Member Article

Jackson Lees' Clients Secure Vital Funds for Cancer Research UK

Clients from the law firm Jackson Lees, have been recognised by Cancer Research UK after choosing to leave over £811,000 worth of gifts in legacies to the charity in their wills.

The firm, which has recently relocated its West Kirby team to a new spacious office in Hoylake, has been offering the Free Will Service to people aged 55 and over on the Wirral and in Liverpool for the past 19 years, giving advice and support to those wishing to write a will or update an existing one. As part of the service, Jackson Lees gives guidance to those wishing to leave a legacy gift to the charity.

People using the Free Wills Service have chosen to leave significant funds to Cancer Research UK - helping to secure its future legacy and enable valuable research to continue.

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.

Sally Johnson, a solicitor specialising in Wills, Trusts & Probate, at Jackson Lees said: “The Free Wills Service is a very popular offering, which supports people to make provision for the future and create a legacy which will live on once they are gone. Our clients have shown incredible generosity in their support of Cancer Research UK, and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to support them in their desire to donate much-needed funds to this wonderful charity which does such important work.”

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 monetary 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 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 majority of people choose to kindly leave a gift to the charity.

“By offering Cancer Research UK’s Free Will Service the team at Jackson Lees has become well informed about our work and are very supportive of our life-saving research. Whenever their clients express a desire to support us, their team 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.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Henry Roberts .