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Last year, the British public gave nearly £10 billion to charitable causes – and a significant amount of that was donated by people as part of their Will.

Everyone should have a Will, as without one you are leaving it up to the law to decide what happens to your estate (your money, possessions and property) when you are no longer here – and this might not be the way you wanted it. A Will is not only for those who are considered ‘wealthy’. If you have children, are a ‘non-traditional’ family, have your own business, your own property, are separated, divorced, or perhaps an unmarried couple living together or not in a civil partnership, then it is vital you have an up-to-date Will.

Whilst ensuring family and loved ones are taken care of after you die is of the highest importance, many people also wish to leave a gift in their Will to their favourite charities.

Leaving money to a charity in your Will supports good causes and can also reduce the amount of inheritance tax your heirs will have to pay.

If you leave something to charity in your Will, then it won’t count towards the total taxable value of your estate. The Inheritance Tax threshold is currently £325,000 and applies at a rate of 40% on amounts above the estate tax threshold. Under HMRC rules, you can cut the Inheritance Tax rate on the rest of your estate from 40% to 36%, if you leave at least 10% of your ‘net estate’ to a charity, reducing how much of your estate ends up with HMRC.

Cancer is something that unfortunately affects many of us today, and a third of Cancer Research UK’s work is funded by gifts and wills. Macnabs is a Partner firm of Cancer Research UK and Macnabs clients have left almost £700,000 to Cancer Research in their Wills.