How do charitable (legacy) gifts work in Canadian wills?

A legacy (or charitable) gift is any bequest in a will to a registered charity or qualified donee. Canadian tax law allows the estate to claim a donation credit in the year of death, with carry-back and carry-forward flexibility that can materially offset capital-gains tax arising from deemed-disposition rules. A charitable gift is often the single most tax-efficient clause in a high-value estate.

Legacy gifts may be structured three ways: a specific fixed sum, a gift of specific property (real estate, securities, an art work), or a percentage share of the residue. A percentage residue gift rises and falls with the estate's final size, keeping family members and charities proportionately whole; a fixed sum can become a disproportionate charge on a smaller-than-expected estate.

If a named charity has wound up, merged, or rebranded by the date of death, courts applying the cy-près doctrine will usually redirect the gift to a surviving organisation carrying out a substantially similar charitable purpose, provided the testator demonstrated a general charitable intent. To avoid the need for a court application, your will can name a successor organisation or delegate the choice of a comparable charity to the executor.