Mark Consuelos loves his dog, Lena, so much so, he might even leave his whopping fortune to her.
The Riverdale actor made the fascinating confession during an episode of Live With Kelly and Mark on March 21 while discussing a report about people’s pets inheriting their estates.
“You know pet bequests have been known to be challenged in court, sometimes successfully,” Mark, 53, read from the report.
Mark then got a little confused reading the rest of the report out loud.
“And since pets are considered in all U.S. states property, you can’t actually leave — wait,” he trailed off.
Kelly Ripa pointed out why it is important to read an article through its entirety before making any assumptions.
“Pets bequests have known to be challenged sometimes successfully by disinherited heirs. And since pets are considered in all U.S. states property, you can’t leave them money,” he read.
“You can’t leave your property to property,” Kelly, 54, chimed in.
But despite the report, Mark said, “I’m leaving everything to Lena,” referencing the couple’s dog.
“Because you know you want to skip the kids. What is that? Generational skipping?” the All My Children alum said. “Save all the taxes? Generational skipping?”
Mark said, “Lena will appreciate it much more than our kids will appreciate it.”
Kelly and Mark share kids Michael, 27, Lola, 23, and Joaquin, 22, all of whom have moved out of their NYC house for work and college.
Kelly jokingly said that she was supportive of Mark’s desire to leave his money to their beloved family pet.
“I love that plan. I can’t wait. You know what? Let’s just cut to the court battle,” the mom of three quipped. “Let’s hire the attorneys now.”
The conversation came more than a month after Kelly and Mark announced the death of their other dog, Chewie, whom they adopted during a pet segment on the show years ago.
“Chewie had stopped eating for a couple of days and had been eating less and less for the past few weeks. She was extremely dehydrated and had some neurological stuff going down,” Mark said during a February 5 episode of Live. “And you think, ‘OK, I’m doing the right thing, this is going to be not easy but …’ It’s probably one of the toughest things we’ve had to do as a married couple.”
“I know pet owners at home can understand this,” he reflected. “It takes a pet owner to understand this kind of loss. It’s grief. It really is grief. But knowing that we did the right thing because it was just going to be really, really, really bad over the next few days for her.”
Kelly broke down in tears during the episode while mourning her beloved late pet.
“I’m really sorry. I thought I got it all out, guys. I really thought I got it all out and I apologize because this is not how I wanted this to go down,” she told the audience. “God, she gave us so much.”
