We’ve all heard the expression “You get to pick your friends, not your family.” Well, we also get to choose our pets, and if we want to make them the sole heirs to our estates, that’s our business, too (at least in some states).
And that’s exactly what a wealthy Florida woman did when she had a stipulation placed in her will stating that she wanted to leave her money and Tampa mansion to her seven cats.
Per the Tampa Bay Times, Nancy Sauer passed away on November 23, 2022. Without any living relatives to leave her fortune to, she decided to pass on much of her wealth to her beloved Persian kitties.
Named Midnight, Snowball, Goldfinger, Leo, Cleopatra, Napoleon, and Squeaky, they were all living in their late owner’s $2.5 million mansion for a time after her death with Sauer’s will stipulating that the 4,000-sq-ft home could only be sold after the last of her cats passed.
While her desire was that they all find loving homes, the inheritance is to cover their food, medical costs, grooming bills, and any other necessities deemed appropriate for their care and upkeep during their lifetimes.
“She loved them so much,” stated Yana Alban, a good friend of Sauer’s told reporters. Neighbor Leslie Farrell said, “She was a lot of fun and we miss her in the neighborhood. I really enjoyed just chatting with her.”
It seems Sauer’s husband, Ralph, passed away in 1986 and then her son died in 1999. Following their deaths, she purportedly focused almost all of her love and attention on her furry friends.
“What she really wanted was for them to be cared for,” Farrell — who was her neighbor for 10 years — added.
The seven feline millionaires — who are currently residing at the Humane Society — will soon be up for adoption, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay.
Sherry Silk, executive director of the Tampa Bay Humane Society, noted, “Cats shouldn’t be left by themselves in a big house. I am going to personally make sure that we can keep as many together as we can and that they go to the perfect house.” To date, Snowball, who suffers from a heart condition, has already been adopted by a local veterinarian.
Silk explained that the executor of the will had paid people to care for the cats inside the home for a time but realized that they weren’t caring for them properly, regardless of Sauer’s good intentions and early planning.
Sauer was also said to have left a donation for the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, but Silk stated that they don’t know how much it is yet.
Ultimately, her close friends and neighbors remembered her as a “proud mother, businesswoman, fashionista, and ardent cat lover.” We should all be remembered so kindly when our time comes.
