Leave a musical legacy

We recommend using a Will-writing professional such as a solicitor. Preparing a Will is not a difficult or expensive process and could save your family a lot of time and expense later.

A good place to start is the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP) or the Law Society for England and Wales. They will all supply you with a list of people who can help you in your area.

When talking to a professional you may wish to have made a note of your assets and the approximate value of any particularly valuable items.

It’s never too early to start writing a Will because you can always amend it at any time in the future with a simple document called a codicil.

There are essentially two different types of gift that you can make to the Cheryl King Trust in your Will:

A specific sum: Here you state the specific amount of money that you would like to leave to the Trust. This can be as small or as large as you would like.

A gift of the whole or a certain proportion of the residue of your estate:

Here you leave what remains of your estate (or percentage of what remains) after all the other and specific gifts and legacies that you want to make have been paid out. This type of gift has the added benefit of keeping its value over time because it will not be so affected by inflation.

The is absolutey no minimum amount - no gift is too small to make a difference!

There may be tax benefits to leaving gifts in your Will. Because The Cheryl King Trust is a registered charity, all gifts in Wills made to the Cheryl King Trust are exempt from UK inheritance and capital gains tax.

Depending on tax rules from time to time, if you leave more than a certain percentage of your net estate to charity, the Inheritance Tax rate on the whole of your taxable estate may be reduced.

Under current rules, if you leave 10% or more of your chargeable net estate to a charity or combination of charities, the inheritance tax rate on the whole of your taxable estate is reduced from 40% to 36%.

A solicitor can advise on the exact wording. The following are examples of the sort of wording you could include:

I give, devise and bequeath to The Cheryl King Trust (‘CKT’) of 24 Litchfield Way Guildford Surrey GU2 7QH (registered charity number 1191604) the sum of £ [insert amount] for its general charitable purposes and I declare that the receipt of any trustee or officer of the said Trust for the time being shall be a full and sufficient discharge for the said legacy.

I give, devise and bequeath to The Cheryl King Trust (‘CKT’) of 24 Litchfield Way Guildford Surrey GU2 7QH (registered charity number 1191604) [the whole] [or] [enter fraction or X % (e.g. one quarter or 25%)] of my residuary estate for its general charitable purposes and I declare that the receipt of any trustee or officer of the said Trust for the time being shall be a full and sufficient discharge for the said legacy.

If you are only making a limited number of small straightforward changes you can amend your existing Will using a short, simple legal document called a codicil. You will need to get this witnessed in the same way as your Will. A solicitor can prepare this for you at very little cost but here is an example of the sort of wording you might use.

EXAMPLE:

“I [insert name] of [insert address] declare this to be the [first OR second] codicil to my Will which is dated [date of Will] [as amended by my first codicil dated [date of first codicil]] (my Will).

I give, devise and bequeath to The Cheryl King Trust (‘CKT’) of 24 Litchfield Way Guildford Surrey GU2 7QH (registered charity number 1191604) the sum of £ [insert amount] for its general charitable purposes and I declare that the receipt of any trustee or officer of the said Trust for the time being shall be a full and sufficient discharge for the said legacy.

Insert your signature , print your full name and date. Ask a witness to insert their signature, print their full name, address and same date.