Last update: 09 July 2023
There are two parts to these terms and conditions.
Part A: are the terms and conditions on which Properwills Ltd (“Properwills”) supplies Documents and Services (each as defined below) to you.
Part B: are the terms and conditions on which Properwills will act as an executor.
Part A: Properwills
Please read the following important terms and conditions before you buy anything from us and check that they contain (i) everything which you want and (ii) nothing that you are not willing to agree to.
This contract sets out:
These terms and conditions apply for when you and Properwills enter into a contract online.
Definitions and Interpretation
In these terms and conditions:
“Document(s)” means the will document or any other document sold by us and which are ordered by you.
“Privacy Policy” means the privacy policy on our Website which can be found at https://www.properwills.com/uk/privacy.html.
“Services” means probate service and/or the service provided by Properwills to create, update, revise and check the Documents, and which are ordered by you.
“Website” means https://www.properwills.com.
“We”, “us” or “our” means Properwills.
“Writing” includes emails. When we use the words “write”, “writing” or “written” in these terms and conditions, this includes emails.
Information about us and how to contact us
Who we are. We are Properwills, which is a trading name for Properwills Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with company registration number 14127695 and registered office at 124 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX.
How to contact us. You can contact us by emailing our customer service team at [email protected].
How we may contact you. If we have to contact you, we will do so by writing to you at the email address or postal address you provided to us in your order.
If you don’t understand anything in these terms and conditions and want to talk to us about it, please contact us by email at [email protected] (emails will be responded to Monday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
Introduction
If you buy Documents and/or Services from us you agree to be legally bound by these terms and conditions which form part of the contract between us and you.
You may only buy Documents and/or Services from us for non-business reasons.
The Documents and/or Services you purchase are for your personal use only and cannot be bought for any third party or for resale. If you buy a Document and/or Service for a third party or resell it, we shall not be liable for that Document and/or Service or any subsequent or related loss. You represent and warrant that any Document and/or Service ordered and purchased by you is not for resale and that you are acting as principal and not as agent. We shall not be liable for any Document and/or Service to any third party.
When buying any Document and/or Service you also agree to be legally bound by:
All of the above terms and conditions form part of the contract between us and you as though set out in full here.
We may change our terms and conditions, Documents and/or Services, or stop providing our Documents and/or Services, to reflect changes in law or regulation, or to make minor adjustments or improvements. If we do, we’ll let you know using the contact information you give us if we are required by law to do so. If you spot something that does not look right, please let us know.
Information we give you
By law, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 say that we must give you certain key information before a legally binding contract between you and us is made (see the summary box below). We will give you this information in a clear and understandable way. Typically, this information is provided to you before you buy the Documents and/or Services from us. Some of this information is also set out in this contract, such as information on our complaint handling policy.
We will give you information on:
The key information we give you by law forms part of these terms and conditions (as though it is set out in full here).
If we have to change any key information once a legally binding contract between you and us is made, we can only do this if you agree to it.
All Documents and Services are provided in the English language.
Your privacy and personal information
Our Privacy Policy is available at on our website at https://www.properwills.com/uk/privacy.html
Your privacy and personal information are important to us. Any personal information that you provide to us will be dealt with in line with our Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect from you, how and why we collect, store, use and share such information, your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us and supervisory authorities if you have a query or complaint about the use of your personal information.
Ordering Documents and/or Services from us
To purchase a Document and/or Service from us you need to:
The Documents and Services will not be suitable if (i) your permanent home is not in the United Kingdom, and/or (ii) you own a business, agricultural property or other assets outside of the United Kingdom.
Our Documents and Services are not intended to be used (i) in a jurisdiction other than the one it was intended for (being either England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland (as applicable)), and/or (ii) if you have complicated circumstances, and/or (iii) if you require specialised tax advice (including in relation to inheritance tax).
The alterations which you can make to the Documents using our Services will be limited to predefined fields such as: your name, names of beneficiaries, names of executors and a description of assets. You will not be able to and will not be permitted to change or alter the main text on the Documents.
Below, we set out how a legally binding contract between you and us is made.
Any quotation given by us before you make an order for any Document and/or Service is not a binding offer by us to supply such Document and/or Service.
When you decide to place an order for a Document and/or Service with us, this is when you offer to buy such Document and/or Service from us.
When you place your order through our Website, we will acknowledge it by email. This acknowledgement does not, however, mean that your order has been accepted. Paying for your Document and/or Service will mean that you accept and agree to be bound by these terms, conditions and our Privacy Policy.
