Leave a Legacy

Your Legacy

As a charity, we are heavily reliant on legacies and donations to help maintain and develop the Dorothy Clive Garden. Making a bequest does not need to be complicated but you can make certain that your Will ensures that your wishes are honoured. The two main ways to leave a gift to a charity are:

  • a pecuniary gift – where you leave a specific amount of money
  • a residuary gift – where you leave a percentage of your estate Residuary gifts have the benefit of being inflation proofed, being a percentage rather than a specific amount.

Your Will can be as general or specific as you would like. At one extreme you could leave a fixed sum to be spent by the charity as it requires in its day to day activities. At the other extreme you could leave a bequest specifically to complete a project or to finance work in a specific area of the garden that has been of significance to you of your family.

Whatever your wishes, do not hesitate to contact our Curator, Kathryn Robey on 01630 647237 to discuss your needs or to arrange a visit.

The Process

  1. Talk to a solicitor If you do not already have a Will you will need to speak to a solicitor to make sure your wishes are properly set down. Completing a Will also ensures that your affairs will be in order and your family and loved ones looked after. If you already have a Will a simple adjustment can be made by your solicitor to deal with a bequest to the garden.
  2. Decide how you want to deal with your estate This process is one you will go through with your solicitor and basically involves summarising your assets and liabilities and deciding to whom you wish to leave your net estate.
  3. Making a gift to us Once you have made provision for your loved ones you can decide how you would like to make a gift to the Dorothy Clive Garden. A pecuniary bequest would leave a specific amount of money to us, whereas a residuary bequest would leave a percentage of the residue of the estate to us.
  4. General or specific Most people leave a general bequest to us which enables the money to be used where necessary and the gift forms part of our general reserves. A specific gift is earmarked to be used as set out in your Will and the funds are separately identified as designated.
  5. Other options You may wish to leave the gift of a specific item, for example, a painting or artwork. You may also wish to leave funds to buy a life membership for someone important to you who enjoys the tranquillity of the garden. These options can be accommodated within your Will.
  6. Inheritance Tax (IHT) The threshold for Inheritance Tax is currently £325,000 after which tax is generally payable on an estate at 40%. Only legal spouses and charities can benefit without your estate being liable to IHT.
  7. Charity details Our details are as follows: Name of Registered Charity: Willoughbridge Garden Trust Charity Number: 522695 Address: The Dorothy Clive Garden, Willoughbridge, Nr. Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 4EU Telephone: 01630 64723. Bank details:National Westminster Bank Plc Sort code: 54 – 10 – 27 Account Number: 01123165

Leaving a gift to the charity in your Will can make an enormous difference to the Garden.

If you would like to discuss making a bequest please do not hesitate to contact our Curator Kathryn Robey or our Treasurer, Colin Barcroft on 01630 647237 to discuss the matter further or email marcus@dorothyclivegarden.co.uk.