Legacies

Beneficiaries generally either receive specific gifts of property (legacies) or a share of your residuary estate. Legacies may be either specific sums of cash or specific items of your property. You might wish to leave all your personal effects to one of your relatives or close friends. If you own a particularly valuable item, e.g., jewellery, you should consider whether it should be included in such a general gift or left to someone who you feel might particularly appreciate it. The item should, of course, be accurately described to avoid any confusion when your estate is being distributed. You can give a specific gift of shares or the proceeds of an insurance policy provided you are the beneficial owner of such a policy. You may wish to leave one or more of your personal employees specific legacies. If any of them would be entitled to a redundancy payment on your death you would probably wish this to be deducted from the amount of the legacy and, if this is the case, you should make specific provision for it in your will. If you wish to leave a legacy to your executor you should state whether it is a condition of the gift that he accepts the office or not. You may, of course, leave property to a charity or a number of charities. The charity should be accurately described and its current address given. You should check whether it is a registered charity otherwise tax relief may not be available. A receipt clause should be included discharging your executors from liability provided they pay the legacy to the treasurer or another officer of similar standing in the charity concerned. Charitable gifts do have substantial inheritance tax advantages. In considering Legacies you will need to decide whether or not the beneficiary is to pay any inheritance tax on the gift. It is common to express a Legacy to be `free of inheritance tax' and it is often the most favoured procedure. Any inheritance tax payable on such a legacy will be paid out of your residuary estate by your executors.