MFI — Charitable giving · legal + tax (richer v4, mobile-first)
Springboard: 54-charities (pre-tax). Kept: verified-charity lookup + register number + Gift Aid + gift types (fixed / % / residue) + register-change alert + the live 10% test. Canon: David's £1,180,000 estate, 10% (£118,000) to the North West Railway Heritage Trust, £22,320 IHT at 36%. Added (TT-1936): the five corridor charities that write free wills, each with its own rules, and the no-obligation disclosure.

MyFamilyInherits

Charitable giving

Gifts to charity are free of Inheritance Tax — and leaving 10% can lower the rate on the rest

David Richards · David's estate: £1,180,000 · 12 items · Level 1

Estate value

£1,180,000

tax-free threshold £1,000,000

Gift to charity

£118,000

100% free of IHT

The 10% line

≈ £53,000

10% of the baseline (estate less nil-rate bands)

Estimated IHT

£22,320

at the 36% charity rate

Your gift of £118,000 to the North West Railway Heritage Trust meets the 10% line, so the taxable part of the estate is charged at 36%, not 40%. computed against INHERIT · E&W Tax · reviewed: Stable

Tax · the 10% test

You qualify for the reduced 36% charitable rate

Line met

Leave at least 10% of the estate’s “baseline” to charity — roughly what is left after the tax-free nil-rate bands, here about £530,000 — and the rest of the taxable estate is charged at 36% instead of 40%. Your £118,000 is about 22% of the baseline: well over the line.

0%10% lineyour gift ≈ 22%30%

With no charity gift

40%

IHT £72,000

With your gift

36%

IHT £22,320

Charity receives

£118,000

Tax saved

£49,680

Family’s share falls by

£68,320

This is guidance, not advice. Figures are estimates from your estate plan against the 2025/26 rules. The baseline is the estate after its nil-rate bands (£650,000 here) but before the residence band; the exact figure depends on how the will is drafted — a STEP-qualified adviser should confirm it.

Review with a tax adviser

Register check: we re-checked the North West Railway Heritage Trust on the Charity Commission register this morning — it is active, with no merger or name change since you added the gift. Nothing to do.

North West Railway Heritage Trust

✓ Verified on the Charity Commission register · no. 9001180 (demo)

£118,000 · 10% of the estate

Share of residue — 10% of the estate, £118,000 at today’s value

★ 100% IHT-free · meets the 10% line, so the rest is taxed at 36%

Gift Aid registered (a gift in a will is not Gift-Aided; the estate gets the full IHT relief instead)

Added 14 March 2026 · “For the volunteers who keep the old lines running”Edit →

Could giving a little more leave the family better off?

Only right at the 10% line. Here is the honest comparison for David — and where it stops being true.

Just under the line · £52,000

Charity receives£52,000

IHT at 40%£51,200

Family keeps£1,076,800

On the line · £53,000

Charity receives£53,000

IHT at 36%£45,720

Family keeps£1,081,280

Your gift today · £118,000

Charity receives£118,000

IHT at 36%£22,320

Family keeps£1,039,680

Where this is true, and where it isn’t: crossing the line, £1,000 more to charity leaves the family about £4,480 better off. Above it, extra giving comes mostly out of the family’s share — your £118,000 leaves the family £41,600 less than a gift on the line, while the charity receives £65,000 more. That is a choice about giving, not a tax saving, and we won’t present it as one.

Free wills

Charities that will pay for your will

Some local charities offer a standard will at £0 to you, whether or not you leave a gift. Each scheme lists every firm on its panel, nearest to you first, with no default firm. Each has its own rules, so we check yours against every one.

Cheshire Skies Air Ambulance

Cheshire-wide · online + phone · year-round · open to all

1 property or fewer
aged 18+
no business interests
no trusts
standard will £0

Weaver Valley Hospice Trust

In person, WA, CW & CH postcodes

any number of properties
aged 55+
single or mirror wills
not likely to pay IHT
standard will £0

St. Oswald’s Community Foundation (Chester)

Phone or in person · March & October only · CH postcodes only

up to 2 properties
single or mirror wills
no assets abroad
standard mirror wills £0

Mersey Paws Animal Rescue

Online only · year-round · open to all

single wills only
aged 50+
no trusts
standard will £0

Bridgewater Children’s Fund

Phone or video · year-round · open to all

1 property or fewer
naming a guardian is fine
no business interests
standard will £0

Example household: Peter and Janet Holloway, Northwich CW9. They chose Tatton Brook Solicitors (example) from the panel themselves. David and Margaret’s estate is not straightforward, so they take the paid route instead.

No obligation. A free will from a charity scheme never requires a gift to that charity, the charity does not see your will, and you can change it at any time. A regulated solicitor drafts every one.

