Privacy Notice

At Townsend Family Law we value the personal information entrusted to us and make sure we respect that trust.  Our Data Promise sets out our intentions in connection with that data.  This Privacy Notice gives you further information on how we collect and process your personal data and should be read in conjunction with our Data Promise and our Terms of Business.

The Legal Basis on which we process your data.

We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:  updating and enhancing client records, analysis to help us manage our practice, statutory returns, legal and regulatory compliance.  Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018 and our duty of confidentiality.

Data we will collect

• Name, address and telephone number and email address (if available)
• Your National Insurance number
• Your bank and/or building society details
• Identity Verification documentation which may include your passport and/or drivers licence and Address verification documentation e.g. utility bill, bank statement etc.

As we will be acting for you in respect of a Family Law matter, i.e. Divorce, Separation, Financial Remedy etc it will be necessary for us to collect Information specific to those circumstances, e.g. details of your husband/wife/partner and children (where applicable) or other family members.  We will also require your Marriage Certificate.

If resolving the financial aspects of your matter we will also require income and expenditure details, financial information including property and other assets and pension details (where appropriate)

Your personal data will be collected at our initial meetings with you.  However, prior to meeting with you we will request your name and address together with that of the other party (where applicable) to enable us to carry out a Conflict of Interest search.

Further information will be collected as your matter progresses.

We may also need to obtain information from third parties but we will obtain your authority to do so.

Sharing your data

Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers e.g. barristers or other experts;

External regulatory authorities e.g. SRA and Accounts Auditors to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

External service providers where appropriate and under the control of specific Service and Confidentiality Agreements.

Where your personal data is held

Information may be held at our offices and/or third party agencies, service providers and on our IT systems.

Your rights under GDPR

Under GDPR you have the following rights:

• The right to be informed about our processing of your personal data;
• The right to have your personal data corrected if it is inaccurate and to have incomplete personal data corrected;
• The right to object to processing of your personal data;
• The right to restrict processing of your personal data;
• The right to object to processing of your personal data;
• The right to have your personal data erased (the “the right to be forgotten”);
• The right to request access to your personal data and information about how we process it;
• The right to move, copy or transfer your personal data (“data portability”)

Retention of Data

We will retain your data in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements.  At the present time this is six years.  Please see our Terms of Business  for further information on retention of your documents and data.

Keeping your personal data secure

The security of your data is extremely important to us and we have procedures in place to prevent data breaches and prevent your data from being accidentally lost or accessed unlawfully.  Should a breach occur we will notify you accordingly and if appropriate we will notify any regulatory authorities.  Those processing your information have a duty of confidentiality.

Your responsibilities

You should take sufficient security measures to protect your information, your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems.  Further information can be obtained at www.getsafeonline.org.

How to complain

If you have any queries or concerns please contact Marion Foley, our Data Protection Officer, in the first instance.  Under GDPR you also have the right to raise any concerns with the ICO at www.ico.org.uk