Information about writing a will, the new FREE will-writing service (and ideally leaving a legacy to us)
Message from Prof Scarlett McNally, MWF President:
Around half of UK adults do not have a will. Every adult should have a will – including medical students and busy doctors. If you die without a will, your things and money may not go to who you want and it causes additional distress to your friends and family and the ‘intestacy’ process is long, expensive and rigid. Conversely, friends and family may benefit from being able to focus on your clear wishes in the aftermath of your death. It is particularly important for women. For example, if you are neither married nor in a civil partnership your partner may get nothing. If you are married or in a civil partnership, your partner may get the bulk of your estate – even if you would prefer more of your estate to go to your child or children perhaps because your partner may in the future have more children or may make different spending decisions. Look up “intestacy” for more examples.
The Medical Women’s Federation has been very grateful to several very generous women doctors and other supporters in the past, who have kept our charity afloat by leaving money in their will.
Please ask your solicitor to write into your will:
“I leave to the Medical Women’s Federation, of Tavistock House North, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9HX, charity number 261820 the sum of £…” or “…% of my estate”.
Please also note that under current rules in the UK, if you leave 10% or more of your net estate to charity (either to one charity or divided between several so that the total is 10% or more) there is a lower rate of inheritance tax (IHT) of 36%, instead of 40% on your estate. Many people who have been hard-working and generous in their lifetime want to continue giving back after their death. You may wish to obtain your own legal advice.
MWF has teamed up with a FREE will-writing service. You do not need to leave any money to us (but please do!).
Write a free will today. This is legal and checked by a solicitor. The company freewills.co.uk does a free online will-writing service for 400 other charities. There is no cost to you or to MWF. They get money because sometimes users later ask them to arrange Power of Attorney or write Trust fund documents.
https://www.freewills.co.uk/charity/mwf
Tips:
- This service is very easy. I have just done it.
- If you are leaving money to charity, you can either leave a fixed amount (e.g. £10,000) or a percentage. The percentage option is later in the form (keeping clicking on through)
- Percentages can be written into the box and can be less than 1%, e.g. 5% or 0.5%.
- MWF is loaded up ready for you to click. For other charities, you need to know the charity number and contact address. You may find them here:
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/ - for England and Wales
https://www.oscr.org.uk/ - for Scotland
https://www.charitycommissionni.org.uk/ - for Northern Ireland
- You can edit your will afterwards. They will email you a final checked copy in a few days. You need to print this, and sign it in front of two adult witnesses who sign it, put their name, address and the date on it. There are boxes showing where to do this.
- It is very therapeutic to have done this. Please recommend this to your friends!
Thank you for your support for MWF!
(Information current at 13th October 2024, written by Professor Scarlett McNally, MWF President – I have used this free will-writing service and highly recommend it!)
