Stanley Somers
Two wills, eight relatives, five charities, one dispute
Leeds GP Stanley Somers never married and had no children, but he had eight great-nephews and great-nieces, and he left a gift to each in a will he drafted in 2002. He also left gifts to five charities. His estate was worth about £800,000.
One of the five charities, KKL - JNF Charitable Trust, helped Somers write his will, which was drafted to be extremely tax efficient. The eight gifts to his relatives totalled - used up - his nil-rate band (£285,000 at the time). No tax on those gifts, obviously.
The residue (c.£500,000) went to the five charities. No tax there either.
However, three years later, Somers regretted that five charities were getting a bigger chunk than his eight relatives. In 2005 he made a new will, giving each of the five charities a specific amount - £10,000. In the earlier will, each would have received £100,000.
Somers died the next year.
Four of the five charities challenged the validity of the second will, and the relatives complained to the Charity Commission. More than a year later, the Commission decided to take no action against KKL, and the charities dropped their challenge. A costly court case was avoided and the 2005 will prevailed.
Charity Commission Statement
We have met with JNF Charitable Trust to discuss the charity's legacy fundraising practices, in particular its offer of free advice on wills by a charity employee in return for a bequest to the charity. We have also considered additional information the charity supplied on this issue.
In our Guidance 'Paying For Wills with Charity Funds', the Commission strongly advises that charity employees should never become involved in drafting an individual’s will. A charity employee’s involvement in drafting a will is likely to be viewed with suspicion and could well increase the risk of a legal challenge to a legacy left to the charity in the will.
We have discussed this guidance with the Charity and the trustees have explained their decision making to us:-
1. They believe the risks to the charity in providing the free will-writing service in its current form can be effectively managed and have strengthened their safeguards and internal procedures to help manage these risks. As a result the charity will ensure that its advertising clarifies these new arrangements.
2. On balance, the benefits to the charity outweigh any potential disadvantages.
In the light of our discussions with the charity’s trustees, and the information they have been able to provide, we do not propose to take any further action at this time.
