The Wills and Probate department at Ridley & Hall is pleased to announce the outcome of another successful Free Wills Month, having raised approximately £73,200 of future income for the Free Wills Month charities in the October 2013 campaign. The scheme works by simple Wills being prepared free of charge to the clients in the hope that the clients will include either a cash gift or leave a share of their estate to one (or more, if desired) of the participating charities. The results were processed and recently published by the participating charities: RNLI, Guide Dogs, WWF, National Trust, BHF, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Arthritis Research UK, Blue Cross and Stroke Association, with fantastic results.

This was the department’s fifth consecutive year of participating in the Free Wills Month campaign and it has again proved to be more than worthwhile. The scheme proved so popular this time that the organisers had to end the programme a week early due to numbers of clients reaching saturation point for the solicitors taking part nationwide. Ridley & Hall’s PWills and Probate department, led by Jill Waddington, and assisted by Hilary Sisson and Helen Webster, were again pleased with the number of clients wanting to take part, and were humbled by the generosity shown.

The department has also just participated in the Calderdale and Kirklees Age UK Will Making Month. This is organised slightly differently, in that the Will is prepared free of charge by Jill, Helen or Hilary, and the client then makes a voluntary donation to Age UK in return. This took place throughout March 2014 and Ridley & Hall received over £500 in donations which was safely delivered to the Age UK team at their Huddersfield office.

These two distinct promotions have received overwhelming responses and Ridley & Hall hope to participate for many more to come (the paperwork has already arrived for October 2014!) In the meantime, Jill and her team would like to extend their thanks, and the appreciation of the charities, to the clients old and new who have made donations and legacies for these worthy causes during these drives.

For further advice on making a Will, please contact the Wills and Probate team on 01484 538421, or by e-mail.