private home that becomes available, if that's what you prefer.
Before settling on a sanctuary, make sure it is willing to be named in your estate as caretaker. Some organizations welcome such arrangements; others don't want to assume the burden. Visit the sanctuary if possible and meet the people who run it to make sure you're comfortable you've made the right choice. Ask for references.
Ask what the sanctuary requires of people who want to will their birds. Most have certain requirements you should arrange for ahead of time.
For instance, The Oasis, a 300-plus-bird facility in Cascabel, Ariz., requires that incoming birds have a medical workup before arriving and be accompanied by an envelope containing name, age, medical records and list of any special needs. Make sure your bird has a travel cage. It may also be a good idea for your attorney to speak with the sanctuary's before drawing up your documents.
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A conditional bequest would be a better choice, says Baker, because it requires that the beneficiary is entitled to custody of your parrot and the funds only on the condition that your parrot is cared for. You could also set forth what would happen if the named party can't take your parrot.
"Even so, there remain practical problems as to who would step up to the plate to enforce this provision," says Baker. "Furthermore, courts in some states will refuse to uphold such conditions."
Traditional trusts and "pet trusts" fall short
If you want more control over providing for your parrot than a bequest can offer, a trust may be the way to go. Legally speaking, a trust is a relationship whereby a "settlor" or "trustor" (that's you) transfers property to a trustee, who holds legal title for the benefit of a beneficiary.
In other words, you set up a fund of money, either separate from your will while you're living or as a part of your will to take effect upon your death, that a third party is legally required to administer in order to provide for your parrot.
The problem with traditional trusts, says Baker, is that the law doesn't recognize animals as beneficiaries. In order for traditional trusts to be legally enforceable, the beneficiary must be human and wording must be included to end the trust after a certain period of time based on a human lifespan.
To help get around these roadblocks, some states have adopted laws that allow special pet trusts. These let you legally name your caretaker as trustee and your parrot as the beneficiary and designate money to the trustee to meet the bird's needs for its lifetime.
However, in some states, pet trusts are only honorary, warns Baker. In other words, the caretaker-trustee may choose to honor the terms of the trust, or he may not - in which case your parrot and the funds to care for it would pass to other beneficiaries you may not approve of.
Customize your trust
The most legally ironclad - and generally most expensive - way to provide for your parrot after you're gone is to have your lawyer draw up a trust customized specially for a pet, says Baker.
If worded correctly, a customized trust will provide the extra protection that bequests and pet trusts alone lack. You should include the following provisions:
Trust property. The property is your parrot and the money necessary to care for him the rest of his life. One way to get an idea of how much money you should leave is to multiply how much it costs to care for your bird for one month by the number of years you expect him to live after your death.
For instance, if you spend an average of $75 a month for food, toys and medical care for your macaw, and you expect him to live another 50 years, you would set aside $45,000, unadjusted for inflation. At the same time, be careful not to leave so much money that it will bring out the worst in any of your disinherited beneficiaries, who might find it worth their while to tie the trust up in court challenges.
Beneficiaries. Whomever you've chosen to care for your parrot after you're gone should be named as the beneficiary of the trust. This caretaker-beneficiary will take possession of your parrot after your death and receive reimbursement for its expenses from the trust fund managed by a separate trustee (see below).
You should also name whomever is to receive any remaining money if the parrot dies. It's usually not a good idea to name the caretaker as the remainder beneficiary - in the worst-case scenario, this could set your parrot up for an early demise.
Choose another individual or a charitable organization that cares for parrots as your remainder beneficiary. These alternatives could also take the place of your original caretaker-beneficiary if he or she doesn't work out.
Trustee. Whomever you want to manage the money for your parrot and keep an eye on how well the caretaker-beneficiary cares for him should be named trustee. Grant the trustee the power to remove and replace the caretaker-beneficiary with another party if your bird isn't being cared for in the way you would have wanted.
Here's where you can go into detail as to exactly what you'd like done for your parrot. For instance, do you want him to see the vet twice a year for a checkup and get a new toy once a week to prevent feather plucking? Put it in writing. You can even direct how often the trustee should check in to make sure your parrot is doing all right - once every six months, for instance.
Duration. Because a legal trust cannot last indefinitely - this is called the perpetuity rule - some provision must be made for its expiration. Trusts typically end 21 years after the death of a person living at the time the trust was created.
It would be convenient if trusts could be worded to expire after the death of a pet instead, but since they can't, your attorney will have to come up with a workaround, taking into account your particular state's rules against perpetuities.
For instance, some states would allow you to phrase the clause to terminate within 90 years of its establishment, a period of time plenty long enough to ensure your parrot is provided for its entire, long life. Another provision might terminate the trust 21 years after the death of the settlor's heirs, an arrangement that also should easily last a parrot's lifetime.
Every state's rules and every individual's situation differs (you may have no heirs, for instance), so let your attorney guide you in drafting this clause.
Reimbursement or compensation. At a minimum, the caretaker-beneficiary should be reimbursed for reasonable expenditures made to care for your parrot. To avoid potential conflicts between the caretaker-beneficiary and the trustee, try to provide at least general guidelines as to what should be considered "reasonable".
If you'd like to reward your caretaker-beneficiary or trustee for their efforts, you can also set up the trust to compensate them a certain amount each year. Be sure to discuss reimbursements and compensation with both parties beforehand and make sure you've earmarked enough funds to cover everything.
Other terms. You might want to consider providing for disposition of your parrot’s remains upon its death (for example, a time or place for burial or a memorial). To protect the trust assets from third party creditors, you should include a "spendthrift provision" and, perhaps, a provision authorizing the trustee to acquire liability insurance. Ask your local attorney for details about these.
Living trusts
An alternative to simply including trust provisions in your will is establishing a revocable "living trust" agreement (also known as a will substitute).
A living trust offers two advantages, says Baker. It bypasses the requirement of having to probate the will in court to establish the trust. It also provides a way to make arrangements for your trustee to care for your parrot in the event that you become incapacitated or disabled.
Either type of trust has its downsides, including the fact that after your death your trustee will have to establish a separate bank account for the caretaking funds and, perhaps, even file separate income tax returns for the trust, notes Baker.
Whichever route you take - bequest, pet trust, or customized trust in or outside of a will - it's important to use an estate-planning attorney who knows your state's laws, says Baker, who drew up a "relatively sophisticated" trust for his own bird.
"It all depends on the big picture. If I was married with children and knew that my family would take care of my parrot, there would be no practical need for me to do any of this.
"In the end, you want an arrangement that is clear and instructional, but leaves some flexibility in the hands of the right people."
ParrotChronicles.com. Published 2002. Some of the legal advice in this article is based on information that originally appeared in a story at The Oasis.
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