Gifts and donations to charity in a will

When your will is written to include gifts or donations to charities and organisations, you can continue to support them after you’re gone.

Gifts and donations to charity in a will are normally exempt from Inheritance Tax. To qualify for the Inheritance Tax exemption the charity requires a Charity Reference Number from HM Revenue & Customs.

We make donating to charity in a will easy

At Amaryllis Associates we can provide you with help and guidance over the phone at every stage of writing your will. 

Our will writing advisors can explain the will writing process and you can call our will writers as often as you like until your will is signed. 

We’ll discuss your wishes and your requirements for donating to charity in your will. When we have all the details about what your will requires, we’ll quote you a fixed price upfront for the agreed work and that price will not change. This is what we call a fixed fee will. 

If you want to leave a gift or donation to a charity or an organisation in your will, you simply need to let us know what you would like them to receive and the name of the charity. This can be a fixed amount of money, a specific item or perhaps a share of your total estate. 

We can then take care of the rest and draft your will accordingly so that your wishes are clear. Any amount of money, a possession or a property left to people or charities in a will are called legacies. You can make a legacy in your will to virtually any person or organisation of your choice. 

It’s very important to ensure that your will is written correctly and is legally valid, if it isn’t then your charity may not receive your legacy. For example, if you get married or you remarry, you will automatically becomes invalid unless it makes specific reference to your upcoming marriage. 

If you die without a will, your estate (your home, car, bank accounts, investments and everything else you own) is distributed in accordance with the rules of intestacy, which make no mention of donations to any organisations (charitable or otherwise), and if you have no living family members, all your property and possessions will go to the Crown. 

Charitable legacies 

Around 13% of all charity income in the UK comes from legacies and without this income charities would have to cut services and many would simply not exist. By making a will you can donate to charity.