Mirror Will Terms

By accepting the terms of this assignment you are confirming that you are over the age of 18 and have mental capacity to understand and execute a Will.

PROVISION OF WILL SERVICES

The purpose of this document is to set out the basis on which we will be carrying out work for you. It also explains areas that will be our responsibility and areas that will be your responsibility. The document assumes your agreement to our standard terms of business, a copy of which is attached.

As this document forms a legal contract between you and us, it is important that you read it carefully. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like further explanation of any of the terms.

This contract for our services to you was agreed on receipt of payment.

You fall within the legal definition of a consumer, and the location where our contract was made or the communication method used in making our contract means that you have a right to cancel our contract within a set cancellation period under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. A written notice of your right to cancel and the set cancellation period can be found at www.ukprobate.org/right-to-cancel.

Because of the requirements of these regulations it is our policy to not commence any work for you until the set cancellation period has expired, or we have received from you your express written agreement for us to start early (see www.ukprobate.org/right-to-cancel).

In providing you with this document of engagement, our standard terms of business and the written notice of your right to cancel we have complied with the provisions of regulations 9 to 14 and 16 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations, as applicable.

We are bound by the ethical guidelines of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). We accept the instruction to act for you on the basis that we will act in accordance with those guidelines. Please refer to our terms of business for further information.

The firm’s authorised individual responsible for your Will services is Imogen CM Davidson who will be providing this service.

The purpose of this document is to explain to you what your rights and obligations are and what rights and obligations the Company have.

Documents shall mean any Wills, Lasting Power of Attorneys or other legal document produced as part of the services.

Provision of Will services

During the initial appointment your detailed instructions will be taken and limited advice given on matters relating to the Will services. Any queries or questions will be answered and a full explanation given on the contents and terminology used in the drafting of your Documents.

Legal requirements for making a valid Will

The Wills Act 1837 set out the requirements for making a Will in English Law. They include practical steps which are designed to prevent fraud and coercion. The added formalities make sure the person signing the Will is aware how important the document is.

The author of a Will is called the testator; sometimes they are called the testatrix if they are female.

In England and Wales anyone who is 18 or older may make a Will if they have the mental capacity to understand what they are doing, why and its consequences. In certain circumstances members of the armed forces or seamen may make Wills if they are under 18.

1 What you agree to do and be responsible for

1.1 You have agreed that you will:

Disclose all relevant facts and answers to all the questions asked to allow the Company to provide accurate advice and to produce an effective legal Document. The Company shall not accept liability in respect of information which was not disclosed, and therefore not documented by the person taking your instructions, and which comes to light at a later date as being of relevance and which may affect the validity or content of your Documents or advice given.

Be responsible for ensuring that, to the best of your knowledge and belief, any financial information you provide us with, is accurate and complete.

Read through the draft Documents provided, to confirm that they correctly reflect your wishes as to the distribution of your estate and that the names and addresses of the persons mentioned in your Documents are correct, adding any missing data not supplied at the time of taking your instructions.

Return the Documents together with any amendments to the Company as soon as possible. If you fail to return the Documents to the Company, the Company shall accept no liability for the draft Documents. The Company shall not be responsible for any delay due to your failure to comply with the above.

Notify the Company if you do not receive your draft Documents within two weeks of the first appointment, unless otherwise agreed.

Pay the fee due for the provision of Will services in full and in accordance with our terms of engagement.

Have the Will signed (attested) at home and arrange for two witnesses to be present at the same time for the valid execution of your Will.

2 What we agree to do and be responsible for

2.1 We have agreed to carry out the following services on your behalf:

The first meeting/conversation/email exchange will be to discuss your situation and your requirements and to obtain as much information as possible to enable us to draft your Documents.

The Company is obliged to give you best advice on matters relating to Will services. In some cases this may require additional products or services, provided at extra cost either by the Company or another company recommended by us. You are under no obligation to take up any product or service.

