Meet Sylvester. He’s a sweet young cat—full of mischief and muscle.
He had a loving home with an elderly lady in Northern Ontario until last May, when she died unexpectedly. Sadly, it appears she didn’t leave any provisions for her cat’s care in her estate planning. A ruthless estate trustee kicked him out of the house–literally!
Alone, hungry, and scared, Sylvester was forced to fend for himself. He roamed the streets looking for a new home for several months. The kind staff at a nearby restaurant would feed him. He lived like this for about six months until one of the restaurant staff and the sister of a friend of mine managed to capture him. My friend’s sister took him to the vet and fostered him.
With Sylvester’s health now restored, she needed to find him a home and asked me if I knew anyone who was looking for a cat. I said I’d do some thinking.
Later that evening I recalled seeing a Twitter post by one of my professional contacts, Elizabeth Naumovski, CM Naumovski, who hosts the show Empowered. Her long-time feline financial literacy companion, Miss Freddy White Socks, had passed away the previous May–ironically right around the time Sylvester lost his home.
I had no idea if Liz was thinking of adopting another cat, or had already adopted one but figured it was worth a try, so I reached out to her. Turns out, she and her husband were indeed looking for a new cat to adopt—plus they lived only five-minutes away from Sylvester’s foster mom! You can probably guess the rest.
Happily, Sylvester is now living his best life with Liz and her husband and is taking Miss Freddy’s place as a financial literacy cat. Those are some pretty big shoes (uh, socks) to fill, but I know he’ll rise to the occasion.
Sylvester’s story is a chilling example of what can happen to our beloved pets when we don’t include them in our estate planning. That’s why Liz has taken it upon herself (with Sylvester’s help) to raise awareness of the importance of this issue in a recent Empowered broadcast: “Successful Estate Administration: Protecting people, pets, and you” featuring Barb Amsden and Cheryl Maloney, CPA, CMA, CEA, on hashtag#EmpoweredCA at 7:30pm EST, on The News Forum channel. If you didn’t happen to catch it, you can view it here: https://lnkd.in/eNpRxPRd
As Liz puts it: “I want to start a movement encouraging pet rescues and shelters to ask adopters if they plan to include their pets in their Wills and set aside funds for their care after death. I also want to promote the idea that people should discuss caring for their pets with their Estate lawyers and make formal arrangements to ensure their pets’ well-being when they die. I’m joined by Barb Amsden, Consumer Advocate and Author – How to Laugh at Death and Taxes: What Executors, Willmakers, Heirs, and Beneficiaries Need to Know and Cheryl Maloney, CPA, CMA, CEA, Investment Advisor & Certified Executor Advisor at Caldwell Securities Ltd. Barb and Cheryl want you to know that an estate plan that doesn’t include preparations for all family members, including pets, isn’t a plan.”
Thank you, Liz, for raising awareness of this very important issue – and for adopting Sylvester! And thank you to Barb and Cheryl too!
