Thank you for taking the time to consider the important question of whether you might leave a lasting gift to the KAT Centre in your Will. We have created this page to provide you with more detail about the process, how it works and what simple changes are required to update your Will with a charitable legacy.

First decide the type of legacy you wish to leave. This can be a specific legacy, a pecuniary legacy or a residuary bequest.

• A specific legacy consists of a specific item of personal property
• A pecuniary legacy consists of a specified sum of money
• A residuary bequest is the residue of your estate, or a share of the residue, after your debts have been settled and any legacies you leave to other people have been paid.

All of these are extremely welcome contributions to our charity. At the same time, we know you want to have the highest impact. A residuary bequest generally benefits The KAT Centre most as its value increases in line with inflation. This also makes it much simpler to work out as it can be done on a percentage basis, or as the remainder left over after your other commitments have been made.

Adding to your existing Will

If you have already made your Will, a bequest to our charity can be added to it by a Codicil. This is an amendment to update your existing Will, meaning that in most cases a new one does not have to be written.

Tax and wording advice for your Will

We have provided examples of specimen words you may find useful if you wish to include a legacy or bequest to The KAT Centre in your Will.

Specific legacy

The suggested form of wording for a specific legacy is:

“I give and bequeath unto the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (UK) DT4 9QF (a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England & Wales no. 1137647) my [… description of the property you wish to give …] to be applied for its general charitable purposes and I declare that the receipt of the Chairperson or other proper officer for the time being of The KAT Centre shall be sufficient discharge to my Trustees.”

Pecuniary legacy

The suggested form of wording for a pecuniary legacy is:

“I give and bequeath unto the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (UK) DT4 9QF (a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England & Wales no. 1137647) the sum of £…………… to be applied for its general charitable purposes and I declare that the receipt of the Chairperson or other proper officer for the time being of the KAT Centre shall be sufficient discharge to my Trustees.”

Residuary bequest

A residuary bequest is generally of the greatest benefit to our charity as its value increases in line with inflation.

If you wish to leave all the residue of your estate to our charity, the suggested form of wording is:

“Subject to the payment of my funeral and testamentary expenses I give devise and bequeath the residue of my real and personal property of whatsoever nature and wheresoever situate of or to which I shall be entitled at the date of my death to my Trustees upon trust for the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (UK) DT4 9QF (a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England & Wales no. 1137647) absolutely to be applied for its general charitable purposes and I direct that the receipt of the Chairperson or other proper officer for the time being of the KAT Centre shall be sufficient discharge to my Trustees.”

If you wish to leave a share of the residue of your estate to our charity, your solicitor will explain how the bequest should be worded.

As a charity working directly in the field and needing to respond to needs as and when they occur, it is most helpful if bequests are made for the general charitable purposes of the charity as this means your gift can be spent where it is most needed at the time it is received. Of course, you may also, if you wish, specify that your bequest be used exclusively for a specific purpose. In that case, we will dutifully use your legacy according to your instructions.

Tax benefits

Leave a lasting legacy and benefit your estate at the same time.

There can be sound financial reasons why it makes sense to leave a legacy to the KAT Centre in your Will.

If you own your own house, this could well mean that the value of your estate will be above the Inheritance Tax threshold.

You may be able to considerably reduce the amount of tax your estate pays on your death – or even remove it altogether.

As a general rule:

• Gifts to registered charities are wholly exempt from Inheritance Tax
• If you leave all of your estate to charities, no Inheritance Tax will be paid from your estate at all
• If you choose to leave part of your estate to relatives and friends, you can reduce the Inheritance Tax payable by also making a bequest to a registered charity.

What’s more, the Budget in March 2011 gave a further incentive to charitable giving, by announcing that if you choose to leave 10% or more of your estate to charity, your estate will benefit from a cut in the actual rate of Inheritance Tax payable.

Specifically, anyone leaving 10% or more of their estate to charity will have their Inheritance Tax rate reduced from 40% to 36% from April 2012.

This really is great news for charities and a move which we hope will boost significantly the number of people who leave a lasting legacy to their favourite causes. Encouragingly, the Chancellor went on to say in his speech that ‘we want giving 10% to charity in legacies to become the norm’.

Thank you

Leaving a legacy really does make an enormous difference to the work that we are able to do, helping all the animals who need us to lead happy, healthy lives. It is no secret that KAT Centre works on a low budget – we are not a large multinational NGO with expensive offices and millions of dollars to spend. All that we do is here, on the ground, in Nepal – and you can significantly impact that work. On behalf of all the Nepali street animals whose lives you will help to transform with your support, thank you.