Mayo Wynne Baxter Solicitors of Bell Lane, Lewes, has been recognised by Cancer Research UK after facilitating over £2,000,000 worth of gifts from people choosing to leave a legacy to the charity in their will.
Fiona Dodd and the Private Client team at Mayo Wynee Baxter Lewes were presented with a gold certificate to acknowledge the firm’s ongoing support, and that of their partnered firms in Brighton, Eastbourne and Seaford. The firm have been offering the Free Will Service to people aged 55 and over in Lewes for the past 14 years, giving guidance and support for those wishing to write a will or update an existing one.
As part of the service, the team at Mayo Wynne Baxter give guidance for those wishing to leave a legacy gift for Cancer Research UK.
The charity receives no government funding for its research and relies heavily on the generosity of people leaving gifts in their wills. Over a third of its research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer is funded through supporters leaving a legacy to the charity.
A legacy gift can be anything someone wishes to leave in their will. Traditionally this is money but it could be anything that has a monitory value like an estate or specific item. Anything left to Cancer Research UK can be marked to be ring-fenced for research into a specific cancer type or research within a local area.
Clare Moore, Director of Legacies at Cancer Research UK, explained: “We all reach a stage at some point in our lives where we start to look ahead and consider what will happen to our financial affairs in the future, when we may no longer be around.
“At Cancer Research UK, we work with a number of local solicitors including Mayo Wynne Baxter in Lewes to offer local people aged 55 or over the chance to make an all-important first will or to update an existing one. The service has grown in popularity over the past couple of years and while it is provided free of any obligation, the vast majority of people choose to kindly leave a gift to the charity.
“By offering Cancer Research UK’s Free Will Service, the firm have become well informed about our work and are very supportive of our life-saving research. Whenever their clients express a desire to support us, Mayo Wynne Baxter staff act with great sensitivity as they explain the various options and allow individuals or families to make the right choice in their own good time."
Cancer survival in the UK has doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress. Every step taken by its doctors, nurses and scientists relies on donations from the public and the kindness of supporters who choose to leave a gift in their will.
The Free Will Service has been running successfully for over 20 years across a network of solicitors in the UK. Anyone who wishes to use the service is asked to consider leaving a legacy gift to Cancer Research UK but is under no obligation to do so.
For more information about leaving a legacy gift and Cancer Research UK’s free will service, visit www.cruk.org/freewillservice
Specifications apply for the free Will scheme;
- Open to people 55+
- This is based on a simple Will, if the Will is complex, the excess will be chargeable.
Call Mayo Wynne Baxter on 01273 477 071, to find out if you qualify and make an appointment.
For further information on Cancer Research UK, please contact Anaish Parmar - Legacy Partnership Manager (London & SE) anaish.parmar@cancer.org.uk or 07775 113 394.
About Cancer Research UK
- Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research.
- Cancer Research UK’s pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives.
- Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on vital donations from the public.
- Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last 40 years.
- Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK’s ambition is to accelerate progress so that by 2034, 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years.
- Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.
- Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.