Leaving a Gift to a Church in Your Will

Should you leave a gift to a church in your will?

Yes if you want a lasting gift that is exempt from Inheritance Tax, and you can name the church’s registered charity number. Skip this page if you need a funeral or memorial first — those are separate conversations. This is not legal advice. Confirm figures on GOV.UK; we checked the Inheritance Tax pages on 13 August 2026.

Why leave a gift to your church?

Each year thousands of people in the UK leave a gift in their will to a church — funding mission and ministry, maintaining historic buildings, and supporting the community life that a parish gives to its neighbourhood. For many, it is a final act of thanksgiving and a way to help the church they love continue its work for generations to come.

Unlike a one-off donation, a legacy gift costs you nothing in your lifetime and can transform a church's ability to serve its community long into the future.

How does Inheritance Tax treat a gift to a church?

Gifts to UK-registered charities in a will are exempt from Inheritance Tax, however large they are. The standard rate on the taxable estate is 40%. If you leave at least 10% of the net estate to charity, the rate on the rest can fall to 36%. Source: How Inheritance Tax works and the reduced-rate calculator, GOV.UK, checked 13 August 2026.

Thresholds are set out in Inheritance Tax — thresholds, GOV.UK. The 10% test uses HMRC’s “baseline amount” — use the official calculator or a solicitor; we do not publish a worked example that might not match your estate.

How should you word the gift?

Charities share similar names, merge and occasionally close, so precision matters. Always use the church's full registered name and its registered charity number — both appear on the church's website and the Charity Commission register (OSCR in Scotland, CCNI in Northern Ireland).

• — A fixed cash gift. Simple and certain — but inflation erodes it, so review the figure every few years.
• — A percentage of the residue. Scales with your estate automatically and is often fairer between the church and family — 5% to a cause you love still leaves 95% with the people you love.
• — A specific item or property. You can also leave an item, shares or property to the church.
• — Name the receiving body. For Church of England churches, the proper receiving body is usually the Parochial Church Council (PCC). Your solicitor will confirm the correct wording, and can add a clause covering a successor body if the church merges or closes.

How do you write a will that includes a church?

A charitable gift needs nothing more exotic than a properly signed and witnessed will. There are three main routes:

• — Online will-writing. Services such as SwiftWill let you make a legally valid will online in about 15 minutes, charitable gifts included, for a one-off fee with free updates for life.
• — A solicitor. Recommended if your affairs are complex, you own property abroad, or a large charitable gift might leave dependants short (a spouse, child or dependant can otherwise claim under the 1975 Inheritance Act).
• — The Church of England's free will scheme. The C of E partners with an online will writer to offer a limited number of free wills to church members, with a prompt to consider a gift to your church.

If you already have a will, you can add a gift to your church with a short legal amendment called a codicil rather than rewriting the whole will.

A legacy is often the largest gift a person ever makes, so it is worth checking the charity first. You can verify any UK charity's record free on CharityCompare — see how to choose a charity to support.