Charities and Your Will

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Christmas is seen as a time for giving so if you are thinking of making or updating an existing Will, have you considered leaving money to charity?

The Charity Commission has revealed that 35,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales who died in 2014 made donations in their Wills, benefiting more than 2,200 charities. Whilst this may seem like a large amount, more than 550,000 deaths were registered in England, Wales and Scotland in 2014. Working on these figures, it would therefore appear that roughly fewer than one in ten people leave money to charity when they die.

If you leave something to charity in your will, then it will not count towards the value of your estate. Furthermore, if you leave at least 10% of your net estate after any exemptions have been taken into account to charity, this cuts the rate of any Inheritance Tax you pay from 40% to 36%.

For more information, please contact our Private Client department for expert and friendly advice.

Christmas Card Cheque Presented To Addenbrookes Hospital

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Shoshana Goldhill Presents Cheque To Addenbrookes Charitable Trust

Shoshana Goldhill Presents Cheque To Addenbrookes Charitable Trust

Shoshana Goldhill, partner and head of the family department this week attended Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge and donated a cheque to Addenbrookes Charitable Trust (Breast Cancer) on behalf of all the partners. 

Each year the firm chooses to donate to local charities in lieu of sending corporate Christmas cards.  The donation was very well
received. 

Our other selected charities for Christmas 2015 are St Nicholas Hospice, Suffolk and Women’s Refuge, Cambridge.

Adams Harrison English Literature Award Presentation

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Jenny Carpenter was delighted to present the Adams Harrison Solicitors English Literature award on the evening of Tuesday 15thDecember at Samuel Ward School, Haverhill.  An evening packed full of talented students.

Hayley Ford Presents Cheque To St Nicholas Hospice in Haverhill

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Hayley Ford of our Wills and Probate team went along to St Nicholas Hospice in Haverhill on the 9th of December to present a cheque for £350.00 to Nick Duncan.

Adams Harrison do not send out Christmas Cards to clients or businesses and instead choose three different charities each year to benefit from the money that would have been spent.

This year the staff chose St Nicholas Hospice, Addenbrookes Charitable Trust (ACT) – Breast Cancer, and the Cambridge Women’s Refuge.

Adams Harrison Presents Cheque to St Nicholas Hospice in Haverhill

Hayley Ford presents cheque to Nick Duncan.

Criminal Court Charge Review

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Today the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Michael Gove has announced that the criminal court charge that was only imposed as recently as April this year will be abolished with effect from 24th December.  He stated:

“The courts take money from offenders in a number of ways, including fines, the victim surcharge, compensation orders, prosecution costs and the Criminal Courts Charge.

This array of penalties, fines and charges is complex and confusing. I have therefore asked my department to review the entire structure, and purpose, of court-ordered financial impositions for offenders, in order to bring greater simplicity and clarity to the system.”

He has requested a review of the system regarding financial penalties with the basic principle being that those who have broken the law should bear some of the costs of running the criminal courts.  He expressed concern that the Criminal Court Charge had not necessarily achieved this fairly.