Gifting to Charities in your Will

From cooking up snags at Bunnings, to volunteering at Surf Life Saving, to giving your pocket change to your local footy club, almost all Australians are involved in the community by volunteering our time and money. These charities often become an integral part of our lives and our communities. It’s not surprising that many people choose to leave something to their charity of choice in their Will.

Under law, you are able to direct your executor to give a gift for a fixed amount or percentage of your estate to any person or organisation, including a charity. This gift can be for the charity’s general purpose or for a specific service that the charity provides for the community. For example, you can leave money to the local football club for its general purpose or for only purchasing new equipment.

However, the time between when you prepare your Will and when you die may be several years, and the circumstances of charity organisations you nominate may significantly change. They may change the type of organisation they are, including the type of charity they provide, or may stop operating all together. If a gift to a charity cannot be carried out precisely, your executor may have to apply that gift cy pres.

Cy pres allows for the executor or a Court to modify the terms of a gift to a charity to ensure that the original intent of the gift is still met, even if the original purpose as described in your Will is no longer possible or practical.

Zande Law has managed this very situation in a past matter – in her Will a client had gifted her residential property to a specific charity dedicated to housing adults with disabilities. At the time of her death, the charity, while still operational, was not engaging in any charity work in the community and was essentially an empty organisation. The executor made a successful application to the Court to have the property given to an active charity in the community that provided housing to adults with physical disabilities.

If you require advice for leaving gifts to charities in your Will please contact Zande Law to arrange for an appointment.

Bader Pendergast-Lee is a Solicitor at Zande Law, Suite 9, Norwinn Centre, 15 Discovery Drive, North Lakes, practicing in the areas of Wills, Estates and Family Law. If you need legal advice in relation to your Will or a deceased estate matter, we encourage you to make an enquiry with our office.

The information in this article is merely a guide and is not a full explanation of the law. This firm cannot take responsibility for any action readers take based on this information. When making decisions that could affect your legal rights, please contact us for professional advice.

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