Thanks for a very interesting and helpful site.
I want to leave smallish legacies to about 30 different people to use up the £325,000 tax free allowance and then give the residue above that to charities.
Can I do this? ; And if so can I leave the legacies in percentages rather than fixed cash amounts? (I don’t know how much will need to come out of the £325,000 for probate and other costs so percentages seem safer)
And then leave the residue above £325,000 to named charities also in percentages?
Everything I read keeps talking about residue to be left in percentages – whereas I am thinking of using percentages for it all. Hope you see what I mean.
Thanks!
Julie posted this question in response to our blog explaining cash legacies which can be found HERE
Hi Julie and thanks so much for reaching out. Without taking full ‘instructions’ from you we can not give specific advice. As a general generic rule of thumb the total amount of specific legacies tends to be a small proportion of total value of an estate. This is obviously specific to the particular circumstances of the person making the will.
Yes, one thing you may wish to consider is to gift ‘the nil rate band sum’ in percentage terms to nominated beneficiaries. Points of caution might include: what if your estate dwindles below this amount by the time you pass (or the threshold raises); and equally if your estate did then fall below the nil rate band sum, would you be happy to leave your chosen charities out?
No prefect answer often in these circumstances, and perhaps a good example of where it is often worthwhile keeping our wills under review from time to time to make sure our wishes are still being catered for (as best as one ever can given the constraints of IHT, etc etc).
If you wanted a one-to-one no obligation chat I’d be happy to set up a Zoom free of charge. Again, it would NOT be specific advice but it may help you to think around the issues a bit more clearly? You can reach out to me at nq@QLAW.co.uk. Thanks again – Neil (CEO)