Leave a legacy

Make Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum a beneficiary of your will

A legacy gift to Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum benefits the museum and community of Woodhall Spa

Remembering Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum in your Will really is planning for the secure future of our work in the county, preserving and protecting the unique heritage of Woodhall Spa. We enjoy a great heritage - help us to ensure that it is passed on to future generations.

Why make a will?

It’s important to put your affairs in order so that the people you love are taken care of. If you don’t make a will, you can’t assume that your next-of-kin or other family members will benefit – it’s possible that any money you leave will simply go to the Government.

Reasons to support Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum

• Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum is a local organisation with deep roots in the community and a thorough understanding of local heritage issues and needs.
• We have considerable experience in working with community groups to involve local people with their heritage.
• We can increase the impact of your legacy gift by pooling it with other gifts and grants.

Legacy income will ensure that the Museum will be able to build long-term capital funds that will help to provide a secure and lasting future for Woodhall Spa's rich and unique heritage. So please consult a solicitor today – and help support your county’s heritage.

Make Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum a beneficiary of your will.

Where to start

Incorporating a gift to charity in a new Will, or adding a legacy to an existing one is much easier than you may think. It is very important that you use the services of a solicitor to make sure that the Will is legally correct and that the wording makes your intentions clear. You can include the gift when making a new Will or add it to an existing Will by adding a Codicil (a document that adds to or alters the terms of your Will).

Valuing your estate - types of gift

First you must decide what you want or can afford to give. You could consider giving a residuary gift, which gives a portion of what is left of the estate to Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum, once all expenses and specific gifts to family and friends have been taken out.

Or a pecuniary gift which is a specific amount of money left to the Museum.

Or you could give a reversionary legacy which is a gift which would only be passed to Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum following other circumstances, for instance, after the death of a surviving partner.

Making the decision will depend on your wishes and the kind of estate you are likely to leave. A professional can offer useful advice here.

Using the right words

If you are considering leaving a legacy to support our work, please accept our sincere thanks. It would help us enormously to know of your intention. The wording in your Will is very important. It will, for example, help us to know whether you want to leave us a specific amount of money or property, or whether you are leaving us the residuary amount of your estate.

Legacy guidance and Inheritance Tax

It is becoming more common to remember charities in this way, after the needs of family and friends have been taken care of. One particular consideration in doing so is that gifts left in a Will to a charity are exempt from the 40% tax and therefore the whole of this gift goes to the charity – and none gets paid in tax. Think of it as an investment for the future. Not making a will may be more costly to your family in the long run.