Protecting legacy income: why specialist Legacy Protection lawyers are valuable assets for Higher Education
Across the UK, universities and Higher Education Institutions receive millions of pounds each year through legacies left to them in wills. These contributions often fund scholarships, research, capital projects, or specialist collections. For many institutions, they form a vital income steam and essential part of long-term financial planning.
While legacy income is valuable, it is also vulnerable. Ambiguous will wording, unreasonable executors, long delays, tax missteps and contested estates can all reduce the value of the intended gift. This is where specialist legacy protection lawyers play a crucial role and why universities could benefit from working with them far more closely.
What 'Legacy Protection' really means
When we talk about legacy 'protection', we are referring to the following five steps:
- Identifying the gift and managing the risk - At an early stage, universities and HEIs will need to take steps to identify the legacy income due to them and then manage and navigate the sensitivities of dealing with family members and considering reputational risk, including the risk of accepting potentially 'high-risk' legacies (e.g. a tenanted property).
- Maximising the value of the gift - Universities and HEIs, as exempt charities, should take reasonable steps to ensure that the executors have not unnecessarily reduced the value of their gift in any way (for example, by paying tax on the gift when tax should not have been paid).
- Honouring the donor’s intentions – Universities and HEIs may need to consider any conditional wording set out in the will, or any expression of wish set out in a letter of wishes, as the gift may need to be ring-fenced for a specific project or scholarship.
- Complying with charity law – Universities and HEIs need to manage legacy income in accordance with charity law, Charity Commission guidance and institutional governance. This ranges from internal processes and policies around handing legacy income, through to Charity Commission applications relating to Cy-près schemes and ex-gratia requests.
- Defending legal challenges – Universities and HEIs may need to take action to defend their entitlement and deal with issues surrounding the validity of wills, the intentions of the testator, claims for financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and contested Statutory Will applications.
How specialist Legacy Protection lawyers can support:
Whilst some of these steps can be handled internally, most of them require specialist legal expertise. Specialist legacy protection lawyers can assist with:
- Giving strategic and pragmatic early-stage advice in order to help avoid the cost and protraction of litigation
- Providing ongoing strategic support in respect of legacy management
- Defending contested high-value legacies
- Charity law compliance.
For universities and HEIs, there are three key benefits to instructing specialist lawyers to assist with legacy income:
- Maximising value – Legal advice often results in a higher value legacy because tax and costs are dealt with properly, delays are avoided and disputes are resolved before there is costly litigation.
- Reducing risk – Legal advice can help avoid inadvertent charity law breaches, help manage reputational risk and help avoid disputes.
- Building trust with donors – With the right support and advice, universities and HEIs can build a reputation for handling legacies with care which in turn encourages future gifting.
In short, specialist legacy protection lawyers can help universities secure more of what donors intended, while protecting institutional integrity and long-term donor relationships.
Get in touch
Our highly-rated and specialist Legacy Protection Team, led by Partner Leila Goodarzi, has a strong track record of supporting our university and HEI clients with the full spectrum of legacy work.