Charitable giving made easy with Arken Professional

Legacy donations raise over £3 billion for charities in this country annually – a phenomenal sum.

And while 40% of the over 40s say they would be happy to leave a gift in their Will, currently it’s a minority of around 6% that do so. In other words, while legacy giving is rapidly growing, there is a far greater potential yet to be met.

Arken.legal, a specialist in software solutions for the private client sector, is committed to transforming the estate planning industry through advanced technology. As part of this mission, it ensures that users of its comprehensive Will-writing software – Arken Professional – keep charitable giving in mind when taking the testator through its intuitive questionnaire.

“As a solution provider for the industry, we have a part to play," says Arken.legal’s Head of Legal Content, Sam Warner. "We are continuously developing the features of Arken Professional to bring maximum efficiency and productivity to the Will-writing process, without sacrificing quality or complexity.

"As part of this commitment, making charitable giving as upfront as possible throughout the questionnaire ensures the testator is given the full set of options to consider, especially once they’ve taken care of their family and friends. It isn’t an afterthought – it’s part of the permanent structure of the system.”

Arken Professional ensures this via a number of user prompts and features:

• An option, every time: Whether gifts of money, specific property or residue, the system includes clear options to select charities throughout. Charities can be selected as the main beneficiaries or substitute beneficiaries and to receive the whole or a % share.
• Easy accessibility: The system includes a database of 300+ of the most popular charities with a search function by category and/or charity name, to easily access the information. On selection, the charity details (name, address and registered number) are populated into the questionnaire and Will document. Alternatively, the charity details can be typed into the questionnaire. Arken.legal is always happy to add further charities to the database if requested.
• 10% charity relief clause: Arken Professional offers two ways for a testator to reduce inheritance tax by giving 10% of the value of the estate to charity. The most general way is to include a general 10% clause, leaving it to the executors to work out when the time comes, or the 10% value can be estimated and gifts to that amount can be specified.
  
  The system also allows the testator to deduct any specified gifts they’ve left to charities, so they’re not leaving more than 10% of the estate in total. For example, if £5,000 was given to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Arken Professional includes the option to deduct that amount from the 10%, so they’re not giving more than 10% in total. Ensuring easy control of this may encourage testators to gift to charity more confidently.

“It’s so important these features exist,” adds Sam. “Arken Professional makes it really easy for Will drafters to access charity information and to include bequests to charities by making them an option for every gift.

"Making it easy to gift 10% of the estate to charity as an incentive to reduce inheritance tax is also a key feature to ensure charitable consideration. The testator benefits, as does their charity/charities of choice.”

Arken Professional is unique in its comprehensiveness around charitable giving. If you’d like to see these features in action, you can book a remote demonstration via the Arken.legal website – www.arken.legal – or alternatively please call 01732 867 792 or email info@arken.legal

As part of #RememberACharityWeek, Arken.legal is running a webinar on Wednesday 9^th September for Arken Professional users, which gives an overview of the ways in which you can reduce a testator’s liability to inheritance tax by gifting 10% of the estate to charity. Please email support@arken.legal to book your place.