It is quite common for individuals to gift an amount from their estate, or even a percentage of their estate to a charity of their choice. When including a charity as a beneficiary in your Will, it is very important to get the wording right to ensure the gift is successful on your death.

When including a charity in your Will it is important to check with the individual charities what their preferred wording for the gift in the Will is to be. This is important as it would ensure you are identifying the correct branch and particulars of the charity. When including a charity in your Will you will need to ensure you have the following mentioned -

1. The full legal name of the charity as it is legally registered.
2. The ABN or ACN of the charity.
3. The purpose of the gift. In most cases, this will be for 'general purposes' as this allows the charity to use the gift for their general purpose.

The other important thing to consider when making a gift to a charity is whether you wish to leave them a fixed sum of money, for example $10,000 or if you wish to leave them a portion of the balance of your estate, this could be either the residuary of your estate or a percentage (e.g. 10%) of the balance of your estate.

When drafting your Will with Legal Essentials please do not hesitate to ask us about leaving a gift to a charity.