LEAVING A BEQUEST OR LEGACY TO FULWOOD METHODIST CHURCH

You may be considering leaving a gift in your Will to the Methodist Church - to support the Mission of the Church. If this is the case – this article provides some practical guidance on how to do this.

There are three ways you can leave a Gift to Fulwood Methodist Church through your Will:

Pecuniary Gift - This is a Gift for a specified set amount of money - payable immediately after your estate liabilities and expenses have been settled.
Residuary Gift - This is a Gift for a percentage of, or all of your estate that remains after all debts, liabilities and administration costs have been paid along with all pecuniary legacies.Unlike a pecuniary legacy, this type of Gift takes account of inflation and therefore the value of the Gift to the Methodist Church will remain constant over the course of time.
Specific Gift - This is a Gift of a specific item of value such as a piece of jewellery, art or a music collection.
If you decide you are going to leave a gift to the Methodist Church, you may do this:
unconditionally; with restrictions; or as a permanent endowment.
The most common and preferred option is an unconditional Gift which will enable the Church Council to decide exactly how the monies should be used by the Methodist Church.

How to leave an unconditional gift
An unconditional Gift can be left to the Methodist Church by using the following example wording in your Will.

"I GIVE to the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes of Central Buildings Oldham Street Manchester M1 1JQ (registered charity number 1136358) (hereinafter called "the Board") [the sum of £XXX] or [XX% share of my residue estate] free of all inheritance tax and other tax or duty leviable in any part of the world at my death to be held by the Board as custodian trustees upon the Model Trusts for the time being contained in the Methodist Church Act 1976 AND I DESIRE the said sum to be applied for the local purposes (as defined in the said Act) of the [xxxxxxxxxxx] Methodist Church".

The money left under the example above would then be held by the TMCP (Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes) on trust for the sole use of the Methodist Church which is named in the Will, at the direction of the Church Council.The Church Council can then request those monies at any time for our general purposes and for furthering the Mission of the Methodist Church.
The advantage of leaving an unconditional Gift is that by virtue of section 15 of the Methodist Church Act 1976, the Gift will not be lost to Methodism should Fulwood Methodist Church cease to exist at the time your Will comes into operation.

How to leave a restricted gift
If you would like to leave a Gift for a specific purpose (a restricted gift) then the following example wording can be adapted to provide details of your wishes.Your solicitor or legal adviser should however advise you as to the most appropriate form of wording:

'I GIVE the sum of £xxxx to the [NAME] Methodist Church on trust and I DIRECT that the said sum be applied for [xxxxxxxx] of the church'

You should bear in mind that if Fulwood Methodist Church closes by the time your Will comes into operation, any unrestricted gifts will revert to your residue estate.

How to Leave a Permanent Endowment
In this case, the Church cannot spend the money received – only the income generated from investing that money (i.e the interest).
This income can be restricted to use for a particular purpose or fund or left for the general purposes of the Methodist Church.Below are two common forms of wording, but again your solicitor or professional adviser will be able to assist you further:

'I GIVE to the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes (hereinafter called 'the Board') the sum of £xxxx free of duty for which the receipt of the secretary for the time being or other authorised officer shall be sufficient discharge and I DIRECT that the said sum of £xxxx shall be invested by the Board in any of the investments for the time being authorised by law for the investment of trust funds and that the income thereof shall be paid from time to time to the treasurer of the [NAME] Methodist Church to be applied for [xxxxx]'

Or

'I GIVE to the [NAME] Methodist Church a xxx% share of my residue estate and I DIRECT that the income shall be applied for the upkeep of the chapel'

What if I have already made a Will
If you already have a Will and you want to make a small amendment to it such as adding a beneficiary or vary the amount you have left to a person, you can do this by asking your legal adviser to draw up a Codicil to your Will.This must refer to your last Will and is effectively an addendum to it but it saves the time and expense of having a new Will drafted to take account of the minor changes you may want to make to your Will.

Advantages of Leaving a Gift to Fulwood Methodist Church
As a charity, the Methodist Church is subject to different tax regulations. There are certain charity tax concessions which the Methodist Church benefits from.Not only are Gifts to the Methodist Church exempt from Inheritance Tax, but if 10% or more of your net estate is left to charity, then this will reduce the Inheritance Tax liability on legacies that are left to non-charities which cannot claim charitable relief.
Further details can be found at the Government's website -
www.gov.uk/donating-to-charity/leaving-gifts-to-charity-in-your-will

If you have any queries in relation to leaving a legacy to the Methodist Church then please contact the TMCP – details are on their website at - www.TMCP.org.uk

Amanda Latham
(Church Finance Team)