How we are paid. The standard will is £0 to you, whether or not you leave the charity a gift. The charity pays TestateTech a fee for running the scheme. TestateTech takes no share of any firm’s fees on a charity will, including upgrades. Upgrades, such as a second home abroad or a trust, are the firm’s own fixed quote before any work starts, and you can decline them. The charity never sees your will. Wording to be checked by a solicitor.

Compare free and paid options

The free-will charities and every firm named here are fictitious, for illustration. MyFamilyInherits does not give legal or tax advice and never discourages charitable giving. You will never be charged automatically.

IHT figures are estimates computed from your estate against the open INHERIT standard’s England & Wales tax rules (status: Stable, named reviewer) — guidance, not tax advice or a formal valuation. Gifts to charity in a will are 100% free of Inheritance Tax; the 36% rate applies when at least 10% of the estate’s baseline (the estate after its nil-rate bands, before the residence band) goes to charity, and the exact baseline depends on how the will is drafted. Charities are checked on the Charity Commission register when added and re-checked from time to time. The North West Railway Heritage Trust, the free-will charities and every firm named here are fictitious, for illustration; register numbers marked “demo” are not real. MyFamilyInherits does not give legal or tax advice and never discourages charitable giving. You will never be charged automatically.

North West Railway Heritage Trust

✓ Verified · no. 9001180 (demo) · Gift Aid registered

Tax · the 10% test

This gift triggers the 36% charity rate

Line met

Your £118,000 gift is 10% of your £1,180,000 estate and about 22% of its baseline — well over the 10% line. The gift itself is free of IHT, and the rest of the taxable estate is charged at 36% instead of 40%.

Gift

£118,000

10% line

≈ £53,000

IHT at 36%

£22,320

Guidance, not advice. A STEP-qualified tax adviser should confirm the figure before you rely on it.

Gift type

Fixed sum

A set cash amount. It can slip under 10% if the estate grows.

% of estate

A percentage of the whole estate, before gifts and debts.

✓ Share of residue

Your choice: 10% of what’s left. It rises and falls with the estate, so it stays over the line.

What the Trust would receive

The gift

10% share of the residue£118,000

They’d receive£118,000

Tax on this gift

IHT charged£0

ReasonCharity exemption

Charity detail

Registered name: North West Railway Heritage Trust
Charity number: 9001180 (demo, E&W)
Register status: ✓ Active · re-checked today
Gift Aid: Registered with HMRC
Gift type: Share of residue (10%)
Why this cause: “For the volunteers who keep the old lines running”

If the Trust can’t accept the gift

If it has merged or closed by then, the gift passes to a charity with similar aims chosen by your executors — so the 36% rate is kept. We watch the register and will tell you about any change.

Find a registered charity · step 1 of 2

🔍 We match against the Charity Commission register — only registered charities qualify for the IHT exemption.

Weaver Valley Hospice Trust

✓ Verified · Active · no. 9002214 (demo) · Gift Aid registered

Choose →

Delamere Tax Partners

Not on the register — a tax firm, not a charity

ⓘ Similar names can belong to very different organisations — check the registration number so your gift reaches the one you mean.

Choose the gift · step 2 of 2 · Weaver Valley Hospice Trust

✓ Fixed sum

A set cash amount you choose.

% of estate

A percentage of the whole estate.

Share of residue

A share of what’s left at the end.

Tax preview

A £5,000 gift would be 100% free of IHT. With your 10% to the North West Railway Heritage Trust, charitable giving would total £123,000 — still over the 10% line, so the rate stays 36%.

Guidance, not advice. Above the line the rate is already 36%, so a further gift is mostly given, not saved — give what feels right, and let a STEP adviser confirm the numbers.

computed against INHERIT · E&W Tax · reviewed: Stable

Charities are checked on the Charity Commission register when added. Only gifts to registered charities qualify for the Inheritance Tax exemption and count towards the 10% line. Figures are estimates against the open INHERIT standard’s England & Wales tax rules (status: Stable) — guidance, not tax advice. All charities and firms shown are fictitious. MyFamilyInherits never discourages charitable giving and will never charge you automatically.

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Built on INHERIT v2

This demo is built on INHERIT v2 — an open standard for describing an estate. We show you honestly which parts of this screen the standard can hold today, which are planned, and which are still gaps.

Supported now3 entriesThe standard already has a place for this today.
Supported now · shared core0 entriesSupported by the part of the standard shared across our brands.
Planned2 entriesA change proposal covers this. Where we can check the standard’s own record, we show its status.
Gap — needs planning3 entriesOn the screen, but no change proposal covers it yet. These still need planning.
Not a standard concept0 entriesPage furniture, or something we decided the standard should not hold.

