Racehorse Rescue Centre • A lasting legacy

Bursaries, Legacies & Wills

A gift in your Will can help protect rescued racehorses for years to come, while bursaries can open valuable opportunities for learning and experience.

Legacies and Wills: Leave a Lasting Gift

After making provision for the people and animals you love, you may wish to remember the Racehorse Rescue Centre in your Will.

For example, legacies and Wills can give vulnerable former racehorses safety, rehabilitation and a secure future. In addition, a gift of any size can help provide food, shelter, veterinary treatment and patient retraining for horses whose racing days are over.

Ways to leave a charitable gift

First, you can ask a solicitor or qualified Will-writing professional about the option that best reflects your wishes. For example, common forms of charitable gift include:

A pecuniary gift: a fixed sum of money.
A specific gift: a named item or possession.
A residuary gift: all or a percentage of what remains after the estate pays other gifts and costs.

How your legacy could help

As a volunteer-run registered charity, RRC uses donations to support its charitable work with rescued racehorses. As a result, your legacy could help us respond when a horse needs urgent care and plan responsibly for the long-term needs of horses in our care.

Therefore, if you decide to include RRC, please use our full name, Racehorse Rescue Centre, and registered charity number 1150864. However, you do not have to tell us about your decision, although we would be grateful for the opportunity to thank you if you choose to do so.

Inheritance Tax and gifts to charity

For example, GOV.UK explains that executors deduct charitable gifts from the estate before they calculate Inheritance Tax. In addition, if 10% or more of the relevant estate is left to charity, the estate may also qualify for a reduced Inheritance Tax rate. Read the official GOV.UK guidance on gifts in Wills.

However, this page provides general information only and is not legal or tax advice. Because rules and individual circumstances can change, so please speak to a solicitor or appropriately qualified adviser before making or changing your Will.

Overseas Wills and Legacies

If you live outside the United Kingdom, you may still be able to remember the Racehorse Rescue Centre in your Will or estate plan. However, succession, probate and tax rules vary between countries—and sometimes between states or provinces. Therefore, please ask a lawyer, notary or appropriately qualified adviser in your own country to prepare the gift.

United States

Supporters in America can ask an estate-planning attorney about including RRC in a Will, trust or other estate plan. Please give your adviser our full name, Racehorse Rescue Centre, registered charity number 1150864, and explain that RRC is registered in England and Wales.

Your attorney or tax adviser should confirm the most suitable wording and whether any United States federal or state tax treatment applies to your circumstances. RRC cannot promise or guarantee tax relief.

If your attorney, executor or personal representative needs to verify our charity details or discuss an intended gift, please contact the Racehorse Rescue Centre. We can provide information about the charity, but we cannot give legal or tax advice.

Other countries

Supporters in other countries should ask a locally qualified adviser how best to name a charity registered in England and Wales and whether any local tax relief or special wording applies. Please contact us if your adviser or executor needs our official charity information.

Practical next steps

First, make sure the needs of your loved ones come first.
Next, speak to a solicitor or qualified Will-writing professional.
Then, ask for Racehorse Rescue Centre, registered charity No. 1150864, clearly in the Will.
Finally, keep the final Will securely and tell your executors where they can find it.

Will-writing schemes

Will Aid and Free Wills Month may help eligible people make or update a simple Will through participating solicitors. However, availability, locations and eligibility can change, so please check each scheme’s official website.