If you don't have any family members to leave your estate to, or you do have family members but you don't care to leave them anything (which happens way more often than you'd think!) then it's always nice to consider naming any charitable organizations or churches that have some personal meaning to you.
Unfortunately, I see many wills which have very simple language when it comes to charitable bequests. For example, and I'm not promoting donations to this particular organization, but let's look at the statement, "I leave my estate to the American Cancer Society." Brevity is wonderful, but in this case it can cause some problems.
First of all, the American Cancer Society (like most large charities) has a central headquarters and many regional offices. Did the person want the money to benefit the headquarters or her local regional office since it's closer to home?
Second, what did the person want the money to be used for once it arrives at ACS? In all likelihood, a simple statement like the one above will result in the charity using the money for its general purposes. This could include administrative things like purchasing paper clips. And if that's what the person wanted then that's fine, but maybe she wanted her money to be used for a higher purpose like research funding, establishing a scholarship or to support a particular fund-raising event, like ACS's Relay for Life.
The message is that some things should not be kept simple, like a charitable bequest in a will. Be specific and detailed to ensure that your true wishes are followed.





