Charities

Legacies

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Leaving a legacy

You rely on your legacy team to maintain a steady flow of vital funding into your organisation.

With a huge variety of challenges to address such as legacy disputes, property issues, administering estates or governance and regulation issues, insulating against complicating factors like unpredictable workloads or larger concerns like strategic and structural challenges is crucial.

Forming a partnership with trusted advisors who specialise in advising charities on legacy income can help mitigate against those challenges. With experts in place who work to understand your unique circumstances, you are able to gain a clear picture of what’s best for you and meet challenges that arise in an efficient and proactive manner.

Our services

Foot Anstey is deeply rooted in the charity sector. We have charities at the heart of our strategic approach and our team is widely regarded as a leader in its field. Here's some of our specialisms of how we can help:

Our team resolves disputes that arise from a legacy and could act as a barrier to the charity receiving its entitlement. This may involve will interpretation or construction issues as well as challenges to a wills validity. Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, executor removals and any dispute that may arise during, or after, the administration of an estate or trust.

Our charity probate team handles the administration of estates where charities are either named as the executor. or need to step into the role of personal representative in the absence of executors. The team is driven by three key priorities, i.e., (i) protecting charities – both in the legal and reputational sense – in their capacity as personal representative, (ii) accelerating charities’ legacy income wherever possible, and (iii) maximising the value of the charities’ inheritances through tax efficiency and other means.

Our specialist charity property team focus on maximising the value of property left as gifts in wills in all its many and varied forms whether residential, commercial or rural land and buildings. Our approach is not just to deliver technical legal advice but to provide pragmatic business solutions to enable our clients to be successful with their personal, team and business objectives. We currently manage over £127m worth of legacy income for our portfolio of legacy management clients.

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We think it’s important that we genuinely get to know our clients businesses – that’s how we deliver value that goes beyond just monetary

More about Commercial, Tech & Data

Dispute Resolution

Disputes are an inevitable part of any business, introducing unwanted risk and high stress. They also create a distraction that takes you away from what you do best and where you need to be.

Let us help your business get the results it needs.

More about Dispute Resolution

Real Estate

The world of real estate is changing fast. The way we construct, operate, invest in and use property has been transformed.

At Foot Anstey, we have the in-depth understanding to help you navigate this rapidly changing market.

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Why choose Foot Anstey?

We act for each of the top 10 legacy earning charities in the UK and regularly support the legacy teams of large national clients in times of need such as Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Save the Children and British Heart Foundation.

We operate as an extension of client legacy teams on a permanent outsourced basis, at many charities, including the National Trust, Dogs Trust, The Salvation Army and RSPB where we manage a significant proportion of their £multimillion legacy income stream.

Our service is full-time and year-round. We provide overflow support on a ‘dial-up dial-down’ basis to cover sickness, leave or unexpected rise in work volumes.

With our vast range of experience, we are uniquely placed to spot problems early on and propose solutions to manage difficult or complex cases. We don’t just deliver technical legal advice, but we balance a pragmatic and commercial view to achieve great outcomes.

Our ethos is to approach all our work in a reputationally sensitive manner and to identify opportunities to maximise the value of the legacy.

Our People

Looking beyond our sector capability, we are first and foremost legacy experts. We have built a well-respected team with a unique blend of legal and sector specialists. We care passionately about our charity clients, and it shows in our work and how we like to build and develop our relationships with them.

Meet our team

Key contacts

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What do our clients say?

“We have been working closely with the Legacy Administration Service at Foot Anstey for a number of years. They combine a highly professional approach and knowledge of the law with an acute awareness of the requisite sensitivity and sympathy required in dealing with each matter on behalf of a charity. We depend on the team to act swiftly and efficiently while bearing our best interests in mind.”

Head of Legacy Administration, RSPB

Our affiliations

Institute of Legacy Management

As a corporate partner of the ILM, we deliver training and development to legacy professionals as well as share insights and support the ILM with driving best practice. Our L&D team collaborated with the ILM to design and deliver a sector leading development programme called Leadership Accelerator. Our involvement and association has also allowed the Foot Anstey team to build strong relationships with other organisations (including Berrys (chartered surveyors) and Cluttons/Savills (property agents)).

Charity Law Association

Several members of our team are members of the CLA, which plays a leading role in improving knowledge and awareness of charity law matters. The organisation is committed to sharing knowledge and expertise for the benefit of the sector as a whole. It meets regularly to exchange ideas and information and responds regularly to consultations from Government and the regulators. Members of our team contributed to the recent consultation on the Charity Commission’s draft social media guidance for charities, which has since been published.

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