Hi, Is there a way to leave a cash legacy only if there is cash available to pay it? My situation is that I would like to leave a fixed sum to a local charity, should cash funds allow, at the time of my death. However I would not want such a gift to warrant my husband (who will inherit 100% of my residuary estate) to have to sell our house in order to make the gift to charity. Therefore if cash funds were not available I would not want the gift to be made. Is there a way to do this?
Eleanor – thanks so much for reaching out. This is a great question, and raises some interesting points.
So, interestingly, cash legacies take priority of residuary estate. So for example (slightly different point to your question), if someone dies with an estate worth £1,000, and a will leaving £1,000 to charity, and residuary estate to spouse, the charity get their £1,000 and the spouse gets nothing. You are absolutely right therefore to raise a red flag as it is an issue.
Your query is (I think) you only want the charitable legacy to be paid IF (and only if) there is cash in your estate to pay it. The simple answer is yes, we can make cash legacies (or indeed gifts of residue) conditional essentially on anything we like! The key is ensuring that there is absolute clarity to avoid it being a problem – ie questioned/disputed. You would need therefore to be sure that the parameters you define are crystal clear. It might sound picky (lawyers eh?!) but the definition of ‘cash in my estate’ is open to query. Does it just mean real cash (banks)? Would IASs be included, or shares? Etc etc…..
The sorts of alarms bells that would ring for us as expert will solicitors would include the clarity of definition, and also the value of the gift you have in mind. The more that is at stake, the more there is to go wrong! And, what is ‘more’ is of course a relative thing to some extent. A £1,000 legacy in an estate worth £10mil is different to a £1,000 legacy in a £10k estate.
Hope that helps Eleanor. We’d be delighted to help with the preparation of your wills. The process with QLAW is so quick, so easy, and great value. Following a video meeting, if you decide to go ahead the draft wills are usually sent out within 1 working day for your approval. Do shout if you’d like help. And, thanks again for raising a really interesting query.
