A Forbes online article providing an overview of pet trusts featured comments by Professor Debra G. Speyer.

Speyer, who specializes in elder law and estate planning recommended setting up a pet trust just in case the unexpected happens and your pet is left alone with no one to care for it. Speyer warned that leaving a large sum of money to a pet may prompt relatives to challenge the bequest. Instead, Speyer suggested that the trust contain only a reasonable sum of money to cover the pet’s monthly costs and emergency health costs.

Speyer is an adjunct professor at the law school. Previously, she was an attorney with the enforcement division of the National Association of Securities Dealers and an attorney and vice president for Thomson McKinnon Securities Inc. Speyer is chair of the Elder Law Committee and a member of the Securities Regulations Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association.