Privacy Policy
Last Updated: 6 May 2026
At South West Wills and Estate Planning, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA).
Whether we are meeting in your home across Cornwall and Devon or connecting virtually nationwide, we handle your information with the same level of care and security.
1. Who We Are
South West Wills and Estate Planning is a provider of will writing and estate planning services specializing in Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA), and Estate Planning. For the purposes of data protection law, the Data Controller is Clare Monson, Owner.
Contact Details:
Website: www.southwestwills.co.uk
Email: clare@southwestwills.co.uk
Address: The Retreat, Helstone, Cornwall. PL32 9RL
Professional Membership: Full member of the Society of Will Writers.
2. The Data We Collect
To provide expert estate planning services, we may collect and process the following information:
Identity Data: Full names, dates of birth, marital status, and gender.
Contact Data: Home address, email address, and telephone numbers.
Financial Data: Information regarding your assets, bank accounts, property valuations, and potential inheritance tax liabilities.
Family Data: Details of your beneficiaries, executors, guardians, and attorneys (including their names and addresses).
Special Category Data: Information about your health or the health of your loved ones, which is necessary for drafting Health & Welfare LPAs or assessing testamentary capacity.
3. How We Collect Your Data
We collect data through:
Direct Interaction: Information you provide during home visits, telephone calls, or virtual appointments.
Website Forms: Information submitted via our online enquiry forms.
Third Parties: Information provided by your financial advisors or other professional intermediaries (only with your prior consent).
4. Legal Basis for Processing
Under the UK GDPR and DUAA 2025, we rely on the following legal bases:
Performance of a Contract: To draft your Will or LPA as requested.
Legitimate Interests: To maintain records for professional indemnity insurance and to provide you with updates regarding changes in inheritance law that may affect your estate.
Legal Obligation: To verify identity, prevent fraud, and comply with applicable legal and professional obligations.
Consent: Specifically for processing Special Category (health) data or for sending marketing communications.
In limited circumstances, we may process personal data where permitted by law for safeguarding, fraud prevention, legal compliance, or emergency situations.
5. How We Use Your Information
We use your data to:
Create legally valid Wills and LPAs tailored to your situation.
Provide estate planning guidance and information relating to inheritance planning.
Register LPAs with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).
Notify you of necessary reviews to your estate plan.
Meet our professional obligations to the Society of Will Writers.
Support service improvements, including analysis and learning from file trends and outcomes, where permitted by UK data protection law.
6. Data Sharing and Disclosure
We do not sell your data. We only share your information with:
Regulatory Bodies: Such as the Office of the Public Guardian or HM Land Registry.
Professional Bodies: The Society of Will Writers (for audit purposes under their Code of Practice).
Service Providers: Secure cloud storage providers and professional printing services used for document production.
Legal Requirements: If required by law or to protect our legal rights.
In limited circumstances, we may process personal data where permitted by law for safeguarding, fraud prevention, legal compliance, or emergency situations.
7. Data Security
We have implemented robust security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way.
All digital data is encrypted and stored on secure servers.
Physical documents are stored securely with restricted access.
Our staff (including the owner) adhere to strict confidentiality standards.
8. Data Retention
We retain your information for as long as is necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for. Client files may be retained for extended periods where appropriate due to the long-term nature of Wills, LPAs, estate planning matters, insurance requirements, or potential legal claims.
Enquiries: If you do not proceed with a service, we will delete your data after 12 months.
9. Your Rights (Updated under DUAA 2025)
Under the Data Use and Access Act 2025, you have the following rights:
Right of Access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you (a “Subject Access Request” / SAR).
Subject Access Requests (SARs) – clarification (“stop the clock”): If we need you to clarify your request (for example, what information you want or the time period), we may pause the 30-day response time while we seek clarification. The time limit will restart once we have what we reasonably need to action the request.
Identity Verification: We may ask for reasonable proof of identity (and, where relevant, proof of authority) before we process a data request. This is to protect you and prevent fraud.
Right to Rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to Erasure: You can ask us to delete your data where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it.
Right to Object: You can object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to Data Portability: You can request the transfer of your data to another service provider in a machine-readable format.
Automated Decision-Making: We do not use significant automated decision-making (including profiling) that produces legal or similarly significant effects without human involvement. If we did, you would have the right to human intervention, to express your point of view, and to contest the decision and request human review.
10. Cookie Policy (DUAA 2025 Simplified)
In line with the 2025 updates to UK data laws, our website uses cookies to improve user experience and analyze traffic.
Strictly Necessary Cookies: Required for the website to function.
Statistical (Analytics) and Functional Cookies: Under the updated DUAA rules, certain low-risk statistical and functional cookies may be used without explicit consent where permitted, provided we are transparent about their use and you are given clear information about how to manage cookies (including opting out where available).
You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings at any time.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law or our business practices. The latest version will always be available on our website.
12. How to Complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us directly at clare@southwestwills.co.uk. We aim to investigate and respond promptly.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk