Eli5: What happens to the inheritance left to pets after said pet dies?

Question

So you hear stories about people leaving millions to their pets, when the pet dies, who or where does the money go to?

In: 45

Answer 1

u/NewRelm is correct, the only way for a pet to “inherit” money is through a trust set up for the benefit of the pet. In over-simplified terms a “Trust” is a pile of money (or other valuable assets) that is controlled by someone (Trustee) for the benefit of someone else (Beneficiary). Any decent trust will have specific rules about how the money can be spent and how the remainder of the money will be distributed. So the Trustee uses the money in the Trust to make sure that Rover is taken care of per the terms of the Trust until Rover dies. After Rover dies, the Trust will have instructions on what happens to any money that is left over.