We appreciate the challenge facing charities to maximise their income from legacies and manage their level of expenditure on legal services.

Our core legacy management team has in-depth expertise on both the contentious and non contentious aspects of legacy administration and offers a bespoke, flexible service which aligns with the charity’s in-house teams’ own experience and needs. Our team has also worked as legacy officers and we have hands-on experience of the particular challenges faced in this sector. 

We ensure that reputational issues are considered at every phase and adjust the tone of correspondence accordingly; ensuring a commercial yet, where necessary, facilitating a softer approach, particularly when dealing with lay executors or where there are disputes.  All members of our contentious team are experienced in dealing with alternative dispute resolution.

We are passionate about sharing our knowledge and experience with our clients and have a reputation for delivering informative training sessions and workshops.  We recognise how important sharing experiences can be and enjoy facilitating this by providing regular opportunities for our charity clients and contacts to meet and network.

Our services include:

Non contentious legacy administration

We advise on all aspects of non-contentious charity legacy issues including:

• Assisting charities with the administration of estates and advising on the most tax efficient ways to deal with assets.
• Advising on the need for and obtaining Section 119 Reports.
• Advising on Deeds of Variations and rectification of Wills.
• Considering ex-gratia payments and the interpretation of Will clauses.
• Advising on the protection of the charity’s interests under Will trusts
• Advising and drafting the wording of legacy literature

Contentious legacy matters

We advise on the full spectrum of disputes which charities may face when dealing with legacies including:

• Challenges regarding the validity of Wills, including where incapacity is an issue
• Claims under the Inheritance (Family and Dependants Act) 1975.
• Proprietary estoppel and constructive resulting trust type claims. 
• Dealing with the removal of executors and trustees.
• Applications for inventories and accounts.
• Tracing lifetime transactions where recovery may be required.