Leaving a Legacy in Your Will

The Etches Collection, like all registered charities, depends on its supporters to ensure it can continue its mission in telling the amazing story of Kimmeridge with the fossils as a window into the past from which we can gain understanding of the future destiny of planet Earth. A gift of any size in your Will can help us build a legacy for future generations.

All charitable gifts are, in general, free from Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax – so the sum of your Legacy will reach The Etches Collection in full.

Your gift will help us to continue to tell our incredible story, invest in the conservation of our collection, create new exhibits and develop our educational programmes thus inspiring the next generation of Earth scientists and enthusiasts. If you want your gift to be put towards a specific area of the Museum, we will endeavour to make reasonable arrangements to enable this to happen.

You should use a legal professional to draw up a Will, as failing to do so could leave your wishes invalid. There are a number of ways to leave a Legacy: a gift of money (Pecuniary Legacy), share % of an estate (Residuary Legacy) or specific items of property or shares (Specific Legacy).

How to leave a legacy

If you already have a Will your wishes can be put into effect with a simple amendment known as a ‘codicil’.

For Pecuniary Legacies, the codicil would read:

“I give to The Kimmeridge Trust, Kimmeridge, Wareham, Dorset Registered Charity No 1106638 the sum of £____ to be used by the Museum at its discretion and the receipt of the Operations Manager for the time being of The Etches Collection - Museum of Jurassic Marine Life shall be a complete discharge of my Executors.”

For Residuary Legacies, were a gift of all of part of the net estate (what remains after all taxes, specific gifts and the costs of administration have been paid) the codicil would read:

“I give to The Kimmeridge Trust, Kimmeridge, Wareham, Dorset Registered Charity No 1106638 ___% of the residue of my estate to be used by the Museum at its discretion and the receipt of the Operations Manager for the time being of The Etches Collection - Museum of Jurassic Marine Life shall be a complete discharge of my Executors.”

Thank you

If you intend to leave The Etches Collection a gift in your will, please let us know by emailing info@theetchescollection.org or calling 01929 270000.