Charities and Your Will

Christmas is seen as a time for giving so if you are thinking of making or updating an existing Will, have you considered leaving money to charity?

The Charity Commission has revealed that 35,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales who died in 2014 made donations in their Wills, benefiting more than 2,200 charities. Whilst this may seem like a large amount, more than 550,000 deaths were registered in England, Wales and Scotland in 2014. Working on these figures, it would therefore appear that roughly fewer than one in ten people leave money to charity when they die.

If you leave something to charity in your will, then it will not count towards the value of your estate. Furthermore, if you leave at least 10% of your net estate after any exemptions have been taken into account to charity, this cuts the rate of any Inheritance Tax you pay from 40% to 36%.

For more information, please contact our Private Client department for expert and friendly advice.