How we protect your personal information.

1. Who we are

“Wills & Trust”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the operators of willandtrust.co.za and related Wills & Trust digital forms, pages, communications, and estate planning enquiry processes. This policy applies to website visitors, prospective clients, clients, beneficiaries, nominated executors, guardians, trustees, representatives, and any person whose information is provided to us.

2. POPIA and our role

We process personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (“POPIA”) and other applicable South African laws. Depending on the service, we may act as a responsible party or as an operator for another responsible party. We process information only where there is a lawful basis, including consent, contract, legal obligation, legitimate interest, or where processing protects a lawful interest of the data subject.

3. Information we collect

We may collect information you provide directly, information generated by your use of the website, and information lawfully obtained from third parties where needed for estate planning. This may include:

• Full name, ID or passport details, date of birth, marital status, gender, language preference, contact details, and address.
• Family information, including spouse, partner, children, dependants, guardians, beneficiaries, trustees, executors, and emergency contacts.
• Estate planning instructions, distribution wishes, special bequests, residue instructions, religious or Shari'ah-sensitive instructions, and last wishes where provided.
• Asset and liability information, including property, bank accounts, investments, retirement funds, policies, business interests, company shares, loan accounts, crypto assets, and digital accounts.
• Trust, business succession, buy-sell, key-person, estate liquidity, and estate administration information.
• Communication records, form submissions, WhatsApp or phone preferences, consultation notes, support requests, and feedback.
• Website information such as IP address, device information, browser information, analytics events, cookies, referring pages, and pages visited.

4. Special personal information

Some estate planning instructions may reveal special personal information, including religious beliefs, health information, family relationships, financial vulnerability, or information about children. We process special personal information only where permitted by law, necessary for the service requested, or where you have provided appropriate consent.

5. Information about other people

If you give us information about another person, including a spouse, child, beneficiary, guardian, trustee, executor, business partner, or dependant, you confirm that you are authorised to provide it or that there is a lawful reason for doing so. You must, where appropriate, make that person aware that their information has been provided to us and may be processed for estate planning purposes.

6. How we use information

We use personal information to provide, assess, administer, improve, and secure our services. This includes:

• Responding to enquiries and contacting you about your request.
• Drafting, reviewing, amending, storing, or facilitating wills and estate planning documents.
• Assessing trust, estate administration, liquidity, business succession, Islamic will, and guardianship needs.
• Preparing consultation notes, client records, estate inventories, and fulfilment instructions.
• Verifying information, preventing fraud, managing risk, and protecting our rights.
• Complying with laws, lawful requests, tax, fiduciary, estate administration, insurance, and regulatory requirements.
• Sending service communications and, where lawful, marketing about related services. You may opt out of marketing at any time.
• Improving website performance, user experience, content, forms, and security.

7. When we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share information where necessary with service providers, professional advisers, fulfilment partners, technology providers, cloud hosting providers, analytics providers, communication providers, legal advisers, accountants, insurers, underwriting or claims partners, estate administrators, trustees, executors, business succession advisers, regulators, courts, law enforcement, or successors to our business.

8. Cross-border processing

Some technology, hosting, analytics, communication, or storage providers may process information outside South Africa. Where we transfer personal information cross-border, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient is subject to appropriate legal, contractual, or organisational safeguards that provide adequate protection.

9. Cookies and analytics

We use cookies and similar technologies for website operation, analytics, security, performance, and marketing measurement. You can disable cookies in your browser, but some website functionality may not work properly. Analytics tools may collect device, page, and interaction information to help us understand and improve the website.

10. Direct marketing

We may contact you about similar or related estate planning services where permitted by law or where you have consented. You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by using unsubscribe instructions or contacting us. We may still send administrative, transactional, or service-related messages.

11. Retention

We keep information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose collected, to provide services, to keep estate planning records, to comply with legal obligations, to resolve disputes, to enforce agreements, to prevent fraud, and to maintain business records. Estate planning information may need to be retained for extended periods because wills, trust records, and estate administration documents can remain relevant long after they are created.

12. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. No internet transmission or storage system is completely secure. You are responsible for keeping your own devices, email, passwords, and communication channels secure.

13. Your rights

Subject to POPIA and applicable law, you may request access to your personal information, correction, deletion, objection to processing, restriction, withdrawal of consent, or details of third parties who received your information. We may require proof of identity before acting on a request.

14. Children

We process children’s information only where necessary for estate planning, guardianship, beneficiary planning, trust planning, or related lawful purposes, and where provided by a parent, guardian, authorised person, or as otherwise permitted by law.

15. Links to third-party websites

Our website may link to third-party websites or tools. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, content, security, or terms. Review their policies before providing information to them.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will apply from the date it is published on this website. Continued use of the website after publication means you accept the updated policy.

17. Contact

For privacy questions or requests, contact Wills & Trust through the website contact form or the contact details published on willandtrust.co.za.