If you’re not directly involved in the administration of an estate, it can be difficult to ensure your charity obtains the correct amount due under a legacy.
Our expert Charity Assist team carries out independent reviews of estate administrations where a legacy has been left to your charity, providing the reassurance you need to meet your regulatory obligations and ensure your charity receives its full entitlement.
Support for Every Stage of the Legacy Journey
Expert legal guidance to help your charity grow, manage and protect legacy income.
When a legacy is left to a charity, trustees and legacy teams have a responsibility to ensure the charity’s entitlement is received in full and that the estate has been administered properly.
However, when you do not have first-hand oversight of the administration process, you may be forced to rely on information provided by executors or their advisers. Without independent verification of the underlying calculations and supporting documentation, it can be difficult to confirm that the estate has been administered correctly and that the legacy entitlement has been calculated on the proper basis.
Independent Legal Oversight
Our Legacy Health Check provides an impartial legal review of the key aspects of the estate administration process. We review whether the correct procedures have been followed by all parties so that any issues can be identified at an early stage. In most cases, this allows any issues to be addressed proportionately and without unnecessary dispute.
Our unique Legacy Health Check service covers more than 20 key points in the administration process. Most crucially:
- Reviewing the validity, construction and interpretation of the will
- Reviewing estate accounts and distribution calculations
- Reviewing Inheritance Tax calculations, including available reliefs and exemptions
- Reviewing Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax arising during the administration period
- Reviewing R185 tax certificates
- Reviewing the values achieved on the sale of estate assets, including property
- Reviewing settlements and claims made against the estate
Protect your interests
By carrying out a Legacy Health Check, we can support your team and provide both clarity and reassurance.
Our legal specialists help trustees demonstrate that appropriate steps have been taken to protect your charity’s assets and maximise the benefit of any legacies. Using an independent third party to undertake this process can also help maintain constructive relationships with executors and their advisers.
