Three Scottish companies have posted amongst the best in the UK for raising funds during Will Aid
Scottish law firms have become record-breaking fundraisers for an annual will-writing campaign.
McClure Solicitors, which has branches in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverclyde; Rollos Law in Fife and Miller Hendry in Dundee, Perth and Crieff, raised a total of £47,634 between them for Will Aid 2018, a scheme which sees solicitors write wills for local people in exchange for a voluntary donation to charity.
The sum means the trio are among the top five fundraisers in the whole of the UK.
McClure Solicitors, which has taken part in Will Aid since 2002, is also the top donating firm in the UK for 2018 and raised an incredible total of £24,885 last year.
Andrew Roberston, managing director, said: “We are absolutely delighted with our efforts and thrilled that we are not the only Scottish firm to be making a difference.
“We have also been exceptionally proud of the fact that a number of people we have written wills for have also made provision for Will Aid charities in the wills they have drafted.”
This year McClure solicitors wrote 311 and of those, 21 pledged to leave money to the nine Will Aid charities – a total sum of £1,306,325.
When you add in the legacies pledged to other charities the total is £4,441,783.
Mr Robertson said: “Writing a will is a financial responsibility far too important to ignore and yet, according to Will Aid research 53.8% of Scots do not have this simple piece of paperwork.
“A will makes it a lot easier for your friends and family to sort out your assets after you’re gone. Without a will, the organising of your estate can take an emotional toll on your loved ones.”
Bob Inch from Rollos Law added: “There has been a surge of interest in will-writing in Scotland since the laws of succession - which govern who receives your assets when you die – were finally brought up to date in 2016 for the first time in 50 years.”
The new Succession (Scotland) Act 2016 which came into force on 4 March 2016 – was intended to accommodate societal changes which are linked to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and Cohabitant’s Rights in the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006.
The Scottish Government recently provided an important update on their intentions to make further changes to Scottish succession law.
This will include information on how an estate should be divided when the deceased did not leave a will, what protection from disinheritance is provided to spouses/civil partners and children; and the entitlement of someone cohabiting with but not married to the deceased.
Will Aid supports ActionAid, Age UK, British Red Cross, Christian Aid, NSPCC, Save the Children, Sightsavers, SCIAF (Scotland) and Trocaire (Northern Ireland).
