When fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld died last week, he left behind a legacy spanning decades and possibly a sizable inheritance for his cat. Choupette, the beloved Birman that has become famous in her own right with nearly 300,000 followers on Instagram, is speculated to be at least a partial beneficiary of Lagerfeld's estimated $200 million dollar fortune. On "What'd You Miss This Week" with Joe Weisenthal, Scarlet Fu, Caroline Hyde, and Romaine Bostick, Christopher Burns, an estate attorney at Henson Efron, came on to talk about the laws that could allow Choupette the become the world's richest cat.
Burns said the vehicle he recommended for clients looking to provide for pets after their own death was naming a custodian for the animal and a trustee to oversee the inheritance. "It's important to have that check and balance," he said. "With a custodian and a trustee, I encourage clients to never name the same individual to take care of the animal as well as to watch the animal's finances."
