Giving to Charities in a Will

rudeword

The recent Money Tips (11th March 2025) says in the section on Free Will drafting " in the hope you'll leave them a bequest (money in your will) of typically £300 to £1,000, or a percentage of your estate."

Warning (not just for free wills), if you leave a bequest to as a percentage of the estate, the charity's accountants will look at the estate accounts to ensure that they receive the exact amount. This obviously can be an extra hassle that the executors may wish to avoid. Also the order in which bequests are listed in the Will is important as if there is not enough money to satisfy all the bequests, they are paid out in the order they are listed in the Will.

FlorayG

Some of us have to put a percentage because we don't know if we will have £100,000 or £10 in assets when we die

Keep_pedalling

rudeword said:

Also the order in which bequests are listed in the Will is important as if there is not enough money to satisfy all the bequests, they are paid out in the order they are listed in the Will.

That is incorrect. If my will says I leave Fred £20,000, Jane £10,000, the local cats home £10,000, with the residue going to my children, but after all debts and estate expenses have been paid there is only £20,000 left then the pecuniary beneficiaries will receive a proportional amount of their legacies and the residual beneficiaries receive nothing.

In the above example Fred gets £10,000, Jane and the cats home get £5,000 each and the children get nothing. 

p00hsticks

rudeword said:

The recent Money Tips (11th March 2025) says in the section on Free Will drafting " in the hope you'll leave them a bequest (money in your will) of typically £300 to £1,000, or a percentage of your estate."

Warning (not just for free wills), if you leave a bequest to as a percentage of the estate, the charity's accountants will look at the estate accounts to ensure that they receive the exact amount. This obviously can be an extra hassle that the executors may wish to avoid. Also the order in which bequests are listed in the Will is important as if there is not enough money to satisfy all the bequests, they are paid out in the order they are listed in the Will.

In my experience the big charities are likely to be aware of what they can expect, whether it's a fixed sum or percentage of the residue, as soon as probate has been granted, as they tend to monitor the probate declarations to see if they have been named in the will.

But also in my experience they are quite understanding and sympathetic and don't hassle too much if reasonably kept in the loop (for example, if there is a house to be sold before any money can be released).