If you are considering leaving a gift in your Will to Christ’s, first of all, thank you!
By leaving a gift to Christ’s, you will ensure that the College continues to develop and flourish as a thriving academic community for years to come, and all of us here are immensely grateful.
This page provides some practical information about how to write a Will and what sort of legacy options exist for you. If you have any questions that are not covered on this page, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Rene Russell at rtr22@christs.cam.ac.uk
The sooner the better! Whatever your age, writing a Will can give you peace of mind, knowing that you can decide where your estate will go, whether that is providing for your loved ones, or supporting causes close to your heart.
Yes! Wills are very flexible and allow you to provide for multiple beneficiaries. Once you have made sure that your loved ones are provided for, it is still possible to leave a gift to Christ’s. Many people choose to leave a small percentage of their total estate as a gift.
There are three main types of gifts that can be left in your Will:
- A residuary gift is a percentage of the estate after all other costs have been paid. Many people choose to leave a residuary gift because it does not lose its value over time.
- A pecuniary gift is a fixed amount of money. This type of gift can lose its value over time, but it is sometimes possible to link the value of the gift to the Retail Price Index to retain the gift’s value.
- A specific gift is an item, such as personal possessions, land, or shares.
Yes, you can express a wish that your legacy be directed towards a specific purpose. However, if this is the case, we ask that you get in touch with Alexandra Rowlands at aj269@christs.cam.ac.uk to discuss your wishes in confidence, and to make sure that we are able to use your gift as you intend.
Legacy gifts left for general purposes are particularly valuable for our purposes, as they allow us the flexibility to ascribe funds to the area of greatest need at any given time, whether that be supporting world-changing research, providing more in the way of student welfare, or protecting and enhancing the College’s physical environment.
Yes! Gifts left to UK registered charities are exempt from Inheritance Tax, so when you leave a legacy gift to Christ’s College (Registered Charity No.1137540), your overall Inheritance Tax liability is reduced. In the UK, Inheritance Tax is currently paid at a rate of 40% for estates worth more than £325,000, but if 10% of your estate is left to charity, the overall rate is reduced to 36%.
Yes – if you would like to amend your Will instead of rewriting it, you can use our codicil form to do so. A codicil still needs to be signed by two witnesses.
If you are a US taxpayer and are thinking of supporting Christ’s by leaving a legacy, you will be able to do so via Cambridge in America. For further information on how to leave your legacy to Christ’s from the US, please contact Cambridge in America:
1120 Avenue of the Americas, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10036. Email: plannedgiving@cantab.org
If you are living anywhere else that is not the UK or the US, please get in touch with Rene Russell at rtr22@christs.cam.ac.uk so that we discuss your best options for tax-efficient giving.
We do. The following wording is tried and tested!
I give to the Master, Fellows and Scholars of Christ’s College in the University of Cambridge (Registered Charity No.1137540)
[ ___% of the residue of my estate] / [the sum of £___ ]
free of tax as expendable endowment for the general purposes of the College.
[ It is my wish, without creating a binding obligation on the College, that my legacy gift be used in support of ___________. ]
I direct that the receipt of a proper officer of the College shall be a full and sufficient discharge to my Trustees.