The life and health of Westies improved:

Leaving a Legacy- Your Gift of Support

Summer, 2005

The Foundation Board believes that over the long term our greatest financial support will come from those of you who remember the Foundation in your wills.

Consequently, we offer you the following information:

1. YOUR WILL - A PRICELESS PRIVILEGE

One of life’s privileges, and perhaps that which is most ignored, is the making of one’s will. Every adult of sound mind may make a will and thus determine how his or her assets will be distributed after death. Nevertheless, some 70% of those who die each year do so without a will. Probably no other document you will sign in your lifetime is as important as a will.

2. YOUR WILL - WHAT CAN IT DO?

A will gives you control as to how your assets will be distributed and who will oversee that distribution. Through a will, you are able to avoid unnecessary expenses in the administration of your estate, reduce your estate taxes, provide for the people who are close to you, and support charitable causes such as the Westie Foundation of America, Inc. A will allows you to shape the legacy you leave for the future.

3. YOUR WILL - OR THE STATE LEGISLATURE’S WILL

For whatever reason, those seven out of ten Americans are, through default, in effect permitting their state legislature to “write” a will for them.
The laws of individual states provide an inflexible method and procedure for the disposal of property of those who do not have wills. To put it another way, the state legislature has written a “will” for each person, although each person has the choice to make his or her own, personal will.

4. MISCONCEPTIONS: ONLY RICH PEOPLE NEEDS WILLS

Quite the contrary. In fact, those who are not rich are usually those whose families may be hurt most by their failure to have a will. As an example, the laws of most states provide, in the absence of a will, more adequately for children than for the surviving spouse. Not to be overlooked is the fact that many people are worth more than they realize when they take into account their home, personal property, savings, life insurance, retirement benefits and securities.

The above are some of the reasons why you should have a will. What follows are reasons why you should remember the “Westie Foundation of America” in your will.

Our Westie Breed will go on long after we are no longer here. By its very nature, the Endowment Fund will also go on after we, too, are no longer here, assuring that your gift to the Westie Foundation will outlast all of us and the Westie breed will not outlast your gift.

All assets left to the Endowment Fund remain there. Only the income derived from your gift will be spent on Health Research and Education. Thus, your gift remains intact into perpetuity.

Bequests to the Endowment Fund will be a major source of revenue to the Foundation in the future. A strong endowment will mean that in the future our Westies will be healthier as a result of the research funded by the Foundation.

By remembering the Westie Foundation in your will, you can continue to provide income for it in perpetuity. A bequest is an ideal way to ensure that this organization — THE ONLY NATIONAL FOUNDATION DEDICATED PRIMARILY TO ADVANCING THE HEALTH OF WESTIES — will continue to serve the needs of the breed into the future.

All the assets left to the Westie Foundation of America, Inc., are removed from your taxable estate thereby reducing the estate bill your heirs must pay.

There are several thousand little White Affection Givers that are the best reason of all to remember them in your will.

Many of you knew Nancy Schoch when she was alive. Nancy remembered her little White Friends in her will.

Please remember them in yours.