If you’re looking for the most trusted writers of wills and probate Cheshire has to offer, you may just be starting to think about the future of your finances and making sure your money goes to places you want it to when you’re no longer here. The big question is whether or not leaving a legacy to charity features in your plans.
Last week was Remember A Charity In Your Will Week, and as part of this initiative, ministers wrote to solicitors across the country to urge them to encourage their clients to consider charities when writing their wills.
The letters, written by ministers such as the Minister of Civil Society, ask solicitors to help charities to continue their good work by prompting clients to remember legacies as an option, stating that “unfortunately there is evidence of a disconnect between people’s intentions to give money in their wills and those doing so,” according to the Third Sector. Of the 35 per cent who say they would like to leave money to a charity in their will, only seven per cent actually do.
Research suggests that these prompts can see donations to charitable causes increase three-fold.
Charities have undergone a rough ride in the press recently, with the collapse of the Kids Company due to alleged misuse of funds, as well as a select committee focusing on complaints of people being hounded by charities for more and more donations by phone and by mail.
However, last year, charitable bequests were the single biggest source of donations, equating to £2.2 billion – money without which many charities wouldn’t be able to help those in need.