Terms of Business

Thank you for instructing Anna Davies Wills & Estate Planning to act for you in connection with your matter. This document and the accompanying engagement letter (LOE) set out our terms of business and the basis upon which we will carry out the work. These terms should be read in conjunction with our LOE, which together form the contract between us. Please read them carefully and keep them in a safe place.

The LOE asks you to complete, sign and return a Client Confirmation of Instructions form, confirming that you agree to our terms and conditions and authorising us to start work on your matter. By signing and returning the form you are entering into a legally binding contract with us. If you continue to instruct us, even if you have not signed and returned the form, you accept these terms.

About Anna Davies Wills & Estate Planning Limited

Anna Davies Wills & Estate Planning Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales with number 16395444. Our registered office is at Fraser Ross House, 24 Broad Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, PE9 1PJ. We are Solicitors in England and Wales, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (number 8012269).

You can find more information about the firm and the services we offer from our website at www.annadavieswills.com

Hours of business

Our offices are open between 9.00am and 5.00pm Monday, Tuesday and Friday . If you call outside those hours, please leave a message on the voicemail. We see clients by prior appointment only: appointments must be booked in advance of a visit to our office.

What you want us to do (scope)

We will act for you for the purposes stated in the enclosed LOE. Please read this carefully as it is important that you understand the scope of our services. Please pay particular attention to any excluded items. If there is anything you do not understand, then please ask.

You agree that advice or other services outside the agreed scope of services unless our instructions are varied by agreement during the course of the matter. We will not be responsible for any failure to advise or comment on any matter that falls outside the agreed scope of services. For example, (but without limiting this), unless we expressly agree in writing with you, our services do not include advice on the tax or other commercial implications of any transaction or course of action, nor do they include monitoring or reminding you of any notice periods, critical dates or other time critical matters.

People responsible for your work

The person who has signed the enclosed LOE is responsible for your matter. The letter also names their supervisor, if applicable. We make every effort to avoid changing the people who deal with your matter as we know that this is unsettling for clients and that it can lead to discontinuity. However, there may be times when we cannot avoid this, for example sickness or holidays. If this happens, we will let you know, with the name and status of the new person, as soon as we can.

Levels of service

In acting for you, we aim to achieve the highest possible levels of services. In particular, we aim to:

• Return calls within one working day. Our offices are open strictly BY APPOINTMENT only. We can be contacted during office hours, preferably by email or by phoning the office. You can leave messages on the voicemail outside those hours and we will arrange appointments can be arranged outside office hours if essential.
• Reply to letters and emails within two working days, unless we need information from a third party. We generally reply using email where possible as this makes for faster communication. We do not encrypt messages. We are not responsible for the security of email.
• Communicate to you in plain English, explaining all legal terms.
• Consider the options with you and advise you which we consider is the best for you.
• Update you regularly by phone or in writing with progress on your matter, and any likely changes to the estimated timescales or costs.
• Encourage equality of opportunity and respect for diversity in all our dealing with clients, third parties and employees. If you would like a copy of our written policy, please ask.

Your responsibilities to us

You agree to:

• Provide us with clear, timely, and accurate instructions.
• Disclose all relevant information and documents.
• Respond promptly to requests for information.
• Pay our fees and disbursements as set out below.

How we charge for our work

Our charges consist of our fees for legal advice and other services, disbursements (expenses incurred with third parties in the context of delivering a service to you), and where applicable, VAT. Our fees and disbursements (expenses payable to third parties on your behalf) for the work to be carried out in this matter are set out in the attached LOE.

While acting for you, we are likely to incur expenses on your behalf (such as Court fees) which will be listed in the fee schedule and on your invoice.  Whenever possible, we will advise you in advance of any unusual expenses or charges and seek your consent before incurring them. By signing Client Confirmation of Instructions form , you agree to reimburse us for all costs, charges and other expenses we incur on your behalf or otherwise in connection with this matter.

Any special fee (such as a fixed or capped fee) agreed for a matter will not cover additional work beyond the scope of work agreed when the arrangement was made.

