Leaving gifts to charity in your will

Thinking of making gifts to charity? Use our 10 point plan

Charities in the UK have recently been under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Some well-known names have admitted losing thousands of donors because of adverse publicity about their organisations but what would our world look like without charities?

Everything from international disaster responses and vital medical research to abandoned pets is supported through charities. But a lot of the work they do couldn’t happen without people leaving gifts to charity when they die.

Scroll down to find our 10 Point Plan for Making Gifts to Charity

 

Remember a Charity

Every year Remember A Charity which is a UK campaign organisation, encourages people to think about donating gifts to charity in their Wills.

Not only do my clients get a great sense of satisfaction that they are going to be leaving something behind to help others, but they’re also benefiting their nearest and dearest because of the tax breaks that go with a gift to charity.

Tax advantages of gifts to charity

Gifts to charity in Wills are exempt from inheritance tax and if you leave a gift of 10% or more of your estate to charity any inheritance tax payable on your death is chargeable at a lower rate of 36%. So both the charity and your relatives benefit from tax relief.

So it sounds as if leaving gifts to charity is a bit of a ‘no-brainer’ but that’s not entirely true. Gifts to charities in a Will do need some careful thought if they’re going to succeed. This is especially so since the case of Ilott v Mitson in 2015. I wrote about this important case last year and you can read about it here.

Gifts to charity in a Will can lead to problems

There are a number of potential pitfalls. If you’re thinking of leaving a gift to charity in your Will it’s worth finding out what difficulties could arise after you’ve gone.

I’ve devised a 10 Point Plan for anyone thinking of leaving gifts to charity. It covers the commonest problems and gives you a plan to follow to help avoid them.

You can download a copy of our 10 Point Plan for making Gifts to Charity [emaillocker]Download[/emaillocker]

It’s also available as one of the many resources available for free to members of our online community BE My Own Lawyer.

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Remember to check the date of the article. We try our best to ensure the information on this website is accurate and up to date but the law and taxation rules change regularly and we cannot be responsible if you act or refrain from acting as a result of reading inaccurate or out of date material here.

Read about the author, Rosamund Evans here