When she died in 2003, a Maine woman left almost of all of her $200,000 estate for the care of the unwanted and abandoned cats in her hometown. Her two page will appointed trustees to administer the funds but did not specify who should actually receive the funds. Now, two women who run makes shift cat shelters have sued the trustees and the attorney who drafted the will. The two women spend nearly all of their disposable income to provide for the cats. One of the women has not visited family for 2 years because she is afraid to burden the other woman with all of the cat care in her absence.
Several points:
1. Obviously, the trust is lacking in specifics about how the funds should be spent and should have included direct beneficiaries.
2. Any two page will is lacking in many specifics without even incorporating a trust into it.
3. The attorney should be dismissed from the lawsuit. His legal duty was only to his client - he did not owe any legal duty to the people suing the trust.
4. Need I point out that stories involving multiple cats never include a male?
