This is a highly tax efficient way of making a meaningful donation to charity without dramatically reducing the value of what you leave to your beneficiaries. Put simply, it could be one of the most important things you ever do and with relatively little impact on your beneficiaries.

No, absolutely not. The donation to charity doesn’t happen until AFTER your death. If you need your savings in your later years you can always use them. That would simply reduce the value of your estate and reduce the sum you donate to charity.

The simple answer is yes. But it requires all your beneficiaries to agree to change your will after your death. This is known as a Deed of Variation. However, if you want to choose the charities that benefit from your will – be it health, environment or local charities – you need to ensure your will specifies which charities are to benefit.

The cost is minimal. This involves a simple change to your will which your solicitor can arrange for you.

It doesn’t affect you at all. If you use all your assets during your lifetime and leave very little in your will then this provision would not come into play. You are simply making a provision in your will, which comes into effect after your death, if your estate is liable for Inheritance Tax.

You can decide. Any UK registered charity can benefit, no matter how large or small it may be. You can also specify a series of donations to a number of different charities. You can even consider establishing a charitable family trust which your beneficiaries could then run in your memory.

Yes, you can. It’s just like any other aspect of your will. You can rewrite it at any time. You can ask your will writer to amend your preferred charities or remove the charitable clause altogether if that’s what you wish.

Legislative changes are always possible with any kind of tax planning. However, it is possible for your will to be written in such a way that if Inheritance Tax is abolished or your estate does not benefit from any Inheritance Tax reduction then the clause donating money to charity automatically becomes invalid.

The simple answer is yes. Any donation to charity in your will is free of Inheritance Tax but you will not receive the reduced rate of 36% on the rest of your taxable estate if your charitable donation is less than 10%.

If you have no relatives to leave your estate to, and you don’t have a will everything may end up passing to the Treasury. If you have a remote family member everything may pass to them, and Inheritance Tax will be applicable. Even a cheap and simple will ensures your assets pass to who you want. So, we recommend having a will to ensure you avoid disputes.

Yes, you can. If you left all your assets to a registered charity your estate would not be liable for inheritance tax at all.

You can make donations to registered charities during your lifetime and under certain circumstances the government will add to your donation. This is called Gift Aid. THE GOOD GIVE – explained on this website – is about leaving a certain proportion of your assets to charity in your will.