Silverbridge
Will Cancer Research UK act as professional executors in an estate? If so, do you require the will to stipulate a minimum legacy to do so? What happens if, in the future, assets have to be disposed of to pay for care fees reducing the size of the legacy to below that minimum? Would CRUK still act? Is it just a risk you would take?
I assume that your trusted legal partners deal with the legal work. Do you have partners throughout the UK in major towns and cities?
Silverbridge
We would always suggest that it is better to appoint somebody who you know and who will know your wishes and your personal affairs. Having said that, we are happy to be named as executor in estates where we are also named as a residuary beneficiary. A ‘residuary beneficiary’ is someone who is left a share, percentage or sometimes all, of an estate after all the other payments have been made. As a charity we have to make this clarification because of the internal costs to us of the administration, we have to ensure that we are maximising the funds available for life-saving research.
We don’t stipulate any minimum gift to our charity, but we would not be able to act as executor if the estate was insolvent (ie unable to pay its debts), whether because of care fees payments or any other reason.