Leave a gift in your Will
Get our free Gift in Wills Guide
DownloadWrite your Will for free with RSBC
We have a simple way for you to make your Will for free with a local solicitor. RSBC have partnered with the National Free Wills Network who offer a local Will-writing service all year round – with RSBC paying a discounted rate on your behalf.
How to register for your Free Will
Let us know who you are and where you live in the UK.
We'll then pass this information onto our partners, the National Free Wills Network.
They'll be in touch with information on participating solicitors in your area.
You can make an appointment with whichever solicitor you choose from the list provided.
Register now for your free Will
Complete this form and we’ll pass your details on to our partners, the National Free Wills Network. They’ll be in touch with information on participating solicitors in your area, so that you can make an appointment with whichever solicitor you choose.
Free Will Registration Form
If you decide to take up our free Will offer, there’s no obligation to include a gift to RSBC. However, we hope that you will consider leaving a gift to us.
Every single legacy we receive is precious and can help make sure our work continues long into the future. Your decision to leave a gift in your Will today could change lives tomorrow.
Why leave a gift to RSBC?
We want to support every blind and partially sighted child and young person and their families. There are many more people out there right now who need our support. Every day, 4 more children will be diagnosed with sight loss. Some may never learn vital life skills or gain employment unless urgent support is provided.
This can’t continue. By remembering RSBC in your Will, you can provide life-changing support for more blind children for years to come. Your legacy will be their future. To read more about how legacy gifts have transformed lives and help fund our vital services, download our free Gifts in Wills guide.
How to leave a gift in your Will
If you believe in helping blind and partially sighted children achieve their potential, a gift in your Will is a wonderful way of making this happen.
The process of Will writing can sometimes be hard to understand, but that’s why we’re here to help. Here are the 5 steps to writing your Will and making the most important gift there is to give.
1. Work out the value of your estate
Create a list of the approximate values of everything you own. This should include any outstanding debts you have.
2. Decide your beneficiaries
Make a list of the people and organisations that you want to give to in your Will and plan how you’d like to divide your estate between them. We hope that after you have provided for your loved ones, you may also want to leave a percentage of your estate to RSBC.
3. Choose your executors
The people you appoint will be responsible for making sure that your wishes are fulfilled. Your executors could be family members, friends, a solicitor, or perhaps even your bank manager.
4. Visit a solicitor to have your will drawn up
Your will must be signed in the presence of two witnesses.
5. Keep your will in a safe place
You may wish to keep it in a safe place, or you could ask your solicitor to look after it for you. You could also store it with the Probate service for a one-off fee.
Types of gifts
Residuary gift
This is the remainder of your estate once all other gifts, bills, debts and taxes have been paid. This a popular type of gift because it not only takes care of others first, but it also remains proportional to the value of your estate by keeping pace with inflation.
Pecuniary gift
This is a fixed sum of money, such as £5,000. It is important to note that as the cost-of-living increases over time, the value of your pecuniary gift could decrease over time as well. For example, in 20 years, £5,000 will buy a lot less than it does today.
A specific gift or item
This is a gift of a specific named item of value, such as a painting, a piece of jewellery or a house.
Frequently Asked Questions
Any gift you can leave to RSBC will help make a difference. The most popular choice is a Residuary gift because it takes care of your family, bills, debts and any other specific payments first. A residuary gift also remains proportional to the value of your estate by keeping up with inflation. But any gift you can to leave to RSBC can help transform lives.
Yes. No matter how big or small, your gift will make an enormous difference to the lives of more blind and partially sighted children, young people and their families. Around a third of our support every year is only possible thanks to the kindness of people who include a gift to RSBC in their Will. Without legacy gifts, many of RSBC’s projects simply wouldn’t be able to continue. You can be certain that we will use your gift in the most impactful way possible.
Yes, you can request that your legacy gift goes to a specific area of RSBC’s work. The areas and projects that require the most support change over time, so we do recommend you specify that your gift can be used where the need is greatest. However, please do get in touch if you’d like to discuss this further via giftsinwills@rsbc.org.uk.
If you do not wish to completely alter your Will, but instead would like to make an amendment or perhaps add RSBC as a beneficiary, the way to do this is by preparing a document called a Codicil. You must sign a codicil and get it witnessed in the same way as witnessing a will. We recommend that you consult a solicitor to ensure that your Codicil is valid and that your wishes will be fulfilled. For major changes to your Will, you may want to write a new Will.
As well as our offer for you to write a new Will for free, you can also update an existing Will at no cost to yourself – all through the National Free Wills Network. Please get in touch for more information.
If you decided to leave your entire estate to charity, the gift would be completely free of Inheritance Tax. Even if you were to leave just 10% of your taxable estate, you could reduce your Inheritance Tax rate from 40% to 36%. Inheritance Tax can be complicated so we really recommend speaking to a qualified professional to advise you on planning your estate if you think you may be liable for tax. For more information on Inheritance Tax you can visit www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax.
