Are you leaving money to charity in your will?

[TheRebel]

I work for a solicitor so I see a fair few wills as part of my job, and the majority of the charities that people leave gifts to are animal charities and churches, I don’t think I’ve ever seen money being left to children’s charities or charities that help vulnerable people.

I just wondered if it’s just to do with the local area we’re in or is this the norm?

Liz do these discussions of how leaving a percentage to a charity has gone for people change your thoughts on this?

Not at the moment, though not because of any fuckwit complaints about salaries or admin costs. I've worked for charities so I'm not that daft. It's because currently my kids are young and would need all I have. Later on would consider revising to make specific gifts.

I really think Charities who ask for legacies in advertising and solicitors / will writers should be legally obliged to point out that leaving a percentage of your estate to a charity means that absolutely everything, every last tiny item you own will be put on the market / sent to auction.

They should categorically state that it means your great granny's wedding ring will be auctioned and if you want it to stay in the family your bereaved relatives will have to bid for it at the local auction house.

You can't even get items valued and pay the estate to take them - the charity will insist they go under the hammer.

Until charities are honest then I think any legacy they accept is taken under false pretences.

You could specify a % of particular assets, though? Eg cash and shares.

I think solicitors could do a better job advising as well.

@ADarkandStormyKnight I think it would help if people were more open about their wills too, so if you make someone executor then make sure they’ve got the original will or know where to get it, and explain what you expect them to do and why, so they’re not blindsided.

I’ve been made an executor of a will by a family member and because of the experiences I’ve seen of clients at work, the first thing I did was ask them what they want to happen once they’re gone, have they got any preferences for the funeral etc, and they did have a few things that I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t asked.

It’s not nice to have to make a decision when you don’t know if it’s what they would have wanted, and it just adds to the stress of the whole thing.

@mrcharlie Surely you can see that not all animal charities are like the RSPCA.

I'm also pretty sure people know what rescuing an animal involves, that's why people want to donate.

I don't have a will right now but have been supporting Plan International for the last few years and will continue to do so for the forseeable and maybe after I die.

www.charitychecker.net/ is a decent resource for anyone worried. I'm not sure the CEO salary thing is true though, it seems to default to 150k no matter what.

No way my children will get anything I have not a stranger who never knew me.

Im leaving two small legacy gifts to two charities who support victims of domestic violence. They have both been amazing for me and it’s a small token of thanks. The gifts are set amounts.

No way. Charity begins at home in my opinion. Everything will go to my husband, or vice versa if he goes first, and then to our child. I only care for my own.

At this point in my life, I’d say no. I’ll be leaving it all to my loved ones and if they choose to make a charitable donation, that’s their prerogative.

Yup, same experience as cloudy and others . . . a well known bird charity was especially brutal about getting its hands on the £££ ASAP!

Recently redone our wills - no charity bequests. I have no siblings, have left my half to a dear friend who has the details of one very special charity bequest we would wish to make. For sure, she's under no legal obligation to do so and I know that. But I also know my mate

I wouldn't, as I have children, nieces and nephews to leave my money to.

Charity begins at home.

I've donate to a children's charity on a monthly basis via Direct Debit for the last 18 years.

I wouldn’t leave a charity anything now. Similar to other stories I’ve seen first hand recently how they ride roughshod over the family.

And in this case also took to calling the widower frequently asking him if he’d like to honour his wife’s memory by donating/setting up a DD.

He changed his number in the end. 38, widowed, and fucking hounded by a charity. I’d never risk putting my family through that

No as prefer to donate to charity now and leave what we have to the children. They may choose to support other charities.

We support a local animal charity that caters for animals dumped by their owners or born wild. All run by volunteers and no salaries taken. Suits us better than the RSPCA as disagree with large salaries when working for a charity.

Most of our friends support animal charities or specific health ones that they have been affected by either themselves or family. I think it's quite common not to give to "people" charities as they already get enough support via taxes and can control their lives whereas you can't control illness and pets can't help themselves.

ourkidmolly Unless you have lived where I lived, you wouldn't understand the feeling of being threatened when you walk past, the racist slur, looking at your neighbourhood slowly degrading into a slum and how unsafe it feels to walk around.

I absolutely wouldn't donate to any children charity in this country. I would however to third world countries I've lived in. Some of my old friends have done great work with charities there, providing school supplies, giving scholarships to children who have to absolutely fight for their rights to be educated, walk to school for miles, no XBox, no Sky TV, no park vandalising, no stinking attitude. Those children deserve it. But the 'disadvantaged children' here? I'd rather burn my money before I die than lettting them get a penny.

Unlike a lot of these animal friendly wills, my mum insisted on having it in her will that any surviving pets at the time of her and my father's death should be put to sleep. She was sure that they would never settle or be happy anywhere else. She died suddenly last summer, she was only in her 60s. My dad has the pets for now and hopefully he'll outlive them. I'm not sure what we'd do if he dropped dead tomorrow though. We wouldn't be able to find anyone who'd take the dog but I think the cats would be rehomeable. Can you just ignore their wishes?

A friend of mine works for a large charity and this can be a real minefield. If you’re not utterly explicit and use the registered legal name of the charity exactly it can end up being given to, or distributed amongst, many charities. Ie.. leaving it to “cancer research” when you meant “cancer research UK” specifically. Or using outdated names for the charities you wish to support.

She reckons they lose a fair amount of what she thinks is supposed to come to them (child related charity, funnily enough!)

I’m not leaving anything to charity, I don’t support charities. I’m not going to make some big excuse about use of funds or fat cat CEOs. I just don’t want to and don’t like sharing money.

Wills are contentious things anyway as there is always someone who thinks you should leave your money to x rather than y. I was grateful for the small legacy my late DM left me but as I don't have any children I hope that any money I leave to charity benefits some person/animal and that's all I care about.

I really can't be doing with the my charity is 'better' or 'more deserving' than yours as there is no hierarchy in doing something good.

No way. I will give money to the needy, and do all sorts of charity work while I am alive. I don't trust any of the charity organizations.

You are right, mrcharlie. The RSPCA and most of those who support it do not love all animals - only a very specific few. I will never understand people who donate to animal charities when there are humans in dire need.
If people want to help animals, do so now, and live vegan. And raise humans better.

Good point about possible ambiguity when naming a charity. Charities do rebrand, and some have branch structures so you might want to leave it to a local branch but the money could go to the umbrella body.

Maybe the best way to avoid this would be to give the charity number, and give executors authority to choose an alternative if that one is wound up.

I will leave everything to my two children. Hopefully by the time I die they will be grown with children of their own, and a injection of cash will really help them. Unless both are thriving financially anyway, in which case, I'd probably choose a family who are struggling, and turn their lives around.

(I'm not expecting anything myself, so if anyone wants to adopt me, let me know! :D )

No as I don't have much to leave so I want DS to have it all, his comfort is my first priority.

I do volunteer work anyway and prefer giving my time than my money in my position.