The Company may require you to sign a disclaimer if you instruct us to draft any product or service in a way that is contrary to our advice.

The Company will maintain the strictest confidentiality and not pass on your details to any other organisation without your express permission unless legally required to do so and shall comply with all legislation in force relating to data protection.

Any advice that is given by the Company is based on its understanding of law, practices and procedures at the date of this agreement. The Company is not responsible for any consequences arising from any future changes in law, practices or procedures.

The Company will not take responsibility for ensuring the validity of your Documents where the execution has not been supervised by an agent of the Company. The signing of your Documents must be carried out according to the law of England and Wales in order for your Documents to be valid. All Documents will be supplied to you with full written instructions of how these should be completed.

The Company does not accept any liability or obligation to advise you of any changes in legislation or taxation which may affect you either directly or indirectly and may necessitate a review of your Documents. Any Will should be reviewed every three years and on the occasion of any material change in your circumstances, such as divorce, marriage, the birth of children or the inheritance of a large sum of money etc.

The Company reserves the right to withdraw from any transaction if it is unable to complete any transaction in whole or in part but if it does so, it will write to you immediately and you will not be liable to pay any fees.

The Company will provide advice free of charge in matters relating to this transaction for its lifetime and will also offer after sale services on other products and services at a reasonable charge.

The Company is not providing financial advice or recommending any financially beneficial structure to your Will, we produce Wills based on your requirements.

Our normal office hours will be Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) 9am to 5pm. If however you need to urgently contact us out of these hours, we do ask that you preferable call the mobile number and leave a message on the answer phone and we will aim to return your call within 12 hours.

3 Communication

Due to the nature of the work, and dependent on the complexity of the estate and the requirements of the Will, it may vary how long the process takes to complete. In all cases you will be informed of what is going on and we will ensure you are updated on progress.

Timescales

Your completed documents will be available for checking withing 14 days from the date on which the Company has all the information that it requires to complete your documents.

If you are unable to provide all of the information that the Company requires to draft your documents within 28 days of this agreement then you will not be entitled to a refund of fees.

4 Fees

Our fees are agreed to be fixed at £150 inclusive of VAT. Payment is required in full when we take your Will instructions.

5 Other matters

Changes in the law

5.1 We will not accept responsibility if you act on advice previously given by us without first confirming with us that the advice is still valid in light of any change in the law or your circumstances.

5.2 We will accept no liability for losses arising from changes in the law or the interpretation thereof that occur after the date on which the advice is given.

5.3 Money Laundering

The firm is, in common with all accountancy and legal practices, required to

Maintain identification procedures for all new clients;
Maintain records of identification evidence;
Report, in accordance with the relevant legislation and regulations, to the Serious Organised Crime Agency

5.4 Professional Indemnity Insurance

In accordance with the disclosure requirements of the Provision of Services Regulations 2009, our Professional Indemnity insurer is Simply Business underwritten by HDI Global Specialty SE and Great Lakes Insurance SE, providing cover up to £1m. The territorial coverage is worldwide, excluding business conducted in the United States of America or Canada and excludes any action for a claim brought in any court of either of those two countries.

5.5 Governing Law and Jurisdiction

The Contract shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. The Courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning the Contract and any matter arising from it.

6 Agreement of terms

This engagement will start as outlined in the sections above.

This document supersedes any previous engagement document in respect of Will services. The terms set out in this document and our Standard Terms of Business shall take effect immediately upon your checking the box on our website www.ukprobate.org/wills and paying the agreed fee.

Once it has been agreed, this document and our Standard Terms of Business will remain effective until they are replaced.

