Privacy Policy

Who we are

Will Solicitors (willsolicitor.co.uk) is a trading style of B J McKenna & Co Solicitors LLP, a firm of solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA No. 570089). B J McKenna & Co Solicitors LLP is the "controller" of the personal data described in this policy — that is, we decide why and how your personal data is used.

Our registered address is 335 Wellington Road North, Heaton Chapel, Stockport, SK4 4QG. You can reach us on 0161 348 7581 or at hello@WillSolicitor.co.uk.

What this policy covers

This policy explains how we handle personal data about visitors to willsolicitor.co.uk, people who enquire about our services, our clients, and other people connected with the matters we work on — for example the executors, attorneys, beneficiaries and family members named in a will or a lasting power of attorney.

The personal data we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Identification and contact details: your name, address, date of birth, email address and telephone number.
• Identity verification data: copies of passports, driving licences, proof of address and the results of electronic identity checks, which we are required to obtain by anti–money laundering law.
• Information about your matter: details of your assets, property, finances, family circumstances, wishes and instructions, and correspondence with you.
• Information about other people: details of executors, trustees, attorneys, guardians, beneficiaries and others you name, which you provide to us.
• Special category and criminal offence data: where it is relevant to your matter, this may include information about health (for example capacity to make a will or an LPA), family relationships, religious beliefs affecting funeral wishes, or criminal convictions.
• Financial data: bank details and payment records for billing and for handling money on your behalf.
• Website and enquiry data: the information you enter into our contact, consultation booking and quotation forms, and technical data such as your IP address, browser type, the pages you visit and how you arrived at our site.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

Under the UK GDPR we must have a lawful basis for using your personal data. Ours are:

• Performance of a contract: to provide the legal services you have instructed us to provide, to take steps at your request before entering into a retainer, and to bill you.
• Legal obligation: to meet our obligations under anti–money laundering regulations, tax law, and the SRA Standards and Regulations, including keeping the records our regulator requires.
• Legitimate interests: to run and improve our practice, to keep our records and files, to check for conflicts of interest, to maintain the security of our systems and this website, to defend ourselves against claims and complaints, and to respond to enquiries. We balance these interests against your rights and do not rely on this basis where your interests override ours.
• Consent: for marketing emails and for non-essential cookies. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
• Legal claims and substantial public interest: where we process special category or criminal offence data, we additionally rely on the condition that the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or is otherwise necessary for the provision of legal services.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it with:

• barristers, medical professionals, valuers and other experts instructed on your matter;
• identity verification and anti–money laundering checking providers;
• HM Land Registry, the Office of the Public Guardian, the Probate Registry, HMRC and other public bodies, where your matter requires it;
• our IT, case management, email, website hosting, telephony and document storage providers, who act on our instructions;
• our accountants, auditors, insurers, brokers and professional advisers;
• the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Ombudsman, where required;
• a third party to whom we might transfer or merge parts of our business.

Everyone we share your data with is required to keep it secure and to use it only for the purpose we have given it to them for. Solicitors also owe you a separate duty of confidentiality, which goes further than data protection law.

Where your data is held

We aim to keep your personal data within the UK. Where a supplier we use stores or accesses data outside the UK, we make sure an appropriate safeguard recognised under UK data protection law is in place — such as UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement — so that your data receives an equivalent level of protection.

How long we keep it

We keep personal data only for as long as we need it, taking into account our professional obligations, the possibility of future claims, and the nature of the work.

Our retention periods vary by record type and are set out in our retention schedule, which we will provide on request. Original wills and other deeds that we hold in storage for you are kept until you or your executors ask us to release them. When we no longer need personal data we securely delete or destroy it.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Be informed about how we use your personal data — that is what this policy is for.
• Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — to have inaccurate data corrected and incomplete data completed.
• Erasure — to ask us to delete your data, where we have no continuing reason to keep it.
• Restrict processing — to ask us to pause our use of your data in certain circumstances.
• Data portability — to receive certain data in a machine-readable format, or have it sent to another controller.
• Object to processing carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests, and to object to direct marketing at any time.
• Withdraw consent at any time where our use of your data is based on consent.
• Not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing. We do not make such decisions.

These rights are not absolute. In particular, our legal and regulatory obligations, and our need to keep files in case of a future claim, may mean we cannot delete data on request. We will always explain our reasons. To exercise any right, contact us at hello@WillSolicitor.co.uk. We will respond within one month; if your request is complex we may extend this by up to two further months and will tell you if we do. There is normally no fee.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Essential cookies are needed for the site to work; analytics and marketing cookies are only set with your consent, which you give or refuse through the cookie banner and can change at any time. Full details of the cookies we use, and how to manage them, are in our Cookie Policy.

Marketing

We will only send you marketing where you have agreed to receive it, or where you are an existing client and the marketing relates to similar services. Every marketing email contains an unsubscribe link, and you can ask us to stop at any time by emailing hello@WillSolicitor.co.uk. Opting out of marketing does not stop us sending you messages about a matter we are handling for you.

Keeping your data secure

We have technical and organisational measures in place to protect your personal data against loss, misuse and unauthorised access, and we limit access to those who need it to do their job. If a personal data breach occurs which is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will report it to the Information Commissioner's Office and, where the risk is high, tell you as well.

Please be aware that email is not a secure medium. We will never email you to tell you that our bank details have changed. If you receive such a message, do not act on it — telephone us on 0161 348 7581 using the number on this website to check.

Complaining to the ICO

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection.

Separately, if your complaint is about the legal service we provided rather than about data protection, see our Complaints Procedure.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in how we work or in the law. The current version is always available on this page.

Last updated: 19 October 2026

Contact us

For any question about this policy or about how we use your personal data: