Terms & Conditions

Details of our T&C’s.

The following terms of business apply to all services purchased by the Client and accepted by the Company.

All work carried out in provision of Will Writing Services is subject to these Terms except where changes are expressly agreed in writing.

These Terms of Business form the basis of the contract between the Company and the Client.

 

DEFINITIONS

The Term, ‘the Company’, shall mean Carter Westwood Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”).

The ‘Client’, shall mean anyone instructing the Company for the provision of Will Writing Services.

‘Will Writing Services’ shall mean the provision of Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Living Wills, Notices of Severance, and other services of a legal nature provided by the Company to the Client.

‘Documents’ shall mean Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, or any other legal documents produced as part of the Will Writing Services.

 

OUR OBLIGATIONS

  • The Company is obliged to give you best advice on matters relating to Will Writing Services. In some cases this may require additional products/services, provided at extra cost either by the Company or another company recommended by us. You are under no obligation to take up any product or service, but the Company may require you to sign a disclaimer if you choose not to do so.
  • The Company may require you to sign a disclaimer if you instruct us to draft any product or service in a way that is contrary to our advice.
  • Any advice that is given by the Company is based on its understanding of law, practices and procedures at the date of this agreement. The Company is not responsible for any consequences arising from any future changes in the law, practices or procedures.
  • The Company has Professional Indemnity Insurance of £2 million to cover claims and losses arising as a result of any negligent act by the Company.
  • The Company reserves the right to withdraw from any transaction if it is unable to complete any transaction in whole or in part but if it does so, it will write to you immediately and you will not be liable to pay any fees.
  • The costs of correcting any error or omission on the part of the Company shall be borne entirely by the Company.
  • The Company will provide free service and support via email on any matter relating to their transaction for a minimum period of one month following the delivery of their Documents.
  • The Company reserves the right to carry out a consultation either online or via the telephone.
  • The Company offers a chargeable validity checking service that checks the signing and witnessing of your Documents to ensure they have been completed correctly. The Company will not accept responsibility for ensuring the validity of your Documents where the validity checking service has not been taken up. The signing of your Documents must be carried out according to the law of England and Wales in order for your Documents to be valid. All Documents will be supplied to you with full written instructions.
  • The Company offers a legal validity checking service of your original signed Documents or copies of the signed attestation pages to ensure they have been signed and witnessed correctly when taking our amendments package. Wills incorrectly signed or witnessed will be replaced at nominal cost by the Company with our amendments package, whereas all other Documents may be charged.
  • The Company may inform your Executors, Trustees, Guardians and Attorneys of their appointment and send them information about their responsibilities.
  • Where the Company offers an amendments package, the Company does not accept any liability or obligation to advise you of any changes in legislation or taxation which may affect you either directly or indirectly and which may necessitate a review of your Documents. All Wills should be reviewed every two years and on the occasion of any material change in your circumstances, such as divorce, marriage, the birth of children or the inheritance of a large sum of money etc.
  • Where the Client takes up an amendments package the Company will accept a cancellation at any time, but no refund will be made for any unused periods. You may cancel by writing to the Company at their postal or email address. Where a client or executors request Documents to be returned from storage, there is a £50 + VAT fee unless the client is deceased in which case this amount will be reduced. The amendments service includes amendments for Wills only, this shall include a maximum of one amended Will per rolling year. The amendments package does not cover the cost of producing, posting and packaging of an amended Will, this is a separate fee payable at time of producing the new Documents.
  • The Company will maintain client files for a minimum period of 6 years after your death, or for a minimum period of 6 years after you have notified us in writing that your document(s) have been revoked, whichever event occurs first.
 

YOUR OBLIGATIONS

  • The validity, accuracy and suitability of any Documents that we provide will partly depend upon the honesty, completeness and accuracy of your answers to our questions. The Company therefore requires you to be open and honest with the information that you provide to us. The Company is not responsible for any consequences arising from inaccurate or incomplete information provided by you. Once the Will has been drafted any amendments required will be chargeable.
  • To read through the Documents to ensure they correctly reflect your wishes and check that all names and addresses are correct within 14 days of the Documents being sent to you.
  • If the amendments package is purchased, to return the signed Documents or copies of the signed attestation pages to us within 28 days for legal validity checking, validation and storage. If you fail to send the Documents to us, or delay their return then the Company shall accept no liability for the efficacy of the Documents due to your failure to comply with the above.
  • To return any documents that we need returned for processing such as conveyancing documents for severance of tenancy within 28 days.
  • To notify the Company if you do not receive your Documents within 28 days of full instructions being provided, unless otherwise agreed.
 

TIMESCALES

  • If you are unable to provide all of the information that the Company requires to draft your Documents within 28 days of it being requested then you will forfeit the service and no refunds will be given.
 

PAYMENT

  • Standard Will writing deals purchased through Groupon, Living Social, Wowcher, Zeek, Crusader Vouchers or any vouchers from any other sources include drafting of the Will(s) to include:
    • Up to two of each of the following: Executors, Trustees, Guardians, Gifts of Chattels, Monetary Gifts, Levels of Distribution of Residual Estate.
    • Up to eight Beneficiaries in total (over two Levels of Distribution of Residual Estate).
  • Anything more than this shall incur a cost of £10 + VAT per addition. Hard copies of the Will(s) are not included and shall incur a charge of £10 + VAT per copy. Commentary to explain the clauses within the Will(s) is also available for an additional £10 + VAT per Will.
  • Payment for any additional products/services will be required, in full, prior to the completion of the Documents.
  • Fees may be paid by debit card, credit card, BACS, or cheque.
  • Fees may be increased to cover increases out of our control or where government authorities i.e. Land Registry, Office of the Public Guardian, etc. increase their fees.
  • Where you have authorised a direct debit to pay for an amendments package by giving us your bank details, unless the Company receives the cancellation in writing prior to the payment date, no refund will be given.
 

YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL

  • You have a right to cancel this agreement with the Company within 14 days of the date of this agreement by writing to the Company at the postal address or the email address below and you will not be required to make a payment or if payment has already been made, a full refund. Please note where you have purchased this service via another company or as part of your mortgage then the refund may need to be returned to the company or lender.
  • You can cancel this agreement with Carter Westwood Ltd no later than 14 days after the date of this agreement by writing to the Company at the postal address or the email address below and:
    • Provided we have not conducted a consultation there will be a cancellation fee of £35 + VAT.
    • If we have conducted a full and final consultation but not yet written the Documents then the cancellation fee will be £95 + VAT.
    • If we have conducted a full and final consultation and written the Documents then there will be no refunds and all the monies will become due.
    • If the total cancellation is due to a delay on the part of the Company that is beyond the timescale referred to in section 4 then you will be eligible for a full refund regardless of whether the Documents have been produced or not.
  • Where a notice of cancellation is posted, it is recommended that it is sent by Recorded Delivery and notification emailed to the Company to ensure cancellation notice has been received.
  • The Company will acknowledge receipt of notice of cancellation in writing within 14 days.
  • You can agree in writing that the Company can start work on your documentation on a date before the expiry of 14 days of the date that you give us information to enable us to complete work for you however your rights to cancel will be terminated on the day the Company starts work on your Documents.
 

CLIENT CARE

If you are not happy with any aspect of service provided by the Company, you should first of all email our Client Care Manager at admin@carterwestwood.co.uk

By proceeding you give consent for your details to be passed on to any third parties such as National Will Writers to enable them to monitor compliance with their Code of Conduct and to test levels of customer satisfaction or AFS Advisers Ltd who offer financial advice for example.

It is important that you read and understand the above terms that will apply to this agreement. If there is any term that you do not understand or do not wish to agree to, then please discuss it with Carter Westwood Ltd before proceeding. Only proceed if you wish to be bound by these Terms of Business.

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