Peace of Mind Service Terms & Conditions of Business
Will Custodian Ltd
Last update 25th November 2021. Amendment in italics.
We will only accept your business on the basis that we are both bound by these Terms and Conditions. For the record, it is impossible to be certain that any website is entirely safe and ours is no exception, sadly!
Will Custodian Ltd does not itself provide advice. This is provided by the introducing firm, though we will appoint successors if they fail to do so. We reserve the right to pass information to the firm who may be providing advice for obvious reasons.
Please note that we will attempt to contact any client whose direct debit fails, but we reserve the right to return documents held to the last address we hold, and at the client’s own risk if they do not respond.
Definitions:
The Term, ‘the Company’, shall mean Will Custodian Ltd (which provides ancillary services but not legal advice in any form).
The Term, ‘the Client’ shall mean you (plural if appropriate); the term ‘you’ and ‘your’ shall mean ‘the Client.’
The Term, “Will” or “Wills” shall include any other documents we may prepare for you, including but not limited to Lasting and general Powers of Attorney, Medical Directives, Tenancy Change etc.
For the purposes herein, Will or Wills shall include any other document as is prepared in accordance with your instructions.
Procedures
a) If you join our Peace of Mind Service, send your documents to us for checking of signature and storage, together with the direct debit mandate (if not already returned).
b) For Peace of Mind Service members, we will then supply Storage Certificates for Executors etc, our Helpline Number and Newsletters and Checklists from time to time to keep you updated. You just call us if you have any queries, at no cost unless revised documents are required.
c) Our very modest fees are reviewed each year on 1st April, in line with inflation.
The Company undertakes to:
a). To provide you with access to advice on matters relating to the maintenance of your Will(s), Lasting Powers of Attorney and other documents as agreed from time to time. In some cases this may mean advice to draw up other documents, or take other action, which may incur further fees through the relevant associated legal advisers. In such cases full details of such charges will be given to you in advance and you are under no obligation to proceed with any ancillary services offered. However, in some circumstances you may be asked to sign a declaration stating that you are acting against the advice given.
b) Should you require your documents returned at any time, we require written instructions signed by the document owners, or in the case of executors the death certificate and instructions signed by all executors plus proof of identity. There is a fee for return unless for superseded documents which can be sent by second class post at your risk. Special Delivery is essential for valid documents, which necessitates a trip to the local Post Office.
c) To maintain the strictest confidentiality and not to pass on your name or details to any other organisation other than for advice purposes without your express written permission, with the exception of the legal planner or independent franchisee or introducer who may be involved in your overall financial and legal planning and therefore have a legitimate need for such information – you can of course request that we do not allow this. The Company is registered under the Data Protection Act 1984, and therefore all information disclosed to us will remain totally confidential.
d). The Will Custodian Ltd Peace of Mind Service (PMS) is a reactive service, and the client has the opportunity to contact the Helpline during office hours with any questions. Advice is free, amendments, where made by our legal service associates are normally chargeable. PMS members will receive occasional Newsletters and check lists to give general guidance as to changes which may be relevant, and the Newsletters are designed to provoke thought and enquiries. You will NOT be receive advice if you do not contact the Helpline. The Company offers a Storage service, 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 legal 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. If payment for the service is not received, and in the absence of a formal written request to return your documents, accompanied by the relevant postage fee, we reserve the right to return the documents at your risk by normal post to you last known address. We will not do this until we have tried to resolve the issue.
Your Obligations are:
a) In order for the relevant advice service to provide accurate advice and to produce an effective legal document advice service you are required to disclose all relevant facts and answers to all questions asked. 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 effect the validity, effectiveness or content of your Will(s), or advice given.
b). You alone are responsible for ensuring that documents are signed correctly, as we are not present unless you employ our attestation service. We will check documents returned for storage but accept no liability for errors missed.*
c). The Company shall not be responsible for any delay due to your failure to comply with the above
d) The Company operates a full Customer Care Service of which all our staff are fully aware and the Company maintains a full complaints procedure to which any complaint should first of all be addressed. If the matter is unable to be resolved to your satisfaction you may refer it, in writing, to The Managing Director at our normal address of 2 Hankham Street, Hankham, Pevensey BN24 5BG.
e) Where the client fails to respond within 30 days to requests to update failed payment, we retain the right to return documents by 2nd class post to the last known address to minimise administrative and storage space, thus keeping costs down for clients too.
* Addition from November 2007 – Lasting Powers of Attorney are peculiarly complex documents and clients are urged to read through them with extreme care, and ensure that signing and dating is carried out in the precisely correct order. We accept no responsibility whatever for the jobsworth attitude of the Office of the Public Guardian, who allegedly insist that a cross will not do where a tick is requested, and that the blank page at the end is a statutory requirement without which the LPA is invalid. This is lunacy.
Peace of Mind Service Terms of Business