What we collect, why we collect it, how we look after it and the rights you have over it.
Prime Wills & Estate Planning respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it and the rights you have in relation to your information.
Prime Wills & Estate Planning provides Will writing, Lasting Power of Attorney and estate-planning services to clients throughout England and Wales.
For data protection purposes, Prime Wills & Estate Planning Ltd (company number 14715291, registered in England and Wales) is the controller of the personal information described in this policy.
Our contact details are:
Prime Wills & Estate Planning Ltd
26–28 Molesey Road
Walton-on-Thames
Surrey
KT12 4RQ
Telephone: 01932 627982
Email: hello@prime-wills.co.uk
ICO registration number: ZB594714
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:
Your name, address, email address and telephone number.
Your date of birth, marital status and family circumstances.
Information about your children, beneficiaries, executors, trustees, guardians and attorneys.
Information about your property, savings, investments, pensions, business interests, insurance policies, liabilities and wider estate.
Information about your health, care needs or vulnerability where this is relevant to the services you have requested.
Details of your wishes and instructions for your Will, Lasting Power of Attorney, trust or estate plan.
Identity documents and information required for fraud prevention, legal compliance and verification purposes.
Records of telephone calls, meetings, correspondence and documents exchanged with us.
Payment and transaction information.
Information submitted through our website, Family Risk Review, contact forms, Life File, online Will service or appointment-booking system.
Technical information such as your IP address, browser, device and use of our website, where collected through cookies or similar technologies.
Marketing preferences and records of consent.
We may also receive information about you from another person, such as your spouse, partner, family member, financial adviser, mortgage adviser or another professional introducer.
Where you provide information about another person, you should make them aware that their information has been provided to us where it is appropriate to do so.
We may use your information to:
Respond to enquiries and contact requests.
Review your circumstances and identify the services that may be appropriate for you.
Provide quotations and explain your available options.
Take instructions and prepare Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, trusts and related documents.
Verify your identity, capacity, understanding and instructions where appropriate.
Communicate with you throughout the preparation and completion of your documents.
Arrange signing, registration and professional storage services where requested.
Provide annual reviews and contact you about changes that may affect your planning.
Provide your Life File and send review reminders where you have asked us to.
Process payments and maintain accounting records.
Keep records of the advice, information and services provided.
Meet our legal, regulatory, professional and insurance obligations.
Prevent fraud, misuse of our services and other unlawful activity.
Improve our website, systems and services.
Send relevant news, guidance or marketing communications where permitted.
Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for using your information.
Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on:
We use your information where it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement or to provide the services set out in our agreement with you.
We may use or retain information where this is necessary to comply with legal, tax, accounting, anti-fraud or other regulatory obligations.
We may use information where it is reasonably necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests do not override your rights.
These interests may include:
Operating and managing our business.
Responding to enquiries.
Maintaining accurate records of our work.
Protecting our business and clients from fraud or misuse.
Defending or responding to legal claims and complaints.
Reviewing and improving our services.
Keeping existing clients informed about annual reviews and relevant changes.
We may rely on your consent where you have actively agreed to a particular use of your information, including certain marketing communications or non-essential website cookies.
You may withdraw your consent at any time.
Some information about your health, vulnerability or personal circumstances may be classed as special category personal data.
Where we need to use this information, we will only do so where an additional lawful condition applies, such as your explicit consent, the establishment or defence of legal claims, or another condition permitted by law.
When you complete our Family Risk Review, contact form or another online questionnaire, we use your answers to:
Identify areas of potential risk.
Provide general information about your circumstances.
Suggest an appropriate level of service.
Contact you where you have asked us to do so.
Refer relevant protection needs back to your financial or mortgage adviser where you have requested or agreed to this.
The outcome of an online review is intended to provide general guidance. It does not replace a full personal review or constitute legal, financial or tax advice.
Where automated rules are used to display a suggested service or risk category, a member of our team may review the information before providing any personal recommendation or service.
If you purchase a Life File, we collect:
Your name, email address and payment details.
The information you choose to record, such as details of your accounts, pensions, investments, insurance policies, property, key contacts and where important documents are kept.
Information about other people you name, such as family members, executors and professional advisers.
Whether you have a Will or Lasting Powers of Attorney in place.
Your review date and whether you have asked for review reminders.
We use this information to provide your Life File and to allow you to update and download it. Our lawful basis is the performance of our contract with you. Review reminders are only sent if you opt in, and we rely on your consent for them. You can withdraw that consent at any time.
Your Life File should never contain passwords, PINs, security answers, private keys or recovery codes. It records what exists and where further information can be found.
