We recommend seeking legal advice when creating or updating your Will. Prepare as many details of your finances as possible before seeing your solicitor. It may also help to sit down with your family beforehand and decide how much you could realistically afford to give as a gift.

1. To write a Will, you will need to comply with your state’s laws for it to be legal and stand in court in case of contestation

2. It is important to mention that this Will is your Last Will and Testament, with your full name and address on it

3. First, you must identify your executor and beneficiaries. Both your signature and the witness’ signature should appear on the document, along with the date

4. To leave a gift to Greenpeace, you need to use our legal name “Greenpeace Australia Pacific Ltd (ABN 61 002 643 852)”

5. Then decide what type of gift you want to leave, and finish with: "I declare that the receipt of its Chief Executive, Treasurer or other authorised officer shall be sufficient discharge to my executors”

6. To be sure that your wishes are met, it is advisable to seek legal advice when preparing your Will

A codicil is a legal document that modifies or amends a previously executed Will. It may be identical to a Will or may act in replacement of one.

The process is simple enough. A codicil is an easy way to include a gift to Greenpeace without having to re-write your Will, but it is important to seek professional advice to ensure it is legally valid.

Absolutely! A residual gift is the perfect charitable bequest to ensure that your loved ones are cared for before you leave a gift to Greenpeace.

A residue is a gift of whatever is left in your Estate after you have taken care of your loved ones. It is the portion of the individual’s estate that remains after specific gifts and requests have been made, and all Estate claims have been satisfied.

With a Residual Gift, family and friends come first.

Every gift is meaningful. The value of the gift is not important, but the value of your legacy is. The sum of every little gift is sufficient to plan a new campaign. But more importantly, the gift is a part of your legacy; it illustrates your values and ideals.

Your gift will allow Greenpeace to plan for many successful campaigns and actions.

For example, supporters’ gifts helped us to bring the historic Rainbow Warrior III ship to Australian shores and the Pacific Islands this year in order to campaign against Woodside's dirty gas and document stories from the Pacific that will help argue the case for a legal framework toward climate justice!

The best type of gifts to leave in your Will are a residual gift and a percentage of your Estate.

Both gifts are unaffected by economic fluctuations, such as inflation. These are the most flexible ways to give since you don’t have to adjust the value of your gift to account for inflation or changes to your total assets.

However, a residual gift suits both family and charity needs: the residual gift will be received after taking care of the other beneficiaries. Then, this gift covers contingencies and removes risk. It is quite popular at the moment.

Greenpeace has partnered with Gathered Here to help make the process as simple as possible. Gathered Here’s free and easy online Will writing service is backed by a team of legal experts. It takes less than 10 minutes to write your Will and you can do so from the comfort of your own home. You’ll also have access to free updates for life.

Write your Will for free