Pet Care Instructions for Your Executor: An Adelaide Carer’s Plan for Mum’s Dog and Cat

You’re the one who drives across Adelaide to check on your mother — refilling the dog’s arthritis tablets, topping up the cat’s prescription food, ringing the vet at Norwood when something seems off. If Mum goes into hospital tomorrow, or if something more permanent happens, her executor (probably you, possibly your sibling) needs to know in the first 24 hours: who has agreed to take Bonnie and Whiskers, which vet holds their records, what medication is due when, and whether there’s any money set aside in the will for their care.

The problem

When an older person is suddenly hospitalised or dies, their pets are often the first casualty of a missing plan. RSPCA shelters around Australia routinely receive animals surrendered by families who simply didn’t know what to do — no carer had been asked, no vet contact was recorded, no one knew the dog was on daily medication. ASIC’s MoneySmart guidance on wills notes that estate administration takes weeks to months, and pets cannot wait weeks. The executor has legal authority over the estate but no operational handover: they don’t know which neighbour has been feeding the cat, or that your aunt in Glenelg said two years ago she’d take the dog.

Your mother’s executor needs a single document they can act on the day they get the call. Not a will clause — those are read later. A practical instruction sheet: animals in the household, the named carer who has already agreed, the vet’s number, the daily routine, and any pet-trust or bequest arrangement in the will that funds their ongoing care.

What the Asset Instruction Vault does

The Digital Legacy Vault is an asset-instruction register: you (or your mother, with your help) record what exists, where to find it, and who should know. The simplified version records, per pet: name, species, breed, age, microchip number, vet practice and phone number, current medications and dosing schedule, dietary needs, the intended carer’s name and contact, and a note on whether that carer has formally agreed. It also flags any pet-related clause in the will — a bequest of the animal to a named person, or a small sum left to cover food and vet bills.

The Digital Legacy Vault does not hold the pets, does not hold money, and does not give legal or financial advice. It holds instructions. That boundary is what keeps the Digital Legacy Vault outside the AFSL regime (Corporations Act Part 7.6) and outside AUSTRAC reporting — it is not a financial product or custody service. Under the Australian Privacy Principles, the vet’s number and the carer’s contact details are personal information about third parties, so the vault records their consent before storing them as recipients of an instruction.

How it works

  1. You add each pet to your mother’s vault — name, microchip, vet, medications, daily routine, dietary notes.
  2. You record the intended carer for each animal and the vault sends them a consent request. Their agreement is logged with a date.
  3. You name the executor as the recipient of the pets module, so on release they see the full care plan plus any pet-related will clauses your mother has flagged.
  4. If your mother is hospitalised or dies, the executor is notified per the release rules and sees only the pets module (unless other modules have been released too).
  5. The executor contacts the named carer with the vet’s number and the care notes already in hand. The animal is transferred within hours, not weeks.

Why this matters in Adelaide

Adelaide has a high proportion of older single-occupant households, particularly in the inner suburbs and along the coast at places like Glenelg and Henley Beach, and a significant share of those households include a dog or cat that is the resident’s main daily companion. When the resident is admitted to the Royal Adelaide or the QEH without warning, the pet is often discovered by a neighbour or a community nurse with no idea who to call. Local councils and the RSPCA SA become the default — and from there, an older animal with medication needs is at real risk of not being rehomed. A one-page instruction module, already in the executor’s hands, is the difference between a phone call to your aunt in Glenelg and a trip to a shelter.

Sources

Join the waitlist

Join the waitlist — first access when the Digital Legacy Vault opens for Adelaide carers

We’re opening waitlist access in tranches. Sign up to be notified when carers in Adelaide can register a pets module on behalf of an aging parent. The Digital Legacy Vault holds instructions about what exists and how the executor can act — not the animals, not the money, not legal advice on the will itself.