8 traced entries on this screen, from two overlapping traces

Each entry comes from either the screen’s feature list or the data the screen displays. The two traces overlap, so one feature can appear twice: these are entries, not a count of distinct features.

Gap — needs planningIHT on the gift itself
Status: ext.charity.iht_display
a calculated figure, but it declares no computed_by + from inputs, so nothing shows the standard holds what it is calculated from
traced from the data this screen displays
Gap — needs planningThe gift
Status: ext.charity.display
a calculated figure, but it declares no computed_by + from inputs, so nothing shows the standard holds what it is calculated from
traced from the data this screen displays
Gap — needs planningThe named charity
Status: ext.charity.name
a calculated figure, but it declares no computed_by + from inputs, so nothing shows the standard holds what it is calculated from
traced from the data this screen displays
PlannedThe reduced rate a 10% gift unlocks
ICP-0002 IHT 36% reduced charity rate (approved in the standard)
traced from the data this screen displays
PlannedVerified-charity lookup and merger-monitoring alerts
ICP-0027 Living-Monitoring change-event model (approved in the standard)
traced from the data this screen displays
Supported nowcharities.charitable-legacy
In the standard as: Probate · LegacyTypeScheme
a value list in the standard
traced from the screen’s feature list
Supported nowcharities.charity-organisation
In the standard as: People · Organisation
traced from the screen’s feature list
Supported nowcharities.free-will-schemes
Built in the engine as: @inheritkit/comparison · rankByFit
built in the InheritKit engine — a commercial module, not part of the open standard
traced from the screen’s feature list

The 29 change proposals this demo relies on

A change proposal (ICP) is a tracked request to extend the standard. These are the ones behind the “Planned” features across all 33 screens — and the few already adopted and built. Where the standard has a written proposal we show its status from the standard’s own record; where it does not, we say so rather than guess.

ICP-0001 · TT-657 — Port v1 consumer-estate surface into v2 (retracted in the standard)
ICP-0002 · TT-658 — IHT 36% reduced charity rate (approved in the standard)
ICP-0006 · TT-663 — Marketplace & dealer model (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0007 · TT-664 — Valuation lifecycle enrichment (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0008 · TT-665 — Delegation, stewardship & marketplace integrity (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0013 · TT-672 — Condition grading (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0014 · TT-673 — Collector records bundle (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0015 · TT-674 — Legal-assurance model (pending in the standard)
ICP-0016 · TT-681 — Professional engagement & marketplace data model (approved in the standard)
ICP-0019 · TT-684 — Executor / personal-representative appointment & powers model (pending in the standard)
ICP-0021 · TT-686 — Wishes, directives & plan-assessment primitives (pending in the standard)
ICP-0022 · TT-1029 — Post-death estate-administration & will-lifecycle domain (approved in the standard)
ICP-0024 · TT-1031 — Nomination / expression-of-wish — non-testamentary transfer route (approved in the standard)
ICP-0026 · TT-1033 — Free-text→structured multi-entity extraction (approved in the standard)
ICP-0027 · TT-1034 — Living-Monitoring change-event model (approved in the standard)
ICP-0028 · TT-1040 — Couple / mirror-vs-mutual wills modelling (approved in the standard)
ICP-0029 · TT-1954 — Insurance-cover model (approved in the standard)
ICP-0030 · TT-1069 — Catalogue item-import adapter (approved in the standard)
ICP-0033 · TT-1131 — Executor pre-death readiness facet (approved in the standard)
ICP-0034 · TT-1132 — E&W IHT spouse exemption (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0044 · TT-1143 — Steward/authority-grant remuneration facet + paid-helper undue-influence safeguard (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0046 · TT-1144 — Multi-opinion / consensus valuation shape (approved in the standard)
ICP-0047 · TT-1145 — Compute faith fixed-shares (approved in the standard)
ICP-0052 · TT-1292 — Funeral & farewell domain (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0054 · TT-1174 — Asset-side external-registry enrichment (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0055 · TT-1175 — Asset enrichment facets: maker/external-id (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0061 · TT-687 — Heir collaboration & asset-claim resolution (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0062 · TT-688 — Collections & asset disposition (tracked; no written proposal yet)
ICP-0070 · TT-969 — Steward / AuthorityBasis — who may act for whom, with what authority, scope and consent, and the legal-effect confirmation rule (tracked; no written proposal yet)

Checked against a pinned copy of the standard’s change-proposal register (73 proposals, standard at main@f63ca72e116d), and against the standard’s own record of what it has adopted (29 written proposals, 176 computed rules). Sample estate — demo data, no sign-up.