Standard Terms of Business

These terms and conditions (the Terms and Conditions) apply to the services (the Services) which we will provide to you and which are set out in the attached document of engagement (the Document of Engagement). The Document of Engagement and Terms and Conditions form the basis of our business relationship with you and are referred to as the Contract. The Contract comprises the whole agreement between UK Probate Limited and you relating to the Services. The Contract replaces and overrides any previous communications, understandings, correspondence, proposal or presentation whether written or oral. By sending us instructions and or by asking us to start performing the Services, you are agreeing to accept these terms.
Definitions
1. For the avoidance of doubt, we and our refers to UK Probate Limited, a company registered in England (Number 10766254) whose registered office is 4-6 Bank Square, Wilmslow, SK9 1AN and you and your refers to the party or parties to whom the Document of Engagement is addressed.
General Matters
1. Amendment to the Terms and Conditions may only be made by a specific paragraph in the Document of Engagement referring to a numbered clause of the Terms and Conditions. In the event of a conflict between the Terms and Conditions and the Document of Engagement, the Document of Engagement will prevail.
2. Either party may initiate changes to the Services and such changes as may be agreed will be set out in a supplementary document to the Document of Engagement and will form part of the Contract.
3. The terms of the Contract which expressly or by implication are intended to survive its termination or expiry will survive and continue to bind all parties.
4. If any provision of this Contract should not be valid, in whole or in part, it will be deemed not to form part of the Contract and the enforceability of the remainder of the Contract will not be affected.
Regulatory Matters
1. Nothing in the Contract will prevent us from complying with any law or statute or the regulations of any relevant professional body to which we are associated.
2. In the course of our work, we may perform certain Services which are regulated by a regulatory authority. If the services are or become a regulated activity, we will communicate with you further, with a view to complying with the relevant regulations.
3. In the unlikely event that we cannot meet our liabilities to you, you may be able to seek a grant from ICAEW’s Probate Compensation Scheme. Generally, applications for a grant must be made to ICAEW within 12 months of the time you became aware, or reasonably ought to have become aware, of the loss. Further information about the scheme and the circumstances in which grants may be made is available on ICAEW’s website:www.icaew.com/probate.
4. Our director, Imogen CM Davidson FCA, is our sole practitioner accredited to provide probate services. In the event of Mrs Davidson’s incapacity or death her alternate is Amanda Duffy FCA of Robert Hayden & Co Chartered Accountants, 195 Bramhall Lane, Stockport, Cheshire, SK2 6JA, email:office@roberthayden.co.uk, telephone: 0161 483 7755. Mrs Duffy is not affiliated with our company and should not be contacted except where incapacity or death occurs.
Client Assistance
1. In order for us to achieve the standards of service set out in the Document of Engagement and, if appropriate, to represent your interests properly, we need your co‑operation. Please provide any information requested by us as soon as possible, otherwise we may not be able to progress the engagement.
2. You will use all reasonable skills, care and attention to ensure that all the information we require is provided on a timely basis and is accurate and complete. You also undertake to notify us immediately if you subsequently learn that the information provided to us is incorrect, inaccurate, or not capable of being relied upon.
3. You agree that the Services are not designed to and are not likely to reveal fraud or misrepresentation. Accordingly, we cannot accept responsibility for failing to detect fraud or misrepresentation by any party whatsoever.
Fees
1. Fee arrangements will be set out in the Document of Engagement. If the deceased’s estate has insufficient assets to pay the fee in full then you will be personally liable for any shortfall.

7Confidentiality

We and you agree that any confidential information received from the other will be used only for the purposes of providing or receiving the Services under this or any other contract between us. Except as provided below, neither party will disclose the other’s confidential information to any third party without the written consent of the other.
Notwithstanding the above clause, we will be entitled to disclose confidential information about you as follows:
1. in accordance with the terms of the document of engagement;
2. to our insurers or legal advisors; or
3. to any third party, to the extent that this is required by any court, governmental department or regulatory authority or where we have a legal duty to disclose.
In this latter case, we will endeavour to give you notice of the circumstances and the need to disclose certain information.
Clause 7.1 shall not apply to either of us in relation to information to the extent that we can show:
1. that the information was already, or has subsequently become, published or publicly available for use other than through a breach of this Contract or of any confidentiality obligation owed by the other party;
2. that the information was already lawfully in our possession (without restriction on its disclosure or use) before we obtained the information in connection with this Contract or the negotiations leading up to it;
3. that the information has subsequently lawfully been disclosed to us (without restriction on its disclosure or use) by a person who is not a party to this Contract and who itself lawfully obtained the information and is not under any obligation restricting its disclosure or use; or
4. from our records that we had derived the same information independently of that obtained by us in connection with this Contract or the negotiations leading up to it.
The disclosure of confidential information internally within UK Probate is approved for whatever purpose.

