National Free Wills Network

Everyone should have an up to date Will. A Will is the only way of ensuring that your wishes are carried out when you are gone and is a way of looking after your family, friends and the causes that you care most about. Having a valid Will in place will help avoid confusion and stress during what is already a difficult time.

No, you are under no obligation to leave a gift to the Scottish Wildlife Trust in your Will.

No, you have to use a participating solicitor. The Free Wills Network includes over 800 law firms, registered with the relevant Law Society. When registered onto the scheme you will be sent an information pack which will include details of local participating solicitors. You can then choose which of these solicitors to use.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust will pay a discounted rate to the solicitor for a simple individual or mirror Will. If the Will is not simple (as defined by the solicitor), you will be charged for any necessary additional work – the solicitor will confirm this directly with you.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust will cover the cost of a simple Will. If your Will is more complex, e.g. including tax advice, discretionary trusts or power of attorney, you will be responsible for paying any additional amount directly to the solicitor. When giving instructions to your solicitor you should check whether the cost of the Will is fully covered by the Free Wills Service. Around 95% of Wills written under the scheme are defined as simple.

The offer is available to members and supporters of the Trust. There are a limited number of Wills that can be covered each year; if we are unable to offer you a Will this financial year we can place you on a waiting list.

Yes, you can use the scheme to update your Will by adding a codicil or re-writing your Will to reflect your up-to-date circumstances. Your chosen solicitor will be able to guide you through the process for updating your Will.

The National Free Wills Network offers free will-writing services to supporters of charities that subscribe to the Network. All member charities have access to a national network of solicitors. There are currently over 800 law firms currently registered with the Network.

No, we do not receive a copy of your Will nor will we be informed of its contents. We will only be told of any gift to the Scottish Wildlife Trust if you explicitly consent to share such details with the National Free Wills Network.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust benefits most from gifts that are left with no restriction, allowing us to use the money where it is needed most when it becomes available. Nevertheless, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your wildlife interests, which will be taken into consideration alongside current conservation priorities at the time your gift is received.

We do, however, appreciate that some prefer to restrict how their gift should be used. If this is the case, we would recommend you contact us in the first instance to discuss how appropriate your restriction might be (given the timescales involved with gifts in Wills). In such instances, you might also consider including a reference in your Will on how you would prefer your gift to be used if we cannot comply with your original intentions. This will help ensure your wishes are honoured and that Scotland’s wildlife will benefit from your generosity as planned.

To ensure efficient administration of your Will, your solicitor will need the following information:
Registered Name: Scottish Wildlife Trust
Registered Office: Harbourside House, 110 Commercial Street, Edinburgh EH6 6NF
Charity number: SCO05792

– If approved for the scheme, the Scottish Wildlife Trust will pass your name and address to the National Free Wills Network in order for them to send you an information pack.
– Your solicitor will send your completed Confidential Declaration Form to the National Free Wills Network on completion of your Will.
– The National Free Wills Network will share this form with the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
– If you do chose to leave a gift in your Will to the Trust, you are under no obligation to disclose the value or type of gift but if you choose to do so we will keep this information private.