Your lawyer or other professional adviser will help you with the wording of your legacy gift. Below are examples.
A Specific Gift Amount
This is the wording to use when you are leaving a bequest of a specific cash amount. It is simple and straightforward:
Sample wording: “I give $________ to The Canadian Red Cross Society.
A Residuary Gift
The “residue” of your Estate is that which remains after the taxes, administrative and legal expenses are paid, and your heirs have received their specific gifts. The residue can be given in whole, or divided among beneficiaries.
Sample wording: “I bequeath the residue of my Estate (or xx% of the residue of my estate) to The Canadian Red Cross Society.”
A Contingent Gift
This is a provision which allows you to determine the recipient of your estate in the event that none of your named beneficiaries are alive at the time of your death.
Sample wording: “If none of the individuals I intend to benefit by this Will are alive or otherwise capable of benefitting, I leave the residue of my Estate to The Canadian Red Cross Society.”
If you wish to designate to a specific Red Cross branch or program, we recommend the following wording in order to keep flexibility should that program or location no longer be in existence at the time the bequest is realized:
“If through the passage of time, a designated Red Cross program or branch is no longer in place, I give permission to alter the terms of my will to adhere as closely as possible to my original wishes; or in the event that this is not possible, please direct my gift to the area of greatest need.”