We understand that dealing with the death of a loved one, friend or client can be a long and sometimes difficult process. We’ll do our best to help you carry out the final wishes of the person who has died.
Contact the Team
If you’re the executor of an estate that includes a gift to Shaftesbury, please contact us by email at legacies@shaftesburygroup.org You can also write to us at the following address:
Legacy Team
Shaftesbury
Coburg House
1 Coburg Street
Gateshead
NE8 1NS
Please note enquiries via post will take longer to respond to. We therefore ask that, if possible, you contact us via email.
Predecessor Charities
Shaftesbury was created as a merger of three charities, The Shaftesbury Society, John Grooms and Prospects. Formerly known as Livability, we renamed as Shaftesbury in 2024.
Some wills may include gifts to our predecessor charities or to some of our specific services. If the name mentioned in the Will you have is not listed above, but you think Shaftesbury may be the intended beneficiary, please get in touch with us, and we will be able to advise.
Information needed and payments to Shaftesbury
Depending on the type of gift we may need further details. We may need to request that you send us a copy of the Will, as well as a schedule of assets and liabilities, at the beginning of the administration.
As a charity, we are carefully audited and regulated, so we ask for this information to help us maintain accurate records of the gifts we receive from estates. We are always incredibly grateful to benefit from such generous support.
If known, we would also be very interested to learn why we were remembered in someone’s Will. There is no obligation to share this, but hearing about a person’s motivation or connection to our work helps us better understand the legacy they wished to leave and the lasting impact their gift will have on the people we support.
If you need to make a payment to Shaftesbury as part of your role as the executor of someone’s Will, there are two main ways to do this.
1) Make a payment to our bank account
Our preference would be if you could make a payment directly to our bank account. Please contact us for our bank details, so we can provide you with a reference to ensure we can easily locate your payment and we have the information we need.
You can contact us by email at legacies@shaftesburygroup.org. If you contact us by email, please let us know the name and address of the person who has died and the type of gift they left to us.
2) Alternatively, you can send a cheque made payable to ‘Shaftsbury’ to:
Legacy Team
Shaftesbury
Coburg House
1 Coburg Street
Gateshead
NE8 1NS
Tax
Charities are exempt from Inheritance Tax. This means that gifts to Shaftesbury are ordinarily paid free of tax and are deducted from the estate before the tax is calculated.
Charities are also exempt from Capital Gains Tax, so if an asset is sold on our behalf, Capital Gains Tax can be saved.
For information about tax on gifts in Wills, go to the HMRC website (UK) or the Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Republic of Ireland).
Charity details for adding Shaftesbury into a Will
To leave a gift in your Will to Shaftesbury, you will need our name, address and registered charity number to reference when making your Will.
The details you require are:
Shaftesbury
Coburg House
1 Coburg Street
Gateshead
NE8 1NS
(Registered Charity Number 1116530)
Further Advice
If someone has asked you to be the executor of their estate, and you’re not sure what that will involve. We’d recommend reading Age UK’s guide on ‘How to be an executor’ here. It will help you know what to expect and outline key responsibilities.