Estimate of costs

If requested, we will provide a written estimate of the likely cost of the matter together with the assumptions on which the estimate is based. Unless our Engagement Letter says otherwise, any estimate is given only as a guide to assist you in budgeting and should not be regarded as a firm quotation. If the estimate given changes materially for any reason, we will inform you of the change and the reasons for it.

In addition to the time spent, our fees may take into account a number of other factors including the complexity or urgency of the matter, specialist know how used, the expertise required and, if appropriate, the value of the property or subject matter involved.

In all matters we reserve the right to review our fee schedule if any unforeseen extra work becomes necessary due to unexpected complications or difficulties, or if your instructions change during the matter. We will advise you of this as soon as possible, and we will not carry out any additional work without your consent. Our charges for any additional costs will be calculated with reference to the time spent by the lawyers and other personnel in the work they do on your behalf.

You may if you wish, set a limit on the costs that may be incurred without further reference to you.

Our billing process

Unless the LOE states a fixed fee, our fees will be based mainly on the time spent on the work. We record all work in 6-minute units, including for example, time taken in meetings and phone calls, reading and preparing documents, correspondence and time spent travelling.

We may reduce our fees if we consider a time-based fee is unreasonable in relation to the work. On the other hand, there also may be circumstances (for example when we have to work outside normal office hours or when the work becomes very complicated), when, on a fair and reasonable basis, it will be appropriate to increase our fees beyond the hourly rate. We will discuss this with you if these circumstances arise.

You will find our hourly rates in the LOE. We review these rates annually and we will notify you in writing of any increase in rates which (unless otherwise agreed) will apply from the time of such notification.

Our charges and expenses are payable whether or not the matter is successfully concluded.  If your matter does not conclude, e.g. because you cancel your instructions to us, then we will charge on a pro-rata basis depending on what stage the matter has been reached. Our invoice will include VAT (where required) and all disbursements/ expenses incurred on your behalf.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

All fees are quoted exclusive of VAT which will be added where appropriate.

We are only entitled to issue VAT invoices to you and not to a third party. Where you are VAT registered you may also be required to report this to your local VAT Authority.

Payment of invoices

Unless otherwise agreed, we will send you interim invoices for our fees and expenses monthly. We will send you a final invoice detailing all outstanding fees and expenses on conclusion of the matter.

Unless specifically agreed otherwise, payment in full of all accounts is due within 14 days of issue.  Invoices must be paid by electronic payment. Our bank account details are set out on our bills. We not accept payment in cash, cheque or cryptocurrency.

We can only accept payments of money from a UK account in your name. We cannot accept any payments directly from any third party.

After completing the work, we are entitled to keep your papers and documents until our invoice is paid. If you do not pay an invoice within 14 days of issue, we may, on reasonable written notice, suspend or terminate the provision of services to you.  Interest will accrue at the rate of 8% per annum (or if higher the rate on judgment debt) on outstanding invoices calculated from the date of the invoice to the date of payment in full.

In the event of market rates of interest changing, we reserve the right to vary the rate of interest we charge to you to reflect this. We will notify you of any change but this may be after the change takes effect. Any interest on disbursements and expenses will be charged only from the date on which they are paid by us if that date is later than the date on which we start to charge interest.

If our invoice remains unpaid, further costs may be incurred for recovery of the debt.

If an account is overdue for payment, we reserve the right on reasonable written notice to suspend or terminate the provision of services and to retain documents and papers belonging to you, irrespective of the matters to which they relate, until all sums outstanding to us are paid.

When we receive instructions from more than one person or entity, each person or entity for whom we are acting will be separately responsible for the full amount of our accounts.

If arrangements are made for a third party to pay any of our charges, or a court orders a third party to pay any part of our costs, you remain liable to pay any charges to the extent that the third party does not pay our account in full.

Client Account and Payments on Account

We do not operate a client account and we will not ask you to make payments on account to us, other than in respect of anticipated disbursements within SRA Accounts Rules 2.1(d) and 2.2.

You agree that you will not transfer any sums to our bank account, other than sums for anticipated disbursements or for payment of our issued invoices.  Any sums transferred to us other than for payment of invoices or disbursements will be returned to you immediately, to prevent any breach of the SRA Accounts Rules by us.

