Making a Charity Legacy Gift
Posted on 5th, February 2012
Making a charity legacy gift through your will isn't difficult to do. Of course, you do have to make a will first. This is something that many people put off, thinking there's always plenty of time later. There isn't. You may live to 90 or more, but you don't know that for certain. Making wills is not something that only old people do. It's something we should all do, and the earlier we do it the better.
If someone dies without a will the state steps in and decides, according to the law, who will get what. It's very unlikely that your wealth will be distributed in the way you want it to be. That's why you need to make a will. It ensures that everyone who depends on you, as well as the friends you want to leave something to, will get exactly what you state they should get. You will be in control, and if you want to leave a charity legacy at the same time, you can do that as well.
Most people would be happy to leave something to a charity they admire and approve of, but they usually think that whatever they leave to charity will take away from their family. They feel guilty for not "doing their duty" and so they don't leave anything to charity. However, when you consider inheritance tax, everything changes. Inheritance tax can be crippling for a family. It can be a serious burden that they don't want to worry over at a time of loss. It doesn't have to be like that though.
If you leave a charity legacy in your will the burden of inheritance tax could be significantly reduced for your family, or negated all together. Instead of taking money away from your family, you could, depending on certain circumstances, and each case is different, be making things easier for them. You will also be benefiting a charity whose work you feel to be good and useful. That's killing two birds with one stone! Of course, the one who loses in all this is the poor tax man, but I don't think anyone will mind too much.
Making a charity legacy gift can be done when you make your will, or if you have already made a will, something called a codicil can be created to add in your legacy gift. A codicil is like an amendment to your will. It will be the much cheaper option compared to making a completely new will, and it is just as legal too.
