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1. Do I have to pay for somebody else to write my Will?
   • The answer to this is no. You can write your own Will, but do you know enough about the law to make it valid or workable.
     
     It is always sound advise to seek professional help when thinking about this important step in life. See the section How do I get started? For more help.
2. What would St Wilfrid’s use the money for?
   • It costs approximately £3.5 million per year to run St Wilfrid’s and much of what is raised in Gifts from Wills is used to pay front line services such as for Doctors, Nursing staff and the equipment that our patients need.
     
     To read more on this see the section on How legacy gifts help, or the sections on About Us and What we do.
3. Should I review my Will regularly?
   • The simple answer to this question is YES. Things in life change, families grow and get smaller as do our group of friends and our interests.
     
     The government is always changing the law and we could find that those we leave something might lose out.
4. What is a codicil and when would I need one?
   • A codicil is one or a number of revisions of a Will. These are legal documents – often attached to the Will, or in the same envelope - that change clauses in the original document and are as important as the Will itself.
     
     It s not a good thing to have a number of these attached to a Will, as it is quite possible they could be lost or challenged by somebody who might believe that your mind was not quite clear when you made all the alterations.
     
     If there have been a lot of changes to the original Will document, it is better and safer to build all the changes into a new Will.
      
5. Is it difficult being an executor to a Will or do I need a solicitor?
   • It is possible for anybody to administer an estate and you do not have to be a solicitor.
     
     However, be wary of the more complicated estates and those that have more value than the threshold’s set by government with respect to IHT and CGT. See the section on Acting as an Executor fro more help.
     
     Also be aware that there might be areas of the law that will want qualifying and everybody’s estate is different from the rest.
6. Can I give more than one legacy to a Charity?
   • The simple answer is YES.  Many people leave a pecuniary legacy and a residual legacy to charities. This is often because people do not know how much they are going to leave at the end of their lives. They want to make sure that St Wilfrid’s will get something and are not sure that nursing fees will not erode the value of the estate, so they leave a pecuniary legacy and a share of the residue.
7. Who can help me with more questions that I might have?
   • The answer here is our Donor Liaison & Legacies Manager.

What does this word mean?

Many words used in this area of finance are quite off putting. They are often from a time past and can even be a recall to the time that all English Law was in Latin. Do not be put off by them, and here is a small glossary of some of the more common expressions.

Testament: This is another word for a Will – in times gone past people use to make a statement in their Wills about their religious beliefs so the phrase grew up ‘my last Will and Testament’. The person who writes a Will is still known as a Testator.

Legacy: This is the name given to a gift in a Will. It originates from the Latin for to hand down to somebody else. The person receiving a legacy is called a Legatee.
 
A Codicil: This is the word given to an alteration to a Will, where the majority of the Will is still perfectly good but a minor alteration is required.
A good example of this is when possibly a friend of the Will’s author dies and they want to leave that Legacy to the child of the person who has died.

Pecuniary Legacy: This is a precise sum of money that is left to a Legatee in a Will. An example of this is ‘To St Wilfrid’s hospice (Eastbourne) the sum of £25,000.

Residual Legacy:  This is a percentage of what is left over once all the Pecuniary Legacies have been paid. An example of this is ‘ As to the rest of my estate I leave a half to St Wilfrid’s hospice and the other half to…….’.

Inheritance Tax: This is a government charge over the net value of an estate. Please see the section on Tax Implications for a full explanation. This tax has important implications on what you do with your money when you are alive.

Capital Gains Tax: This is another government tax on the difference between the values of something when somebody dies and if that asset is sold for a higher figure after the death. Please see the section on Tax Implications for a full explanation.

Reversionary: This type of legacy usually means that something has been left in trust. Trustees will have to be appointed and the value and condition of the assets monitors regularly. Trusts of money or income usually have another person involved, who will benefit from the income in their lifetime. The money on their death will go to the charity or individual stated in the Will.

Another example of this is when two relatives or friends have shared a house when they were both alive, though the house might only be owned by one of them. When the owner dies they do not want the other to be ‘put out’ – so they say that the second person can stay there for their lifetime and then the house would go to the charity of choice. Please see the section on Acting as an Executor for further help.

Probate: This is the legal means by which an Executor/s can administer an estate. The Probate Registry is in charge of this and you will find more details about this in the section on Acting as an Executor.

Need more information?

For more information about leaving a gift in your Will to St Wilfrid’s Hospice please contact John Summers, Donor Liaison & Legacies Manager:

Tel: 01323 637865

Email: john.summers@stwhospice.org 

St Wilfrid's Hospice
2-4 Mill Gap Road
Eastbourne
East Sussex
BN21 2HJ