Your Life File is provided through Zite, a platform operated by Fillout (Restly, Inc.) in the United States, which acts as our data processor. You sign in using a secure link sent to your registered email address. Your Life File document is generated on your own device when you download it. We do not email it to you, keep a copy of it or create a download link.
Our client records system receives only your contact and purchase details, your review date, your reminder preference and whether you have a Will or Lasting Powers of Attorney. It does not receive the detailed information in your Life File.
If you have only purchased a Life File from us, we will not use your details for general marketing or include you in our estate-planning annual review programme unless you ask us to.
We keep your Life File while your account and the Life File service remain available, so you can update and download it at no extra cost. You can ask us to delete it at any time by emailing hello@prime-wills.co.uk. If we ever withdraw the Life File service, we will give you reasonable notice so you can download a final copy before your information is deleted.
We do not sell your personal information.
Where necessary, we may share information with:
Software and technology providers that support our website, questionnaires, client records, document production, email, appointment booking and communications.
Professional Will-storage providers where you have requested storage.
The Office of the Public Guardian where you have instructed us to submit an LPA for registration.
Accountants, insurers, compliance advisers, legal advisers and other professional service providers with your consent.
Payment providers and banking organisations.
Financial advisers, mortgage advisers or professional introducers where you have asked us to work with them or where you have agreed to information being shared.
Other professionals involved in carrying out your instructions, with your knowledge or permission.
Law enforcement bodies, regulators, courts or public authorities where disclosure is required or permitted by law.
A purchaser, successor or adviser in connection with a potential sale, merger or restructuring of our business.
Some of the technology providers we use may store or process information outside the United Kingdom.
These include Fillout (Restly, Inc.), which operates our Life File platform, and Airtable, which we use for client records. Both store information in the United States.
Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate protections are in place. We rely on UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses issued by the Information Commissioner's Office. Our agreement with Fillout includes this Addendum.
Further information about the safeguards used by a particular provider is available on request.
We only keep personal information for as long as it is reasonably required for the purpose for which it was collected and to meet our legal, professional, regulatory, insurance and record-keeping obligations.
Our usual retention periods are:
Enquiries that do not proceed: 12 months
Client files and records of completed work: until 7 years after your death
Life File: while your account and the Life File service remain available, or until you ask us to delete it (see section 6).
Identification documents: 5 years after the client relationship ends
Financial and accounting records: normally at least six years after the end of the relevant financial year.
Marketing information: until you unsubscribe, withdraw consent or we determine that it is no longer appropriate to retain it.
Because Wills and estate-planning documents may remain relevant for many years, some client records may need to be retained for an extended period.
Information that is no longer required will be deleted, anonymised or securely destroyed.
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.
These measures include controlled access to systems, password protection, secure document-management processes, staff confidentiality and the use of reputable service providers.
No internet-based service can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You should avoid sending particularly sensitive information by unsecured email unless we have agreed that this is appropriate.
We may contact existing clients about annual reviews, updates to their planning or services that are relevant to the work we have completed for them.
If you have only purchased a Life File from us, we will not send you general marketing or include you in our estate-planning annual review programme unless you ask us to.
We will only send other electronic marketing communications where we have a lawful basis to do so.
You can ask us to stop sending marketing communications at any time by:
Using the unsubscribe link in an email.
Emailing hello@prime-wills.co.uk.
Calling 01932 627982.
Stopping marketing communications will not prevent us from contacting you about an existing instruction, annual review, legal obligation or another service-related matter.
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
Be informed about how your information is used.
Request access to the personal information we hold about you.
Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Ask us to delete your information.
Ask us to restrict how we use your information.
Object to certain uses of your information.
Withdraw consent where we rely on consent.
Receive certain information in a portable format.
Ask for human involvement where a decision with significant effects has been made solely through automated processing.
These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exceptions.
To exercise a right, contact us at hello@prime-wills.co.uk. We may need to verify your identity before dealing with your request.
Please contact us first if you have concerns about how we have used your personal information. We will try to resolve the matter promptly.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: ico.org.uk
Complaints about the professional services we provide are dealt with under the complaints procedure set out in our Terms of Engagement.
Our website may contain links to third-party websites and services.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of those websites. You should review the privacy information provided by the relevant third party before submitting personal information.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, systems or legal obligations.
The latest version will always be published on our website, together with the date it was last updated.
Questions about this Privacy Policy or the way we handle personal information should be sent to:
Email: hello@prime-wills.co.uk
Telephone: 01932 627982
Prime Wills & Estate Planning Ltd
26–28 Molesey Road
Walton-on-Thames
Surrey
KT12 4RQ