Your love for the great beauty and diversity of our forests can last beyond your lifetime. A bequest to Environment East Gippsland is a lasting contribution to the protection of our forests and will help ensure their spectacular biodiversity is inherited by friends, family and future generations.

You can easily do this by inserting a paragraph in your current will, or asking your lawyer to include this bequest when you update your current will.

If you die without a will your assets and money (estate) will be settled according to the laws of the State who will in turn retain some of your assets. If no relatives can be traced, it may mean that your entire Estate goes to the Government.

Why Environment East Gippsland Inc?

We are a fiercely passionate group working solely for forest protection. All money goes directly towards the fight for our forests. We have runs on the board and we are where it matters – on the front line. Environment East Gippsland has a great team of supporters who have an incredible pool of collective skills.

Environment East Gippsland is an Incorporated Association registered in Victoria and is eligible to receive tax deductible donations.

You can inform us that you have included us in your will or keep your wishes entirely to yourself.
We maintain complete bequest confidentiality.

If you want to consider including the forests as one of the recipient in your will, please read on.

You can either insert a clause in your will or write a signed and witnessed codicil. This is an additional page to be attached to your will. Either way – you can use the following words:

“I GIVE – the rest and residue of my estate (OR) [insert details of a specific gift] (OR) [insert percentage]% of my estate free from all debts (secured and unsecured) and all duties and taxes (whether federal or state) payable in respect of my estate to Environment East Gippsland Incorporated (ABN 308 655 684 17) (“EEG”) for its general purposes, and I DECLARE that the receipt of an authorised officer of EGG shall be a full and sufficient discharge of this bequest.”

Whether you are making a new will or updating an existing one we strongly recommend you run the change past a legal professional for advice. This will ensure your will is up to date with current legal requirements, doesn’t contradict your existing wishes and when time comes to implement it, all goes smoothly.

Things to remember when preparing your will

• Choose a willing, reliable person to oversee your will, called an ‘executor’.
• Provide for immediate family or dependants.
• Guardianship of children.
• Assets not included in your will. For many people there is more to the overall will planning process than writing a will. For example, some important assets (such as death benefits under a superannuation scheme or a home owned jointly with a spouse) are not included in your estate and therefore not dealt with in your will. To make sure all aspects of your estate and assets are dealt with according to your wishes, you should consider a Binding Death Nomination under your superannuation scheme.
• Ensure all your assets are considered when making your will by running the final copy past your legal adviser.
• If you gift of the value of property by selling it to then give a cash gift would usually attract capital gains tax. Property or shares gifted through a will to EEG however, would not attract capital gains tax for the estate or for EEG upon its sale.

A bequest does not have to be a large amount of money.

Bequests of all sizes make a difference to our work. There are many ways you can tailor a bequest to suit your circumstances. The most usual types are:

• Residual bequest. You can provide for your family and friends first and leave what is left (the residue) to EEG. As your estate increases in value, so does your bequest. A residual bequest helps offset the effect of inflation.
• Percentage or a nominated portion of estate. Your estate can be divided among a number of people and/or organisations. You won’t have to remake your will to compensate for inflation.
• Property. EEG can receive all forms of property including shares and can be the sole beneficiary of a life insurance policy.
• Trust. Establishing a trust in your will allows a spouse or nominated person to use your property and to receive all of the income derived from your estate during their lifetime. The capital can then be passed on to EEG.
• Cash sum. A specific cash sum is a common form of bequest but because it doesn’t allow for inflation, it needs to be reviewed regularly.

Things to remember

Keep your will safe – by leaving your original will with your solicitor or a trusted friend or family member. Let your executor know where your will is kept and also keep a confidential copy for yourself to review now and then.

Review your will regularly – your personal situation may change with marriage, retirement, births or deaths in the family so as your circumstances change you might need to review your will.

Read more about preparing a will from the Law Handbook Online here.