Photo by Noah Berger/Special to the SF Chronicle

Sad news comes to us from the San Francisco Chronicle today. For the first time in 141 years, the city by the bay’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is being forced to scale back on its days of operation. Like other agencies nationwide, the SPCA has suffered from reduced contributions and staff layoffs (16 employees were let go earlier this month) and its Maddie’s Adoption Center will no longer be open on Mondays in an effort to eliminate a $3.5 million deficit.

From the Chronicle:

“It’s unclear what effect the once-a-week closure will have on the local homeless pet population, said Rebecca Katz, interim director of San Francisco Animal Care and Control. Last year, the SPCA averaged seven adoptions per Monday.

Katz said Mondays are typically busy days at Animal Care and Control, located across Alabama Street from the SPCA in the Mission, with residents looking for pets that go missing over the weekend.”

Last year, the SPCA was able to place 4,301 dogs and cats – an all-time high for the agency. But the number of animals needing free or reduced-cost vet care has climbed, a byproduct of rising unemployment and more pet owners bringing in incomes low enough to qualify for low-cost care.

SF Gate has the full scoop. And those who wish to support the SPCA can do so here.

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Today’s guest blogger is Michael Blacksburg, Attorney at Law. He is an expert in estate-planning, helping to ensure that a pet is cared for if a guardian dies or becomes incapacitated.

California law allows for the creation of trusts used to care for animals. However, as animal beneficiaries can’t enforce trusts themselves, like human trust beneficiaries can, these trusts have so far been treated only as “honorary.” This means the Trustee is under no legally enforceable obligation to create or follow the terms of the trust.

SB 685, sponsored by the SFSPCA, will enforce these trusts by statutorily creating the legal powers of a trust’s “Enforcer” to provide Trustee oversight, and by making a legal presumption that these trusts are not just precatory in nature. The Enforcer could be specifically named in the trust document, or any animal related nonprofit organization could petition the court to be named as the trust’s Enforcer should they believe the trust is being mismanaged. These organizations, some presumably chosen as the remainder beneficiaries of the trust by the person providing for their animals in their absence, would ensure trust enforcement.

These sorts of trusts are currently enforced in 37 states including: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. California, along with Wisconsin, currently allow these trusts but lack a judicial enforcement mechanism.

SB 685 will become California law on January 1, 2009. This provides peace of mind to those creating these trusts and their enforceability hopefully encourages the donation of funds remaining at the end of a covered animal’s life to deserving nonprofit animal care organizations.

- Michael Blacksburg, blacksburg-law.com

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