Updating your Will is very important, especially where you have left a gift to a charity.
With the sad news that one of North Devon’s leading animal charities is potentially closing down, we look at what happens if you have left a gift to a charity in your Will that then no longer exists.
The legal position is dependent on how your Will has been worded. Newer Wills usually include wording that allows a general charitable intention, which means that the gift to charity could be saved. The general charitable intention clause will allow your executors to make an application to the Charity Commission (or the courts) for the gift to be applied to a charity or charities of a similar nature.
This is known as the legal doctrine of cy-pres and it allows the gift to be applied towards a cause as close as possible to the original charity.
If the charity that you have left a gift to has merged with another charity and that merger has been recorded in the register of charity mergers, then the gift can be allowed to be paid to the merged charity or charities.
If there is no clause allowing a general charitable intention, then unfortunately there is a risk that cy-pres may not apply. This could see the gift failing and falling back into your residuary estate, where it will be distributed amongst your other residuary beneficiaries in the shares proportionate to their original share.
Depending on the value of your estate, this may have an impact on your Inheritance Tax position, causing adverse implications.
All of this can be avoided by simply updating your Will.
We offer a free Will review service, so if you have any concerns about charitable legacies contained in your existing Will, or any other worries then please get in touch with us,