8Data Protection

We are registered under the Data Protection Act 2018 (the Act) and fully endorse and adhere to the principles of it. By your acceptance of the Contract, you agree to us maintaining personal data in accordance with the Act. In order to perform the Services, we will need to process personal data (such as contact details for you) for this and other related purposes (including updating client records, crime prevention, legal and regulatory compliance) and may need to disclose this information to third parties. All data supplied to us will be processed in accordance with the Act and we request that you comply with data protection legislation in relation to all personal data supplied by us.

9Quality of Work and Liability

We will use reasonable skill and care in the provision of the Services.
You agree that it is reasonable for UK Probate to limit its liability in connection with the provision of the Services, except as noted below.
The aggregate liability of UK Probate, its directors, agents and employees or any of them to pay damages for loss or damage, including consequential loss suffered by you, if a direct result of breach of contract, negligence, or any other tort by us in connection with the Services, will be limited to that proportion of your actual loss which was directly and solely caused by us.
Under no circumstances will we be liable to pay any damages to you for losses arising out of or in any way connected with your acts or omissions or those of anyone acting on your behalf.
We will only accept liability without limit for;
1. death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees acting in the course of their employment;
2. any fraudulent misrepresentations made by us, upon which you can be shown to have relied which predated the Document of Engagement; and
3. any other liability which by law we cannot exclude or limit.
Nothing in this clause shall in any way confer greater rights than either of us would otherwise have at law.
You agree that no legal proceedings arising from or relating to the Contract will be commenced against any of our directors, directors or employees personally. Should any legal proceedings arise from or in connection with the Contract, you agree these will be brought against UK Probate Limited.
You further agree that any claims, howsoever arising, must be formally commenced within two years after the party bringing the claim becomes aware of the facts which give rise to the claim. This expressly overrides any statutory provision which would otherwise apply.

