Legacy protection services for charities

Legacy, will and estate disputes

029 2267 5500

Legacy protection services for charities

According to the Institute of Fundraising, UK charities received an estimated £3billion from legacies in 2018 with that figure set to rise by nearly £600m by 2024.¹

While that’s great news for charities, with it brings potential challenges including a greater need for investment and support, increased competition in the legacies sector and an inevitable rise in legacy disputes.

We understand how vital legacy income is for our charity clients and how important it is to protect, while also balancing risk, reputation and regulation.

As recognised leaders in the field, and with one of the largest teams in the UK, our specialist lawyers have over 50 years’ combined experience and a strong track record of achieving results for our clients.

We advise on:

Will and legacy disputes
Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 claims
Probate and estate disputes
Ex-gratia payments, cy-prés and other applications for schemes and compromises
High Court and Charity Commission applications
Funeral and burial disputes
Trust disputes
Property and asset claims
Proprietary estoppel, resulting and constructive trust claims
Will, trust and estate professional negligence claims
Cross-border estate and offshore trust disputes
Rectification and construction claims
Court of Protection disputes

If your charity is faced with a will, trust or estate dispute, we’re here to help protect your legacy.

¹According to research conducted by Legacy Foresight

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Key contact

Roman Kubiak TEP

Partner

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Roman leads the team that advises charities on legacy, will and estate disputes. He has experience of advising charity clients on contentious trust and probate matters including will disputes and claims for financial provision, construction claims and ex-gratia payment requests.

View team

Hugh James advises on construction of charitable legacy

We advised in relation to the construction and validity of specific gifts of properties in a will to a leading cancer charity with the condition that the properties were retained and not sold. The residuary beneficiary was another leading cancer charity.

We provide advice to the charities on whether or not the condition was valid given the general rule that a condition attached to a property which purports to restrict a donee’s right of “alienation” is void as “repugnant” to the gift.

We were delighted to be able to help the charities negotiate a compromise which avoided both High Court action or an application to the Charity Commission.

Unlocking a legacy - How we secured a legacy gift for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Podcasts

HJ Talks About Charities Podcast Series. The Charities team talk about topical issues and the latest developments affecting charitable and not-for-profit organisations.

Sleep-in shifts - charities facing £400m bill. This podcast discussing the landmark ruling in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake is essential listening for the third sector.

Legacy giving - 5 things charities should consider in 2020. Roman Kubiak and Vlad Macdonald-Munteanu look at 5 hot topics when it comes to legacy giving for charities.

Tory rule and the next 5 years – will the third sector be expected to plug the gap in social care that can't be met by local authorities and the government, where the funding isn't in place?

"He is very knowledgeable and dynamic, he has bags of energy and enthusiasm," says an interviewee. One lawyer says he is "very knowledgeable, refreshing to deal with, and very client-focused," and another describes him as "nice to deal with, and a clever lawyer. He does good work and is measured in his dealings."

Chambers and Partners UK

The 'kind of lawyer you would recommend to a true friend in need of help', team head Roman Kubiak 'leads by example' and excels at handling high-value cross-border probate disputes.

Legal 500