Leave a legacy

Having a will and keeping it up-to-date helps ensure that your wishes can be respected and your property and assets benefit people and causes you really care about. We would always recommend that you speak to a qualified professional such as a solicitor, when making or amending your will.

Your solicitor will be able to advise you on the required wording to carry out your wishes. If you wish to leave a gift to Age UK West Sussex, Brighton & Hove in your will, all you need is our charity details below:

Please make sure you specify Age UK West Sussex, Brighton & Hove,The Laburnum Centre, Lyon Street, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO21 1UX.

and our registered charity number 1086323 if you wish your legacy to benefit older people in West Sussex, Brighton & Hove.

If you already have a will and you want to include a gift to Age UK West Sussex, Brighton and Hove in it, there may not be need to rewrite it. You can ask a qualified professional such as a solicitor to add an amendment (called a codicil). As a general rule, if the change you wish to make is quite small or simple, you can use a codicil, and if the change is more significant or complex you should make a new will.

Alternatively you can simply write a letter (no solicitor required) that acts as an expression of your wishes. You can then update this at any time yourself.

You can leave a specific sum of money or an item such as jewellery, property or a piece of art. Or you can leave a share in, or all of, what's left of the value of your estate after family and friends have been taken care of.

The advantage of leaving a share (also known as residuary gift) is that it remains the same over time, and you won't need to change your will to keep up with inflation. The easiest way to do that is to leave say 1% of your estate to charity. If yours is likely to be a large estate and incur Inheritance Tax it may be worth considering leaving 10% of your estate to charity as your other beneficiaries will then incur a lower inheritance tax rate.

• A RESIDUARY GIFT is a share of your estate after taxes and debts have been paid.
• A PECUNIARY GIFT is a fixed sum of money.
• A SPECIFIC GIFT is a specific possession such as property, art or stocks and shares.