We may contact you to say that we do not accept your order. If we do this, we will try to tell you promptly why we do not accept your order. This is typically for the following reasons:
We will only accept your order when we confirm this to you by email (the “Confirmation Email”). At this point:
Unless we both agree otherwise, our contract will terminate automatically once we have provided the Document and/or Service to you.
Carrying out of the order
We must carry out the order by the time or within the period which you and we agree. If you and we have agreed no time or period, this will be within a reasonable time from the Confirmation Email.
Our carrying out of the order might be affected by events beyond our reasonable control. If so, there might be a delay before we can restart the order, having made reasonable efforts to limit the effect of any of those events and having kept you informed of the circumstances, but we will try to restart the order as soon as those events have been fixed. Examples of events which might be beyond our reasonable control include:
Providing the Documents and Services
We will make the Documents available either (i) to download (as digital content) as soon as we accept and have completed your order or (ii) where you requested a printed copy of the Document(s), we will provide you with an estimated date of delivery at the time of ordering.
Where we offer a delivery service for Documents and you have elected to have the documents printed and posted to you, the delivery period and cost of delivery will be as displayed to you on the Website. Documents will be sent to the address nominated by you at the time of ordering and cannot be altered.
If our supply of the Documents is delayed by an event outside our control then we will contact you as soon as reasonably possible to let you know and we will take reasonable steps to minimise the effect of the delay. We will not be liable for any loss caused by any delay, but if there is a risk of substantial delay you may contact us to end the contract and receive a refund for any Document(s) you have paid us for but have not received.
Charges and payment
We will let you know the basis of calculating the charges for the Documents and/or Services and any related goods (and any extra charges such as delivery charges) to the fullest extent we can when you place an order with us.
We charge for the Documents and/or Services on a quotation basis (i.e. we promise to carry out the order at a fixed price).
We only accept electronic methods of payment, credit cards and debit cards. We do not accept cheques or cash.
You will be invoiced and your credit card or debit card will be charged when you have placed your order.
All payments by credit card or debit card need to be authorised by the relevant card issuer.
If your payment is not received by us, we may charge interest on any balance outstanding at the rate of 4 percentage points per year above the Bank of England’s base rate. We will email you to let you know if we intend to do this.
The price of the services is in pounds sterling (£)(GBP) and includes VAT (if applicable) at the applicable rate.
In the event that you decide not to sign a Document the price of the Document will not be refunded.
Right to cancel
Due to the bespoke nature of the Documents, you are not entitled to cancel your order or to return the Documents. However, you may return the Documents if either (i) the PDF file we provide you cannot be opened or is corrupted when you try to download the Document; or (ii) any printed version of the Document ordered is damaged upon receipt. The right to cancel the contract under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 does not apply to Documents purchased from us.
In the event that you order a printed version of the Document which is damaged upon receipt, we will bear the costs of the return.
All replacements for faulty or damaged Documents will be undertaken within 14 calendar days of receipt of the returned documents or the date you notify us that the Documents cannot be opened or are corrupted.
You can make changes to Documents for free for 5 years following our acceptance of your order for the Documents. This 5 year period does not form part of the Document or Service purchase price you pay but is a discretionary complimentary service provided by us and which may, in our sole and absolute discretion, be amended, reduced, extended or withdrawn without notice to you.
Nature of the Documents and Services
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you certain legal rights (also known as ‘statutory rights’), for example:
Faulty services
Your legal rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (also known as ‘statutory rights’). For more detailed information on your rights and what you should expect from us, please:
Nothing in this contract affects your legal rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (also known as ‘statutory rights’). You may also have other rights in law.
Please contact us if you want:
End of the contract
If this contract is ended it will not affect our right to receive any money which you owe to us under this contract.
Disclaimer and limitation of liability
Properwills is not a law firm and is not registered or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Law Society of Northern Ireland or Law Society of Scotland.
Any use of our Documents, Services or the Website by you does not create or constitute a lawyer-client relationship between Properwills (or any employee of or other person associated with Properwills) and you. It is solely and entirely your responsibility to satisfy yourself that the Documents you order and the nature of the Services that we offer meet with your requirements and are satisfactory and suitable for your needs and any legal or tax requirements. We cannot accept any responsibility to you if the Documents and/or Services you purchase from us are not legally correct or suitable for your situation.
When preparing Documents we have no responsibility and will accept no liability for checking or verifying:
We provide you with guidance notes in order to assist you with the signing and execution of your Document in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction in which it has been prepared for use (being either England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland). It is solely and entirely your responsibility to follow such notes and to ensure that the Document is validly signed and executed by you and any witness(es) and we shall have no liability if you fail to properly sign, witness or execute your Document. A failure to properly sign, witness or execute your Document will result in an invalid and unenforceable Document. We shall have no liability to you or any third party for the guidance notes, the execution and/or for the enforceability of any Document.
