Privacy Policy

The privacy and security of your information is important to us. This policy explains who we are, the types of information we hold, how we use it, who we share it with and for how long we keep it. It also informs you of certain rights you have regarding your personal information under current data protection law and is based on guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can find out more about the ICO here: https://ico.org.uk/.

Data Controller/Processor

 Hamilton Legacy is an umbrella company, registered in England and Wales, encompassing Chambers LPAs Limited (Company Reg. No. 8822308; registered office: 10 Moor Chambers, 26 Front Street, Framwellgate Moor, Durham DH1 5EJ) and Hamilton Wills Limited (Company Reg. No. 491 7898, registered office: 4a Front Street, Sedgefield TS21 3AT). 

We are registered as Data Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office under numbers ZA373724 for Chambers LPAs Limited and Z1240731 for Hamilton Wills Limited in respect of the products and services we provide to you.

You can contact us for general data protection queries by email on:  office@hamiltonlegacy.co.uk or in writing to Hamilton Legacy, 10 Moor Chambers, 26 Front Street, Framwellgate Moor, Durham DH1 5EJ. Please advise us of as much detail as possible in order to help us comply with your request. 

The information we collect

 To enable us to provide you with the right product or service to meet your needs we will collect personal information which may include your name; telephone numbers; email address(es); postal address; occupation: date of birth: information relating to executors, trustees and benefactors; additional details such as your assets and family circumstances; other information provided, with your permission, by your financial or other professional adviser; and information collected by us from public sources such as the District Land Registry. 

We only collect and process sensitive personal data where it is critical for the delivery of a product or service and without which the product or service cannot be provided. We will therefore not seek your explicit consent to process this information as it is required by us to provide the product or service you have requested and it is legitimised by its criticality to the service provision. If you object to our use of this information, then we will be unable to offer you that product or service.

How we use your personal information

We will use your personal information to:

  • Assess and provide the products or services that you have requested
  • Communicate with you
  • Develop new products and services
  • Undertake statistical analysis.

We may also take the opportunity to:

  • Contact you about products that are closely related to those you already hold with us
  • Provide additional assistance, tips or legislative changes about these products or services
  • Notify you of important functionality changes to our website.

Where consent has been obtained, we may share your information with other GDPR-compliant third parties (for example, a financial adviser) when deemed appropriate and of benefit to you. If we provide information to a third party, we will require it and any of its agents and/or suppliers to take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Statement. 

Where consent has been obtained, we may also from time to time use your information to provide you with details of marketing or promotional opportunities and offers relating to other products and services from Hamilton Legacy. 

Where consent has been obtained, we may also contact your Executors and Guardians (should you require them) to ensure they understand their appointed role. Likewise, we will contact any Witnesses on request to discuss our services directly. 

We may also share your personal information with GDPR-compliant third parties when legally instructed to do so (for example, by a solicitor, a law enforcement body or a regulatory authority) or where we have a justifiable legitimate interest (such as for auditing purposes). 

We will not provide your personal information to third parties for any other purpose. 

To ensure the confidentiality and security of the information we hold, we may need to request personal information and ask security questions to satisfy ourselves that you are who you say you are.

Securing your personal information

All information you provide to us is stored securely in the Hamilton Legacy office at Framwellgate Moor, Durham and on our various computer systems. 

We follow strict security procedures in the storage and disclosure of your personal information, including storage in electronic and paper formats. 

Any new information you provide us may be used to update an existing record we hold for you.

Data retention

Due to the nature of our services and pursuant to Article 17(3) GDPR, if you complete a Will and/or other products using our service, we will securely store your data indefinitely. This is so that we may (a) provide further estate-planning assistance as required (b) provide supporting information if your Will or other document is ever questioned or contested and (c) protect against any potential legal claims. 

Where you provide us personal data but do not complete the process of creating your Will and/or other products, we will retain your data for a period of 12 months to ensure that we are able to assist you should you have any questions or feedback in relation to our services. 

Where we provide you with any of our services, we have legitimate legal reasons to keep you up to date with changes in legislation as well as additional services related to your estate planning. Therefore, we may contact you in the future in this regard. At this point or at any time pre or post this communication, if you tell us that you no longer wish to receive such communications, your personal information will be removed from our database. 

Summary of your rights under Data Protection laws

Right to be informed: You have the right to be informed regarding data that we hold on you, how we intend to treat it, who we will share it with and how long we intend to keep it. In the event of data breach, we shall inform you as soon as practicable if this affects you.

Right to object: You have the right to object to us processing your personal data.

Right of access: You have the right to receive confirmation as to whether your personal data is being processed by us, as well as various other information relating to our use of your personal data. You also have the right to access your personal data which we are processing.

Right to rectification: You have the right to require us to rectify any inaccurate personal data we hold about you. You also have the right to have incomplete personal data we hold about you completed, by providing a supplementary statement to us. 

Right to restriction:You have the right to restrict our processing of your personal data in certain instances.

Right to data portability:You have the right to receive your personal data in structured, standard machine readable format and the right to transmit such personal data to another controller.

Right to erasure: You have the right to require that we erase the personal data that we are processing for you on certain specific grounds. This is also known as the ‘the right to be forgotten’. You may make a request for erasure either verbally or in writing and we have one (1) month to respond to such a request. This right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, ICO, the supervisory authority for data protection issues in England and Wales. 

You can exercise such rights by contacting us at office@hamiltonlegacy.co.uk or by post to Hamilton Legacy, 10 Moor Chambers, 26 Front Street, Framwellgate Moor, Durham DH1 5EJ.

Use of ‘cookies’

Cookies are small data files that seek permission to be placed upon your computer by most websites that you visit. Some parts of the Hamilton Legacy website may use a cookie. The cookie captures no personally identifying information. The cookie can be used to provide certain features during your visit to the website. You can set your browser to warn you when a placement of a cookie is requested and decide to accept it or not. By rejecting a cookie some of the features available on the site may not function properly.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on the Hamilton Legacy website (www.hamiltonlegacy.co.uk/).

How to contact us

Questions regarding this Privacy Policy should be addressed to office@hamiltonlegacy.co.uk or by post to Hamilton Legacy, 10 Moor Chambers, 26 Front Street, Framwellgate Moor, Durham DH1 5EJ.