Hi there

I came across something today when I was speaking to one of our
supporters who wants to include us in his will. He told me that his
will had just been updated and at the moment he was leaving his
entire estate to another charity because one of their Legacy Advisers
had visited him and arranged it all for him. I asked if he had gone
through a solicitor and he said that this lady had done it all for
him through the charities head office in London. I didn't take this
too seriously at the time as he obviously had misunderstood the
process that the charity had gone through to update his will. But it
did ring alarm bells later as I got the feeling he really didn't seem
to know what had happened to his will and swore that a solicitor had
not been invovled. The charity in question is a large national one so
I would guess their procedures are entirely above board but I looked
at their website and read a "Case Study" of a couple who had gone to
the charity for help in writing their will as they saw them as being
able to provide impartial advice! Then it goes on to say that the
charity was made Executor of their will and that they left a legacy
to that charity to cover the costs of this. So I have a few questions

1 - Can a charity be an Executor of a Will?
2 - Can charities promote themselves as being impartial advisors to
people who need their will updating?
3 - Can charities encourage someone they are "advising" to leave them
a legacy to "cover the advisors costs"

I would really appreciate any guidance on this from someone with a
bit more experience than me!

Thanks