Your Document may become out-of-date or obsolete as a result of changes to any applicable law, rule, legislation, regulation or guidance and we do not and cannot guarantee that the Document you order and sign will remain valid, up-to-date, complete or accurate. We have no ongoing obligation or any responsibility to notify you of any change in any law, rule, legislation, regulation or guidance or any potential impact such changes may have on your Document and we shall have no liability to you or any third party in respect of this. The responsibility for future reviews of the terms of your Document rests solely and entirely with you.
We do not review the data you provide us to create or generate a Document. We do not review or check for legal accuracy, correctness, suitability or completeness. We do not and cannot accept responsibility for the appropriateness or suitability of the Document to your specific circumstances or particular situation.
The Documents and Services are suitable for use only in specific jurisdictions: England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland. You should make sure you select the appropriate jurisdiction for you. If you live, are domiciled, or have assets or liabilities outside of the jurisdiction our Documents and Services are suitable for (being either England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland) then you should exercise caution when using any Document and/or Service as it may not be suitable and we shall have no liability for the appropriateness, suitability, validity or enforceability of the Document and/or Services in such circumstances.
We accept no liability whatsoever and offer no warranty whatsoever for any Document which is (or was) made available to you free of charge (whether by digital download or by post).
We accept no liability whatsoever and offer no warranty whatsoever for any Document originally purchased by you but subsequently updated by you free of charge (any such updated Document becomes a new Document). For the avoidance of doubt, any free update service we offer, provide or make available to you does not form part of the Document or Service purchase price you pay but is a discretionary complimentary service provided by us and which may, in our sole and absolute discretion, be amended, reduced, extended or withdrawn without notice to you.
We disclaim any and all liability to you for the supply of the Documents and our Services to the fullest extent permissible under applicable law. This does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer. If we are found liable for any loss or damage to you such liability is limited to the amount you have paid for the relevant Document and/or Service.
In no event shall we be liable to you or any third party for any loss of profits, loss of data or any indirect, special, or consequential loss or any other loss which was not caused by any breach on our part.
The limitation of liability does not apply to personal injury or death arising as a direct result of our negligence or any other liability which we cannot exclude or limit under applicable law.
Our Documents and Services are exclusively for domestic and private use. If you use the Documents and/or Services for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
Disputes
We will try to resolve any disputes with you quickly and efficiently.
If you are unhappy with:
please contact us as soon as possible.
If you and we cannot resolve a dispute using our internal complaint handling procedure, we will:
Third party rights
No one other than a party to this contract has any rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce or enjoy the benefit of any term of this contract.
Other important terms
Properwills:
These terms and conditions together with our Privacy Policy, any order form and/or payment instruction (each as applicable) constitute the entire agreement between you and us for Documents and Services. No other terms whether expressed or implied shall form part of these terms and conditions. In the event of any conflict between these terms and conditions and any other term or provision on the Website, these terms and conditions shall prevail.
Each of the clauses of these terms and conditions operates separately. If any court or other relevant authority with competent jurisdiction decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining clauses will remain in full force and effect.
No delay or failure on our part to enforce our rights or remedies under these terms and conditions shall constitute a waiver on our part of such rights or remedies unless such waiver is confirmed in writing by us.
These terms and conditions and our Privacy Policy shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. The parties hereto submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
PART B: Properwills as Executor
Terms and Conditions
These are the terms and conditions on which Properwills will act as an executor of an estate, an administrator of an estate with a will annexed or on intestacy.
Please read the following important terms and conditions before you appoint Properwills as an executor of your will and check that they contain (i) everything which you want and (ii) nothing that you are not willing to agree to.
If you don’t understand anything in these terms and conditions and want to talk to us about it, please contact us by email at [email protected] (emails will be responded to Monday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). If you think that there is a mistake in these terms and conditions or require any changes, please let us know.
Definitions and interpretation
“Executor Services” means Properwills director(s) acting as an executor of an estate, an administrator of an estate with a will annexed or on intestacy, and administering that estate.
“Properwills Executor” means Properwills director(s) appointed as an executor of an estate, an administrator of an estate with a will annexed or on intestacy.
“testator” means a testator or testatrix.
“we”, “us”, “our” means Properwills Executor.
Information about Properwills and how to contact us
Who we are. We are Properwills, which is a trading name for Properwills Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with company registration number 14127695 and registered office at 124 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX.
