Regarding the life insurance policy---VERY VERY smart. A will can be
contested, but the insurance company will pay the beneficiary--no
questions asked.

On three occasions now, we have lost friends who wanted to help our
sanctuary. One had left us 25,000 in her will--however, after her
death, no one ever found a will. (So ask your attorney how to protect
your interests, if you`re doing a will. Maybe send the name of your
attorney to your recipient, so they can REACH him or her, if you die.)

One left everything she had to her sister--with the instructions to
continue her tradition of sending money on her birthday, her daughter`s
birthday, my birthday, & Christmas. It would then provide for her seven
ferrets (whom we took in) in the event of her death. Only two checks
ever came from the sister, and six of her seven kids were adrenal. I
loved them like my own--and would have anyway--but this was not what
Rita meant to happen. She would never have wanted her kids to be a
drain on the sanctuary.

Sandi & I met on a ferret board. I helped her with a sick ferret. We
became close phone friends over the next few years. Her mother referred
to her seven kids as "those G.D. RATS!" There was no one else to turn
to--no other relatives to take her babies, in the event of her demise.
She asked if we would take her babies in, if something ever happened to
her--and of course we said yes. Sandi knew, without a doubt, that her
kids would be here PRONTO if anything ever happened to her--and that
they`d be well-loved & cared for. She wasn`t sick at the time, and as
she put it "I have no plans to croak, anytime soon--it`s just that when
my aunt died, she left such a mess. I need to have a plan in place."
We laughed about it. I was pretty stunned, two weeks later, when her
lawyer called us. He needed some information. Sandi was putting us in
her trust, so that her babies, and many others here, would be provided
for, if she died. Then, nearly two years later, I got a call from
Texas. Sandi was very ill--in the hospital. She had coded, the night
before. She was conscious, but probably not going to make it. (She
knew.) I sent two messages, through her closest friend, who was allowed
in intensive care. First message--"I will get your babies NOW, and
care for them, no matter what happens. I`ll give them back, if you get
well." Second message "I have never met you, face to face. Will you
please come up to me & introduce yourself when it`s my turn?" Greg
said she smiled & squeezed his hand, at that point. She was at peace.
Sandi left us, early the next morning. Her seven kids were here two
days later. She had a plan in place, & it worked.

I have a policy on my own life, payable to the sanctuary if I die. I
want to know my babies will be provided for. Sometimes, relatives get
greedy--and if they don`t have your values, or deem the same things
important, your wishes might not be carried out.

Plan ahead, before it`s too late.

Love,
Zoo

[Posted in FML 7003]