Suspension
1. At any time during the term of the contract, either of us may give immediate notice suspending the Services in the event that;
  1. issues exist or arise which, materially and adversely affect one party’s ability to perform its duties and obligations under the Contract; or
  2. either of us becomes aware that the other has failed to disclose to it information which that party considers to be material to the performance of its duties and obligations under the Contract.
We may terminate the Contract at any time without notice for any of the reasons set out below and, in such circumstances, we shall not be required to give a reason for the termination other than referring to this clause:
1. if we know, suspect or have reasonable grounds to suspect that you are engaged in unlawful activity; or
2. if we become aware that a conflict of interest exists.
Either party may terminate the Contract on written notice with immediate effect if the other party commits a material breach of the terms of the Contract which is irredeemable or if redeemable, is not remedied within 30 days of a written request to remedy it.
Upon termination of the Contract, each of us will upon written request by the other return to the other all property and documentation of the other that is in its possession, except that we will be entitled to retain one copy of any documents which we require to maintain a professional record of our provision of the Services. Upon termination, you will pay forthwith upon request all fees and expenses due in respect of the services provided up to the date of termination together with our reasonable costs and expenses incurred in connection with the termination of the Contract.
For the avoidance of doubt, the date of termination will be the date upon which the Contract or any period of notice expires or the date upon which any party is deemed to have received a notice terminating the contract with immediate effect.
Termination of the Contract will be without prejudice to any accrued rights of all parties.
Electronic Communications
1. During the provision of the Services, the parties may communicate electronically with each other. All parties recognise that systems and procedures cannot guarantee that transmissions will be unaffected by outside influences. In connection with electronic communications, all parties:
  1. recognise that electronic communication cannot be guaranteed to be secure, virus free or unaffected by transmission;
  2. accept the risks of and authorise electronic communication between themselves;
  3. agree to use commercially reasonable virus checking procedures before sending information electronically;
  4. agree that each will be responsible for its own electronic communication systems, and;
  5. agree that no party will have a claim against any other party for any reason arising out of electronic communications in connection with the Services.
2. The exclusion of liability in the above clause will not apply to the extent that any liability arises out of acts, omissions or misrepresentations which are in any case criminal, dishonest or fraudulent on the part of either party’s respective directors, directors, agents or employees.
Ownership
1. We own the intellectual property rights in any systems, techniques, methodologies, ideas, concepts, information and know how developed during our performance of the Contract. We own the intellectual property rights in our working papers, reports and letters.
Force Majeure
1. In this Contract, Force Majeure means industrial disputes and any other circumstance beyond the reasonable control of the party affected by it and includes, in our case, telecommunications failure, power supply failure, computer breakdown, failure to meet delivery requirements and absence of staff due to illness or injury.
2. Neither of us will be liable for any failure to perform, or delay in performing, any of our obligations (other than payment and indemnity obligations) if and to the extent that the failure or delay is caused by Force Majeure and the time for performance of the obligation, the performance of which is affected by Force Majeure, shall be extended accordingly.
3. If the party claiming relief is prevented by the Force Majeure from wholly or substantially performing its obligations under this Contract for a continuous period of more than 28 days, the other party shall be entitled to terminate this Contract immediately by notice to the party claiming relief. Neither party shall be liable to the other because of such termination but you shall pay any of our invoices that are outstanding under this Contract and a reasonable sum (which shall include all reasonable expenses incurred) in respect of any work undertaken by us under this Contract prior to termination in respect of which we have not already issued an invoice to you.
Complaints
1. If you would like to talk to us about how we could improve our service to you, or if you are unhappy with the service you are receiving, please let us know by contacting the director, Imogen CM Davidson at 4-6 Bank Square, Wilmslow, SK9 1AN (telephone 0161 956 3622, fax 0161 956 3624). We will consider carefully any complaint you may make about our probate or estate administration work as soon as we receive it and do all we can to resolve it. We will acknowledge your letter within five business days of its receipt and endeavour to deal with it within eight weeks. If we do not deal with your complaint in this time, or if you are unhappy with our response, you may of course take up the matter with the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman’s ability to deal with your complaint is dependent on the following factors:
  1. you must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than:
    1. six years from the act/omission; or
    2. three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint; and
  2. you must refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the date of our written response.

Contact details for the Legal Ombudsman T: 0300 555 0333 E: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ

Money Laundering
1. In order to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and to satisfy our procedures for taking on new clients, you agree to provide evidence of your identity. Although we will be able to commence work before we receive this evidence, we require that you produce it within one week of our requesting it.
2. We are obliged under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to submit a report to the Serious Organised Crime Agency if we know, suspect or have reasonable grounds to suspect, that you are engaged in money laundering, drug trafficking or the provision of financial assistance to terrorism. We are not permitted to tell you that we have made a report. In this connection, we will be entitled to terminate the Contract without notice.
Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
1. Unless otherwise provided in the Document of Engagement, this Contract will be governed by and interpreted in accordance with English law.
2. If any dispute arises between us, we will attempt to resolve the dispute in good faith by negotiation. In the event that negotiation is unsuccessful, the parties agree to try to resolve matters through alternative dispute resolution procedures. If the dispute cannot be resolved through these means, all parties agree that the English courts will have exclusive jurisdiction in connection with the resolution of the dispute.