Pet Care Instructions for a Trusted Friend: A Brisbane Carer’s Plan for Mum’s Dog

You’re helping your mother get her affairs in order. She lives on her own in Brisbane, her kids are interstate, and the thing she worries about most isn’t the house or the super — it’s the dog. Maybe a cat too. She has a friend two suburbs over who has quietly agreed that if Mum ends up in hospital, or worse, the animals come to her. Nothing is written down. The vet doesn’t know. You don’t have the friend’s phone number saved anywhere your siblings could find it. The plan is to fix all of that, on one page, that the friend can actually reach when she needs to.

The problem

When an older person is hospitalised suddenly or dies at home, pets are one of the first practical problems and one of the most poorly planned. RSPCA shelters across Queensland regularly receive animals surrendered because the owner went into care and no one knew there was a plan — or because there wasn’t one. ASIC’s MoneySmart estate planning guidance focuses on wills and beneficiaries, but pets sit in an awkward gap: they’re legally property, they can be left in a will, but a will is read days or weeks after death. The dog needs feeding tonight.

Your mother’s friend doesn’t need access to Mum’s bank accounts or MyGov. She needs to know: which animals live in the house, what they eat, what medications they’re on and when, who the vet is, whether there’s a pet insurance policy, and confirmation — in writing — that she did agree to take them. Without that, even a willing friend can be turned away by a neighbour, a body corporate, or a hospital social worker who has no way to verify the arrangement.

What the Asset Instruction Vault does

The Digital Legacy Vault is an asset-instruction register: your mother records what she has, where to find it, and who she’s nominated to receive the instructions. The simplified version (built for individuals and families) records, per pet: the animal’s name and description, microchip number, vet clinic and phone number, food and feeding schedule, current medications with dosage, behavioural notes, and the nominated carer’s contact details with their recorded consent. It can also note whether a pet bequest or small pet-care fund has been set up through her will. The vault holds none of her passwords, none of the vet portal logins, and no payment credentials.

The boundary matters: the Digital Legacy Vault is not a financial product, not a custody service, and not an advice service. It’s an instructions register. That’s what keeps it outside the AFSL regime and outside AUSTRAC reporting — and it’s why a carer helping an older parent can set it up without it becoming a regulated arrangement.

How it works

  1. You sit with your mother and add each animal — name, breed, age, microchip, vet clinic, current medications, daily routine.
  2. She names her friend as the recipient for the pets module. The friend is sent a request and accepts; the vault records her consent and contact details.
  3. Your mother sets the release rules — for example, release on hospitalisation notification by you, or release on death certificate.
  4. If something happens, the friend is notified per those rules and sees only the pets module — not your mother’s super, will, or other modules unless she’s released them too.
  5. The friend collects the animals with a printable care sheet: vet name, feeding times, medication schedule, microchip numbers to update with the registry.

Why this matters in Brisbane

Brisbane has a high proportion of older residents living alone in detached houses with pets — often a dog in the backyard and an indoor cat. When the owner goes to hospital from a Brisbane emergency department, social workers have a few hours to find someone to feed the animals before neighbours, the RSPCA, or council animal management get involved. A trusted friend with a one-page instruction sheet — including microchip numbers registered to Queensland’s pet registries and the vet’s after-hours line — can collect the animals the same day. Without it, the friend may not even be contacted, because no one knew she was the plan.

Sources

Join the waitlist

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

We’re opening waitlist access in tranches. Sign up to be notified when carers helping an aging parent in Brisbane can register a first pet-care module. The Digital Legacy Vault holds instructions about what exists and how your mother’s friend can find the animals, the vet, and the daily routine — not passwords, not vet portal logins, and not custody of the animals themselves.