We and the executors of an estate are required to hold personal data about you. The information contained in this Privacy Notice is to explain how and why your personal data will be used, and how long it will usually be retained for. It provides you with certain information that must be provided by us under the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (GDPR).

Data Protection Principles

We are required to comply with data protection law and principles, which means that your data will be:

• used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;
• collected only for the purposes explained in this document and not used in any way this is incompatible with those purposes;
• relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited to what is necessary to achieve those purposes;
• so far as possible, accurate and kept up to date;
• kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes we have told you about and in a manner that ensures appropriate security;
• appropriately secured against unauthorised/unlawful access or use and accidental loss, destruction or damage.

Why are we holding personal data about you and what will we do with it?

The executors are under a legal obligation to administer a deceased’s estate. This involves collecting their assets, paying debts and other liabilities, including tax, and distributing what is left to those who are entitled to receive them. Where the executors have instructed us to assist in their duties, we are under a similar obligation to collect this information.

We and the executors will only use the information we collect to satisfy that legal obligation.

What sort of data do we hold and where does it come from?

While administering an estate we will collect, hold and use the following categories of information about you:

• information provided by the deceased in correspondence and interviews which is set out in the will and recorded in attendance notes;
• information you provide during the administration;
• information from a bankruptcy search provider;
• information from register of births, deaths and marriages;
• information from a credit reference agency;
• information from a genealogist agency.

Sensitive personal information

We may collect, store and use sensitive personal information to help us comply with the wishes of the deceased in accordance with their will and to enable us to identify and protect your rights as a beneficiary. The same information is required even where no will is available.

What do we do with the information we collect about you?

We may use personal information about estate beneficiaries to:

• communicate with you;
• enable us to exercise our trustee/executor powers and duties and to advise the trustees/executors; and
• comply with legal, taxation or regulatory requirements.

Who will we share your data with?

We will only share your data with third parties where it is necessary to do so to properly administer the estate. We may share your personal information with:

• our service providers and third parties who
• provide services on our behalf;
• our employees who provide you with our services;
• credit referencing agencies;
• fraud prevention and law enforcement agencies;
• regulators, governments, courts, dispute resolution bodies, auditors.

We do this to:

• prevent fraud and other financial crimes;
• respond to enquiries and complaints;
• undertake transactional analysis;
• evaluate the effectiveness of marketing and for market research and training;
• support the provisions of service;
• comply with legal obligations, court orders, laws or regulations.

We do not permit them to use your personal data for their own purposes.

How long will you keep my personal data for?

We have to keep all the information relating to the administration for as long as there may be legal challenges to the way in which the estate was administered. After the expiry of that period we will securely destroy the data in accordance with statutory requirements.

Security of data

We have electronic password protection.

We limit access to your personal information to those agents, and third-party service providers who need it to assist in the administration of the estate. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Your rights

You have the following rights:

Changes to this statement

From time to time, we may amend this privacy statement to reflect changes in the law, guidance from the ICO, our experience of handling your information, or for other legitimate reasons. We will do this by posting the amended privacy statement on this website. We therefore suggest you check this statement from time to time to ensure you are aware of the latest version.

This policy was last reviewed on 08/09/2022

Contact

If you have any questions, please refer to the data protection team at Winn Solicitors, who will be pleased to help you. You can contact the team:

• by calling 0800 988 6288
• by email to DPTeam@winnsolicitors.com
• or in writing to: