Hospice St John’s annual Make a Will month, in April, will go ahead this year even though coronavirus is still significantly affecting the way we live our lives and focusing all of us on the way we think about our futures.
The hospice has been continuing, throughout the crisis, to provide its specialist care and support services, free of charge, to patients with life-limiting illnesses, alongside appropriate support for their loved ones too.
It costs more than £5million each year to run the hospice and this is only possible through the ongoing support of our whole Wirral community, individuals, businesses and other organisations, who continue to support the hospice in so many ways.
Make a Will Month
Each April, a host of Wirral solicitors’ partner with the hospice to offer people the chance to make a new Will, or revise their old one. The participating legal firms offer valuable time and waive their normal fees to ask people to make a kind donation to the hospice for their Will-writing services at a significant discount to the normal cost.
For a suggested donation of £90 for a single Will or £150 for a double Will, which goes directly to your local adult hospice, you can be safe in the knowledge that all of your assets will go exactly where you wish them to when you’re no longer around.
Appointments are available throughout April but fill up really quickly, so an early booking is strongly advised and we encourage supporters to contact the solicitors in March to make their booking and to quote Wirral Hospice St John’s Make a Will Month when booking a consultation. Because of potential coronavirus restrictions this year, most consultations may be held via a type of video call (Zoom, Teams, Skype or suchlike) or over the phone. When you make your booking, the solicitor you choose will send out an initial form for you to fill in so that the main issues you want to be addressed in your Will are covered.
Why Make A Will?
It’s natural for people to believe there’s plenty of time before they have to take this important step, but experience tells us that it’s never too early. If your Will is not officially drawn up then your assets may be subject to processes under the law which may have negative repercussions for loved ones for many years.
You may already have a Will in place but major changes can happen in life, including marriage, divorce, having children or even the death of a loved one, which can potentially invalidate some, or all, of a current Will.
Unmarried partners or those who have not registered a civil partnership cannot inherit from each other unless there is a Will in place. Homeowners and people with dependent children are especially encouraged to have an up-to-date Will.
Legacies
Legacies have become a significant part of hospice income and, although amounts greatly vary according to people’s circumstances, Wirral Hospice St John’s is extremely grateful when people choose to leave a gift of any size. Anything that is left to charity is not counted towards the total taxable value of your estate and if you leave at least 10% of your ‘net estate’ to a charity it can cut inheritance tax from 40% to 36% where that may be applicable.
There are different ways of leaving a gift in your Will;
Residual legacy: A gift of the remainder or share of your estate, after all other gifts are given and debts cleared
Pecuniary legacy: A gift of a fixed sum of money
Specific legacy: A gift of a particular named item such as jewellery, a painting, a car or such like
Please do note that if you further choose to leave something to the hospice, or any other charity, in your will it is totally for your discretion and completely confidential between you and your solicitor, there is absolutely no obligation to leave a gift in your Will to the hospice.
To find out more information please contact Julia Evans at Wirral Hospice St John’s in the following ways;
Call: 0151 343 0778 or Email: juliae@wirralhospice.org
Or, to see a list of the legal organisations offering the service this April, in partnership with the hospice, visit www.wirralhospice.org/makeawillmonth