Tax advice

Any work that we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration of tax planning strategies. Unless our scope of work specifically includes tax advice, we will not advise you on the tax implications of a matter or transaction.

Tax Evasion

We comply with anti-tax evasion legislation and conduct business in accordance with all such obligations. We will not provide services in a transaction where we know or suspect that any aspect of the transaction is being misused, abused or otherwise corrupted for the purposes of tax evasion. In accepting these terms of business, you are confirming that you are not engaged in tax evasion. We may terminate our agreement to act for you forthwith on written notice as soon as we learn you are engaged in tax evasion not disclosed to us at the time of engagement.

Your Identity

The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (as amended) require us to obtain satisfactory evidence of your identity. We may also need proof of identity of other people involved in your matter, such as other executors, trustees and beneficiaries.

We are also required by the UK sanctions regime to check that you are not subject to sanctions.

We ask all new clients, and existing clients at the start of a new matter, to complete and submit your identification documentation via  Verify 365 , our third-party electronic provider.   The cost of this check will be included on your invoice as an additional cost.

You will receive a text from Verify 365: please follow the instructions on the secure link so that we can verify your identity and check that you are not subject to sanctions.

By law, we cannot proceed with your transaction until we have identified you. If you fail to produce adequate identification, we will cease acting for you.

From time to time we may need up-to-date evidence of identity to be provided.

If you send us your original ID documentation, and you want us to return it by post, we will send it by signed for/special delivery and will charge you the relevant fee.

If in any matter in which you are involved we suspect that any person is making use of “criminal property” (a technical term in the money laundering legislation going well beyond what would normally be thought of as criminal activity or the proceeds of crime), we are required by law to make a report to the National Crime Agency and to seek its consent to continue acting.

You agree that Anna Davies Wills & Estate Planning Limited will not be liable for any losses, costs, claims or penalties incurred by you as a result of our complying with these professional and legal obligations, even if this means that we are unable to carry out your instructions in a particular matter.

Any work done by us towards ensuring compliance with the money laundering legislation will be charged to you.

Data Protection and Privacy

Where we process your personal data in providing legal services to you, we will do so as a data controller and in compliance with applicable data protection and privacy laws (including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679, the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR, as it forms part of UK law by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (UK GDPR).

We will use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect any such personal data we may process.

We use Cloud based platforms to deliver some of our services to you.

Further information about how we will process and protect personal data, and your right of access to the personal data we hold about you (as well as other rights) is set out in our privacy notice, which you can find on our website at https://www.annadavieswills.com/privacy. If you do not have access to the internet, then please contact us and we will forward a copy to you by post. If you have any queries, please ask.

Confidentiality and disclosure

All our work and dealings with you are strictly confidential and we will not release confidential information about you and/or your business without your permission, save for the exceptions set out below

Exceptions

We reserve the right to disclose your confidential information and/or your files in the following (but not limited to) the following circumstances:

• if required by statute, regulation or the Solicitors Regulation Authority
• if required by an Order of the Court or competent tribunal.
• if our work requires us to give information to third parties such as counsel or other professional advisers.
• to regulatory bodies or tax authorities in the exercise of their powers to meet legal and regulatory compliance requirements.
• to our auditors.
• to our professional indemnity insurers and to provide information to our insurance brokers in relation to communications with insurers.

Our privacy notice sets out the other parties who may process or with whom we may share personal information when we provide our services to you.

Conflicts of interest

We cannot act for you in relation to a matter if our duty to act in your best interests conflicts or there is significant risk that it will conflict, with our obligation to act in the best interests of another client in respect of the same or a related matter. If such a conflict arises and both you and we wish that we continue to act for you, we may be permitted to do so by our professional rules, provided we have obtained consent from all parties.

Occasionally a conflict of interest may only become apparent after we have commenced acting for you on a matter. In such an event we will notify you promptly. We may however be obliged to withhold information or terminate our engagement in relation to the particular matter.

Financial Services and Advice

We are not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 but we are able in certain circumstances to offer a limited range of investment services under the supervision of and regulation by the SRA. We can provide these investment services if they are an incidental part of the professional services we have been engaged to provide.

