- 4 Jan 2019
- Firm News
- Wills, Trusts & Probate
Sills & Betteridge Solicitors have been thanked by Cancer Research UK after facilitating over £878,000 worth of gifts from people choosing to leave a legacy to the charity in their will.
Sills & Betteridge Solicitors were presented with a Silver Certificate to acknowledge the firm’s ongoing support. The firm have been offering the Free Will Service to people aged 55 and over (and those with cancer of any age) in Skegness for the past 3 years, giving guidance and support to those wishing to write a will or update an exisiting one.
As part of the service, Sills & Betteridge Solicitors also give guidance to those wishing to leave a legacy gift for Cancer Research UK.
The charity receives no government funding for its research and relies heavily on the generosity of people leaving gifts in their wills. Over a third of its research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer is funded through supporters leaving a legacy to the charity.
A legacy gift can be anything someone wishes to leave in their will. Traditionally this is money but it could be anything that has a monetary value like an estate or specific item. Anything left to Cancer Research UK can be ring-fenced for research into a specific cancer type or research within a local area.
Clare Moore, Director of Legacies at Cancer Research UK, explained: “We all reach a stage at some point in our lives where we start to look ahead and consider what will happen to our financial affairs in the future, when we may no longer be around.
"At Cancer Research UK, we work with a number of local solicitors including Sills & Betteridge in Skegness to offer local people aged 55 or over the chance to make an all-important first will or to update an existing one. The service has grown in popularity over the past couple of years and while it is provided free of any obligation, the vast majority of people choose to kindly leave a gift to the charity.
"By offering Cancer Research UK’s Free Will Service, Sills & Betteridge have become well informed about our work and are very supportive of our life-saving research. Whenever their clients express a desire to support us, Sills & Betteridge staff act with great sensitivity as they explain the various options and allow individuals or families to make the right choice in their own good time.
"It’s quite astonishing to think that by simply combining enthusiasm with the highest professional standards Sills & Betteridge Solicitors have helped secure over £878,000 worth of legacy gifts, which will go a long way towards helping our scientists, doctors and nurses to beat cancer sooner.”
James Proctor, Partner and Head of Wills, Trusts & Probate, Skegness explains their participation in the scheme: “The firm is a big supporter of Cancer Research UK and their Free Wills Service. We are delighted to learn that by conceding some of our fees, it has encouraged clients to leave a legacy and help to raise such a significant sum of money. I think it will surprise many readers who have left legacies in this way, how much their generosity will benefit the charity. Being a Silver Award winner means a lot to me and my team and we look forward to achieving the Gold Award in the next 12 months.”
Cancer survival in the UK has doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress. Every step taken by its doctors, nurses and scientists relies on donations from the public and the kindness of supporters who choose to leave a gift in their will.
The Free Will Service has been running successfully for over 20 years across a network of solicitors in the UK. Anyone who wishes to use the service is asked to consider leaving a legacy gift to Cancer Research UK but is under no obligation to do so.
For more information about leaving a legacy gift and Cancer Research UK’s free will service, visit www.cruk.org/freewillservice or call Sills & Betteridge LLP on 01754 610101.