Bequeathing a Collection in Your Will

The problem

Our clients wanted to make sure their treasured stamp collections would be kept together after their deaths.

The process

We worked with our clients to draft an update to their wills to set out their wishes for their stamp collections to be bequeathed to the Royal Philatelic Society. We also wrote Letters of Wishes regarding alternative homes for the collections should the Royal Philatelic Society be unable to accept them.

How this helped

Our clients were a husband and wife who shared a life-long interest in stamps. Between them they had built up two very extensive collections. None of their family members were particularly interested in stamps, and our clients were keen to ensure their collections would be kept together and cared for once they were no longer able to do so.

After a lot of research, our clients had decided the best future home for their collections would be the Royal Philatelic Society. This registered charity is the oldest stamp society in the world, so our clients felt confident their collections would be fully appreciated there.

Once this decision had been made, we added a clause to our clients’ wills to state that they were bequeathing their stamp collections to the Royal Philatelic Society. In these cases, there is always a chance that the charity in question might not be able to accept the collection. To account for this possibility, we also drafted a Letter of Wishes for each of the clients which set out alternative options for the future of their stamp collections.

These newly updated wills were completed and signed, which gave our clients the peace of mind to know that their treasured stamp collections would be used for the purposes of education after their deaths.