How to contact us. You can contact us by emailing our customer service team at [email protected].
Scale of fees
Where Properwills Executor provides Executor Services, no fees are payable before the testator’s or intestate’s death.
For Executor Services, Properwills Executor will charge a scale fee which may be amended from time to time.
the “Scale Fee”.
The Scale Fee is normally payable on issue of a grant of representation (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or on the issue of a confirmation (in Scotland).
In addition to the Scale Fee, Properwills Executor may incur general expenses in connection with the Executor Services (the “General Expenses”). General Expenses may include (but not limited to) solicitor fees, other professional fees, commercial or estate agent fees, Stamp Duty and other similar fees or charges.
In addition to the Scale Fee and General Expenses, Properwills Executor shall, in its absolute and sole discretion, be entitled to charge reasonable additional charges for dealing with a business, joint property, real estate, assets or liabilities abroad, valuations, the compilation and/or review of accounts and any HM Revenue & Customs forms, estates or other trusts with which the estate subject to the Executor Service may be concerned, attendances or other exacting administration duties (the “Additional Fee”, and together with the Scale Fee and the General Expenses, the “Executor Fees”).
Estate administration
Properwills Executor will usually appoint a solicitor to act on its behalf to perform legal work in connection with the Executor Service and Properwills Executor reserves the right to appoint a solicitor of its choice, and, where appropriate, to appoint such other professionals as it thinks fit, in its sole and absolute discretion. All expenses so incurred will fall under General Expenses and which is payable in addition to Scale Fee.
Properwills Executor shall be entitled to remuneration in accordance with its Scale Fees in force at the date of death. Properwills Executor’s Executor Fees and remuneration shall be free from all taxes and duties and shall be a first charge on the estate subject to the Executor Services. If the Scale Fee alters after the testator’s death, Properwills Executor shall have the power to charge in accordance with the Scale Fee in force from time to time. General Expenses and/or Additional Fees, if applicable, will be charged in addition to the Scale Fee.
The Executor Fees will normally be payable out of estate capital. Properwills Executor and any other executor or administrator, if applicable, shall have discretion to charge such Executor Fees, fees and expenses, in whole or in part, against income, or between different interests in income or capital.
Properwills Executor may obtain insurance on behalf of the estate subject to the Executor Service in respect of any risk which Properwills Executor considers reasonably necessary or prudent in its sole and absolute discretion. The premiums for such insurance may be charged against estate income or estate capital in the sole and absolute discretion of Properwills Executor.
Properwills Executor may in its sole and absolute discretion vest any property of the estate or trust in any person or corporate body as its nominee.
Where the Executor Services are performed by Properwills executor jointly with another (or others), all money, securities, title deeds, instruments and/or documents, forming part of, belonging or relating to the estate subject to the Executor Service shall be under the control of Properwills Executor. The other executor(s) or administrator(s) may have all reasonable facilities for verification.
The name of Properwills Executor shall be placed first in any applicable register of all registered stocks, shares, securities or property or any other registered asset.
Provided that Properwills Executor is indemnified against expenses and losses from the estate subject to the Executor Services and there is no rule, law or regulation prohibiting it, Properwills Executor will only, unless it sees a good reason to the contrary, continue a trade or business or hold shares in a company with unlimited liability with a view to realisation or distribution of such asset.
Properwills Executor shall have no duty to hold shares in its own name and Properwills Executor and any other executor or administrators, if applicable, shall have power without any order of a court to effect any disposition or transaction relating to any such sole proprietorship or shares which the court would have had jurisdiction to authorise under section 57 of the Trustee Act 1925 (as amended from time to time) or the equivalent provision in Northern Ireland or Scotland (each as applicable).
Third party rights
No one other than a party to this contract has any rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce or enjoy the benefit of any term of this contract.
Other important terms
Properwills Executor does not provide legal advice on the preparation or execution of wills.
Properwills Executor:
These terms and conditions, any order form and payment instructions constitute the entire agreement between you and us for Executor Services. No other terms whether expressed or implied shall form part of these terms and conditions. In the event of any conflict between these terms and conditions and any other term or provision on the Website, these terms and conditions shall prevail.
Each of the clauses of these terms and conditions operates separately. If any court or other relevant authority with competent jurisdiction decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining clauses will remain in full force and effect.
No delay or failure on our part to enforce our rights or remedies under these terms and conditions shall constitute a waiver on our part of such rights or remedies unless such waiver is confirmed in writing by us.
These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. The parties hereto submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.