When I'm gone... Planning for herps in a will.

[Dracoluna]

It might be a slightly macabre topic but it's something that I'm almost obsessive about. I recently lost my special needs kitty so that meant revamping our will to account for that as it was set up to have essentially a trust fund to handle his care. With the small zoo that I have, I feel it's important that should something happen to me (as I'm the only real caretaker), that the animals are provided for. When it comes to the reptiles in my life, this is doubly important. Cats and dogs can be handled by just about anyone realistically but just to give people some food for thought, who would take care of your snakes, torts, lizards, or even other exotic pets? In our case, my hubby and I have agreed that my sister, who is also great with animals, will get custody of ALL animals except my husband's cat (who will remind him to feed her). The reason we agreed on this years ago is because of the exotics I enjoy. When I asked him years ago what he'd do with the snakes should something happen, he replied he'd just give my corns away. When asked the other night about the balls, here is how the conversation went:

Me: If Sar wasn't able to take the balls, what would you do with them?
Him: Well, I'm sure I could put them on ebay.
Me: You can't sell them on ebay...
Him: Craigslist?
Me: Ok... Do you know what you'd ask for them?
Him: Like $50 for the brown ones and maybe $100 for the yellow one. She's prettier so she's worth more, right?
Me with eyebrows raised: My breeding size pastave girl Ceti for $50? Really?
Him: Well, she's ugly... and brown...

Now, after shaking my head and giving up on trying to explain a few things, I realized that I'm really glad my sister has the common sense to find good homes for my exotics should something happen. Not that I'd mind finding snakes like mine on Craigslist for my hubby's idea of prices, but still... My sister and I have also discussed it at length so she understands what to do should something happen. She has agreed to keep and take care of my dragon permanently along with my corn boy, Flurry. The others, she knows to come here and ask about as I'd rather they go to good homes with people who know how to care for them than just anyone. She also understands that they are worth more than $50 despite being various shakes of brown. My tort will go to someone experienced with Russians or she's debated keeping her. Either way, it makes me more comfortable knowing that they would be safe and cared for.

Our will is currently several pages long and includes a couple pages for the detailed directions on the pets alone. We've made sure that should something happen to both of us, the pets get enough monetarily that they wouldn't be a burden to my sister until she can re-home them. I'm curious as to how other people deal with this or what others might feel is important to include.

[carlson]

All my ducks are in order we could say. Some of my jobs have had a higher risk to my life so even tho I'm 24 things like advanced directives and something saying everything I own and my life insurance policy goes to my parents has been in place an signed all pretty. As far as my animals, They will give snakes and rats to my buddy to do with as he can an my dog they will keep.

[Dracoluna]

All my ducks are in order we could say. Some of my jobs have had a higher risk to my life so even tho I'm 24 things like advanced directives and something saying everything I own and my life insurance policy goes to my parents has been in place an signed all pretty. As far as my animals, They will give snakes and rats to my buddy to do with as he can an my dog they will keep.

That makes sense. I'm lucky that with my job, I expect to live to a ripe old age but still worry about it. Hopefully you don't need yours either but it's nice to know I'm not the only one who worries about that sort of thing.

[carlson]

Haha it's not a worry really just a precaution. I don't like to leave anyone hanging for my mistakes I guess is easiest way to put it. I'd love to live to be the oldest man but that's not my decision so best to make sure everything that needs to be in place is.

[bcr229]

Thank you for bringing this up. You're lucky that your sister can step in and help out. No one outside of my husband or daughter likes the snakes.

My husband and I have a basic Will with guardianship set up for our daughter if something should happen to both of us, but the real information for the executor if we should both pass away is in the instructions that we update every year. There's contact info for people who can be called upon to shut down our businesses cleanly and legally, deal with the snakes, etc.

ETA: I just noticed that the OP's husband doesn't know how to appraise or value her snakes. I see this a lot in my business (firearms), we get widows where the husband collected stuff for 50+ years and a lot of it is high-$$$ and she has no clue. If you collect anything, make sure there's a list along with descriptions and values so the family doesn't get ripped off by unscrupulous buyers after you pass away.

[LotusCorvus]

This is a really neat topic, and a good one to cover here, since so many reptiles live so long. I don't have anything set in writing, but I'm part of a small collective of herp enthusiasts/breeders, so thankfully if anything happens to me, my fiancee has a few people she can call to take on my animals and find them good homes. She might keep the leo though, she's grown pretty fond of it (success! I found a critter she's actually interested in! ). If the worst should happen and I take my fiancee out with me, my honorary brother knows what I want done as well. I'll get it all down in writing eventually, but I'm still 25 so it hasn't seemed too pressing yet (and if my office job manages to kill me I'll mostly just be impressed, haha).

[Mike41793]

If you collect anything, make sure there's a list along with descriptions and values so the family doesn't get ripped off by unscrupulous buyers after you pass away.

This is an excellent idea and very important imo! I only have a small collection of bps but they're probably worth close to $3K. My family probably doesn't know this and would sell them all for like $300 lol. Since this hobby isnt super popular, people wouldn't know where to lookup prices. I mean, obviously we know to go to kingsnake or fauna or wherever, but my family wouldn't know that lol. Its not like with a car where most people know to look in Kelly Blue Book or Consumer reports and can get a price.

[Dracoluna]

Definitely a good point to have it all cataloged and appraised. My artwork is as we added that on last year to the insurance as well but with reptiles, the prices change so rapidly. As I was looking at it, it dawned on me that since I don't have cage cards up, if something happened to me today, Sar wouldn't have a clue as to what was what other than my albino girl. I think next time we redo it, I'll add in iHerp as that has everyone's name, morph, and picture along with getting cage cards made up. I actually have her directed to bp.net here for figuring out pricing since size and everything else comes into play. Forums she can navigate and always post questions, etc.

[Coleslaw007]

Huh, that is a really good idea, and honestly not one I had put much thought into.

Sent from microwave via Tapatalk ll

[4theSNAKElady]

Im fortunate enough that my sister knows our collection has lots of value. In fact, whenever she holds them, shes always asking "how much is this one worth?how much is this one worth?" Id probably have to have her put them on here tho, cuz no one in my family would take that many snakes....and I want to make sure they live long happy lives in the hands of someone who cares.