From time to time during the course of acting for you, we may have to make what the relevant regulations term “unsolicited real time financial promotions” relating to investments. Examples would be our recommending that you use the services of someone authorised by the FCA or giving you information regarding other services of the firm.

By instructing and continuing to instruct us you are specifically accepting that we may make such “promotions”.

We are not authorised by the FCA. However, we are included on the register maintained by the FCA so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity (broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts). This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by the SRA. The register can be accessed via the FCA website at http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/financial-services-register.

Protection from Cybercrime

Please be aware that there is a significant risk posed by cyber fraud, specifically affecting email account and bank account details.

PLEASE NOTE that our bank account details WILL NOT change during the course of a transaction, and we WILL NOT send or change our bank details via email. Please be careful to check account details with us in person if in any doubt. We will not accept responsibility if you transfer money into an incorrect account.

Email correspondence

Unless otherwise directed by you, we may correspond by email or other electronic media. As with any other means of delivery, this carries with it the risk of inadvertent misdirection or non-delivery. It is the recipient’s responsibility to conduct a virus check on any attachments received. As internet communications are capable of data corruption, we do not accept any responsibility for changes made to such communications after their dispatch.

Storage of papers and documents

After completing the matter, we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while money is owing to us. After that we will return them to you at your request. We will not destroy documents such as Wills and deeds that you ask us to keep in safe custody. We may also be obliged to retain papers and information obtained to meet our legal obligations in relation to anti-money laundering.

Otherwise, we reserve the right to destroy papers 6 years after delivery of your final invoice. This time limit also applies to documents held in electronic format. We will not, as a rule, retain paper copies of documents which we also hold in scanned form or are archived electronically on our system unless you request us to or, in our view, original documentation should be retained despite the availability of electronic copies.

We can arrange for your Will, LPA and other Deeds to be stored at an external secure storage facility and we will provide you with the storage costs of the third party provider at the time.

You can recall your documents at any time by giving us notice in writing.  We reserve the right to charge a fee of £200 plus VAT for the retrieval of a file from storage, and to charge for our time and expenses if you ask us to print anything or to transfer the file to another firm of solicitors.

Acceptance of any Will, deed, or other original document for our safekeeping does not imply that we accept that we have any continuing responsibility to inform you of any changes in the law that may affect the effectiveness of any of the terms of such Will, deed, or document. We specifically exclude such liability.

Responsibility for Advice and Limitation of Liability

All work done and advice provided by us is for your use and benefit only and in connection with the instructions to which it relates. It may not be passed on to any other person without our prior written approval.

Our advice will be based on our interpretation of the law at the time the advice is provided. Unless specifically agreed otherwise we are not obliged to update our advice in respect of any subsequent changes in the law.

Our liability to you in connection with any matter is limited to the proportion of the loss or damage (including interest and costs) suffered by you, which is just and equitable having regard to the extent of your own responsibility and the contribution of any other person to the loss or damage regardless of any contractual or other limitation of their liability and/or their ability to pay and/or any limitation defences available to them. Our liability for negligence or breach of contract arising from any one will also be limited to £3 million in relation to this or any one matter.

We have professional indemnity insurance in accordance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority rules. The limit of indemnity is £3 million per claim.

We shall have no liability for any consequential, special, indirect or exemplary damages, costs or losses, or any damages costs or losses attributable to lost profits, income, anticipated savings or opportunities

We therefore expressly limit our liability to £3 million. This figure:

• includes all claims arising out of or connected with our retainer, including in negligence, and whether arising out of negligence or otherwise.
• does not include costs, in respect of which we do not exclude liability.
• does not include any liability for fraud, dishonesty, reckless disregard of professional obligations or any liability which cannot be lawfully limited including liability for death or for personal injury.

We also exclude all personal liability on the part of our Director and employees.

We do not assume any responsibility for aspects of matters upon which other professional advisers are advising or upon which they might ordinarily be expected to advise.

We shall have no liability for any errors in or arising from the use of any formulae or calculations which are supplied to us by you or your other professional advisers.

