Bequests: Leave A Gift In Your Will

There are four types of gifts you can choose to leave in your Will:

1. Residual: the most common choice. This is what’s left in your estate after you’ve allocated amounts of money and specific items to your loved ones. It’s usually a small percentage of what’s leftover, but can make a huge impact to Kidney Health Australia.
2. Specific: a predetermined sum of money, a property, shares, or any other items of value that you nominate. It’s important to remember that inflation will affect any sum of money you choose to leave.
3. Percentage: involves leaving a percentage of the total amount of your entire estate, without having to identify specific items of value.
4. Trust: naming Kidney Health Australia as a beneficiary, so that we will receive ongoing support from your Will.

To include a gift to Kidney Health Australia in your Will, we recommended you use the Will Wording below. That way, your gift to Kidney Health Australia will be directed exactly as you had intended.

I give to The Australian Kidney Foundation ABN 37 008 464 426 (here state the money or assets to be gifted or the residual estate) for its charitable purposes but if this gift cannot take effect, to the charitable organisation in Australia which my Executors consider most nearly fulfils the objects I intend to benefit.

The receipt of the Chief Executive Officer or the President for the time being of the beneficiary named in or selected by my Executors under the preceding sub-clause shall be an absolute discharge to my executors.

If you already have a Will and would like to change it to include a Bequest to Kidney Health Australia, the easiest way to do this is to add a Codicil – a short legal amendment – to your Will.

This can be organised through your solicitor. You’ll need to call or email them, visit their office once to make the amendment, and then visit them again to finalise the amendment and sign the Codicil.

Free Will Writing Service

KHQ Lawyers in Victoria have kindly offered a free Will writing service to supporters who re considering leaving a gift in their Will to Kidney Health Australia. Get in touch with KHQ Lawyers directly to find out more.

What if I already have a Will?

If you already have a Will, the easiest way to make a gift to Kidney Health Australia is to add a Codicil – a short legal amendment – to your Will. This can be organised with a phone call or email to your solicitor, followed by a visit to their office, followed by a visit to their office to finalise the amendment and sign the Codicil.

Can I chose to direct my Bequest to a specific area of work, for instance kidney disease research?

Including a Bequest that supports Kidney Health Australia’s work provides us with the greatest flexibility to respond to critical priorities and meet the needs of the kidney community in the future. Alternatively, you may wish to direct your gift to a specific program or service, if so, you will need to make specific reference to this area of work in your Will. We will ensure that your wishes are fulfilled. However, should one of those services no longer be operating, we will use the gift in the area of greatest need at the time.

Do I need to have a solicitor write my Will?

Your Will is an important legal document and a solicitor or Trustee Company can help you ensure that your paperwork is in order, worded correctly, using our suggested Will wording and presented in the right way, to ensure that the gift is directed as per your wishes.

When do I need to consider updating my Will?

Whenever there is a significant change in your life, you should think about updating or revising your Will to reflect those changes. For example, you could plan to update your Will if you lose a spouse or partner, are married, divorced or re-marries, have children or grandchildren, retire,, move house or come into any money or inheritance.

Should I tell my family about my decision to leave a Bequest?

This is a personal decision for you to make, but we recommend letting your family know what you are planning to leave a Bequest to Kidney Health Australia. This ensures that your family support your decision and your final wishes are carried out in the way that you intended.

If you’re considering leaving a gift to Kidney Health Australia in your Will, please let us know. We appreciate knowing of your kind intentions so we can thank you appropriately for your generosity, share with you our work, and invite you to special events.