For many charities in Northern Ireland, gifts in Wills or legacies as they are often known as, are vital.
You may wish to leave a gift in your Will to a much-loved charity after you have taken care of your family and friends.
Some of the best-known charities here in Northern Ireland simply couldn’t continue their work without the generosity of supporters who remember them in their Will.
Each gift is gratefully received by the individual charity and people who leave a legacy are often remembered in a special way.
A legacy or charitable gift can be as small or large as you like – every single one makes a huge difference.
How to leave a gift in your Will to charity
It’s really simple to leave a gift in your Will, even if you already have your Will in place.
- Make a note of the charity name, address and registered charity number.
- You can use the Will to Give charity finder to search for our member charities
- Find a solicitor or professional Will writer to write your Will.
- Use the Law Society solicitor finder here
- Provide your solicitor or Will writer with details of your chosen charity
You can update your existing Will to include a gift if you wish or you can write a new Will.
Write a new Will
Your Will should be reviewed every 5 years or so. Adding a charitable gift is also a good opportunity to review your whole Will as there might have been changes in your family since you prepared your previous Will.
Codicils
The other way to add a charitable gift is to write a codicil.
This is a document used to make changes to an existing Will.
It’s used as a way to make simple amendments like adding a charity, changing a gift amount or adding an executor.
It is important to remember that this method can cause problems if you ever want to cancel the Will in the future.
When you cancel a Will that contains a codicil, the codicil does not get cancelled automatically.
So when you write a new Will it can create inconsistencies and legal problems.
To avoid this, make sure that any new Will clearly states that you are revoking all Wills and codicils previously made.
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Will to Give is a unique network of charities working together to encourage people in Northern Ireland to leave a charitable gift in their Will.
For more information about how you can leave a gift in your Will click here.
