Our experienced reporting team read over 5,000 Wills per week in order to identify and report charitable bequests and ultimately notify organisations of these gifts.
Smee & Ford’s notification services provide:
We offer three different notification services;
Read on for more information on what is covered by each service.
If you have any questions about our legacy notification services, please contact the Smee & Ford team or fill out the form below.
Smee and Ford's notification service has become an indispensable part of our work. They always go the extra mile.
Macmillan Cancer Support
Our Named Legacy Reports let charities know if they have been named in a will within weeks of it passing through probate. The notification report contains all the details from the issued grant of probate including the name and address of both the legator and the executors, the gross and net estate values, full bequest information, any conditions relating to the will and details of other charitable beneficiaries. Notifications are accessed in the Legacy Analysis Portal where you can download a PDF copy.
Further to this if the legator is in England or Wales the charity will also receive a copy of the will and the grant of probate. This service is accessed through an annual fixed price subscription plus a small fee per charitable notification.
As part of the Named Legacy Service, your charity can opt in to receive failed notifications. These are issued when a notification cannot be sent because we know from the Grant of Probate that some or all of the will’s conditions have not yet been met, and therefore the charitable bequest(s) won't be executed.
There is no additional subscription fee; you are charged only for the notifications you receive.
Opting in provides earlier visibility of legacy intent while supporting sensitive and responsible stewardship. It helps you maintain accurate and up-to-date records, reduces the risk of inappropriate or unwanted communication, and ensures your charity is aware when it has been named in a Will. It’s an effective way to help strengthen your stewardship and protect your valuable supporter relationships.
The Charitable Trust service informs charities of any wills where charitable trusts (which have the facility to make grants to any charity) are disclosed. This enables subscribers to get early alerts of these newly set-up charitable trusts and this possible potential income.
The report includes detailed data on trust benefactors allowing charities to contact executors with their appeal. This service is accessed through an annual fixed price subscription plus a small fee per charitable notification.
Discretionary legacy service are produced from wills where the deceased has specifically asked the executor to distribute money to ANY charity at their discretion. These wills may include some restrictions or conditions i.e., they may state a geographical or causal area or none at all. Subscribers of this service can choose to receive all notifications of discretionary legacies or choose to only receive those gifts that are in their own geographical or causal areas.
These open-ended reports are speculative and allow you to approach executors with a targeted appeal but do not guarantee the charity will receive the legacy. Please note that for this service we only advise subscribers of details of the gift – no executor details are disclosed. If charities choose to pursue gifts they would need to purchase any wills and grants pertaining to the gift separately. This service is accessed through an annual subscription based on search result parameters – i.e. clients can choose causal areas, postcodes etc to refine their notification results.