We shall have no liability for any loss or damage suffered by you as a result of our inability to comply with your instruction due to force majeure or other matters outside our reasonable control and which we have taken reasonable care to avoid.

We shall have no liability for any loss or damage suffered by you as a result of our inability to comply with your instructions to transfer monies because of bank failure or insolvency, force majeure or other failure of a bank to pay.

We can only limit our liability to the extent that the law allows. In particular, we cannot limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence.

Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning alone will provide the services and your agreement is solely with us. You agree that you will not bring any claim whether in contract, tort, negligence, for breach of statutory duty or otherwise against any of the shareholders or directors of Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning or against any consultant to or employee or agent of Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning. Those shareholders, directors, consultants, employees and agents assume no personal liability for the provision of services and shall be entitled to rely on these terms insofar as they limit or exclude their liability.

Pursuant to various statutes, regulations or court orders, we may, exceptionally, have obligations that lead us to disclosing details of your affairs to the relevant authorities. We will not always be permitted to inform you that this has occurred. In some cases, compliance with these obligations may cause delay in carrying out your instructions or proceedings with the matter and provided we have acted in good faith, we shall have no liability to you for the consequences of such delay.

It is important that you understand the limitation on liability. If you have any questions, then please ask.

Right to Cancel

You have a right to cancel this contract if we have not met face to face or if we have agreed a retainer away from our offices. This is often referred to as a ‘cooling off period’ and is 14 days from the date of this document. If you wish to cancel the contract you must do this in writing, and it must be sent by letter or email to Anna Davies, our Director.

Termination

You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we will be entitled to keep your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our fees and expenses. If at any stage you do not wish us to continue work and/or stop incurring charges and expenses on your behalf, you must tell us this clearly in writing.

If we decide to stop acting for you, we will only do this with good reason and on giving you reasonable written notice.

Anna Davies Wills & Estate Planning may in its absolute discretion suspend or terminate work on your behalf if:

• You fail to pay any invoice within 30 days of its presentation.

• You persistently fail to pay invoices in accordance with these terms of business.

• You persistently fail to provide us with instructions in relation to the work.

• The relationship between you and Anna Davies Wills & Estate Planning has otherwise irretrievably broken down.

Complaints

If at any point you become unhappy with the service we provide you, then please inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you. You can obtain a copy of our complaints procedure here www.annadavieswills.com/complaints

If we are unable to resolve your complaint, then you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to review the matter.

You can make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman by:

Website: How to Complain page on their website.

Email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

Post: PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

Equality and diversity

Anna Davies Wills & Estate Planning is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.

Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the laws of England and Wales.  The Courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction.

Amendments

We may amend these terms from time to time.  You will be notified in writing of any material changes.

General

In these terms of business:-

“we”, “us”, “our”, “firm” and “Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning” mean or refer to Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning Limited (a limited liability company registered in England and Wales with registered number 16395444 whose registered office is at Fraser Ross House, 24 Broad Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1PJ) and any successor practice and any service company owned or controlled by or on behalf of Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning or any of its and, as the context requires, all directors of, consultants to and employees and agents of Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning and of any service company owned or controlled by or on behalf of Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning or any of its shareholders;

the terms “shareholder” and “director” mean or refer to the shareholder or director of Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning; “you” and “your” refer to our client;

“SRA” means the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority; and “FCA” means the Financial Conduct Authority.

These terms of business apply except to the extent that they are varied in writing by a director of Anna Davies Wills and Estate Planning.

From time to time we might find it necessary to amend these terms of business. A copy of the latest version will be available on request and can also be accessed through the Legal Notice section of our website https://www.annadavieswills.com/legal-notice

A third party who is not a party to these terms of engagement has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of these terms, but this does not affect any right or remedy which exists or is available apart from that Act.

Conclusion

Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms of business. Please sign the enclosed Client Confirmation of Instructions Form, if you wish us to commence work on your behalf immediately.  We can then be confident that you understand the basis upon which we act for you.

We hope that our engagement letter and terms of business address any immediate queries about the day-to-day handling of your matter and our terms of business. However, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

This is an important document which we would urge you to keep in a safe place for future reference.

Updated September 2025