All engagements that we accept are subject to the following standard terms of business unless changes are expressly agreed in writing.
1 Professional obligations
1.1 We are authorised by CILEx Regulation for probate authorisation number 3001298. We follow the CILEX Code of Conduct and act in accordance with CILEx Regulation’s rules, regulations and guidance that apply to authorised firms. Rules and Guidance governing CILEx Authorised Entities- CILEx Regulation
The firm’s authorised individuals responsible for your probate services are David Pattman and Nikki Drake. David Pattman and Nikki Drake are both authorised by CILEx Regulation as CILEX Practitioner (ACCA-Probate) and will be personally responsible for the conduct of your matter.
1.2 Where we become aware of errors made by HM Revenue & Customs you give us authority to correct them. We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations.
1.3 As required by the Provision of Services Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/2999) details of the firm’s professional registrations can be found at www.attenboroughs.com
Professional indemnity insurance (PII) and compensation arrangements
We are specialist and authorised by CILEx Regulation to provide legal services in the areas of law detailed in the table below.
Not all areas of law must be authorised. This includes wills and trusts and we also provide these legal services.
Areas of Law provided by this firm:
Probate ( including estate administration) – Covered by insurance and covered by CILEx regulation compensation arrangements
Wills – Covered by insurance
Trusts – Covered by insurance
We have professional Indemnity Insurance which covers all legal services that we provide. This insurance ensures that you do not lose out financially in the unlikely event that the firm makes a mistake.
The CILEx Regulation Compensation Arrangements provide additional protection if legal services are provided in matters of Probate (including Estate Administration), Wills and Trusts areas of law. Payments under the scheme are discretionary and subject to meeting certain criteria.
1.4 In accordance with the disclosure requirements of the Provision of Services Regulations 2009, our professional indemnity insurer is AXIS Speciality Europe SE, 52 Lime Street, London, EC3M 7AF. The territorial coverage is worldwide excluding professional business carried out from an office in the United States of America or Canada and excludes any action for a claim brought in any court in the United States of America or Canada.
1.5 Our professional insurance cover in respect of loss or damage suffered by you arising out of, or in connection with, our engagement is up to a maximum of £2,000,000 and is capped at this level.
1.6 If for any reason circumstances arise that may result in a claim to our professional indemnity insurers, you give us your permission to notify them.
2 Our Fees
2.1 Our fees are calculated on the basis of time spent on your affairs, the levels of skill and responsibility involved, the importance and value of the advice provided to you, and the level of risk. In addition, we may charge disbursements of travel, accommodation and other expenses incurred in dealing with your affairs.
2.2 If it is necessary for us to carry out work that is outside the scope of the engagement currently in place with you, we will advise you of this in advance. Any additional work will result in additional fees being charged. We would therefore like to point out that it is in your interests to ensure that the information you provide us with is completed to the agreed stage.
2.3 If we give you an estimate of our fees for carrying out any specific work, then that estimate will not be contractually binding unless we have explicitly stated that will be the case.
2.4 If we agree a fixed fee with you for providing a specific range of services this will be the subject of a separate agreement. This agreement will set out the period which the fixed fee relates to and the services covered by it.
2.5 Where we have agreed that you will pay on an invoice rendered basis, invoices are payable in full (including disbursements) in accordance with the terms set out on the invoice. Any queries you have on our invoices must be notified to us within 21 days of receipt or we shall deem you to have accepted that payment is due.
2.6 Where we have agreed that you will pay us on a standing order basis, we will discuss with you separately the amount and frequency of payments. These standing orders will be applied to fees arising from work agreed in our letter of engagement for the current and ensuing years. Where a scheduled monthly payment is not made any fees invoiced to you that are outstanding at that time will immediately become due for payment in entirety.
2.7 You may have an insurance policy or membership of a trade or professional body that entitles you to assistance with payment of our fees in some situations. A particular example would be assistance with an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs. Unless you arranged the insurance through us then you will need to advise us of any such cover you have. Please note that you remain liable for our fees regardless of whether all or part are liable to be paid by your insurers.
2.8 We reserve the right to terminate our engagement and cease acting if payment of any fees billed is unduly delayed. We accept settlement of fees by certain credit cards.
2.9 In the event that we cease to act for you then you agree to meet all reasonable costs of providing information to your new advisers. In particular you agree to meet these costs where we are required by law to provide information to a successor firm.
3 Help us to give you the right service
3.1 If at any time you would like to discuss with us how our service to you could be improved, or if you are dissatisfied with the service you are receiving, please let us know by contacting David Pattman. Please also see section 24 below.
3.2 We undertake to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and do all we can to explain the position to you. If we do not answer your complaint to your satisfaction, you may of course take up the matter with the CILEx Regulation.
Phone: 01234 845770
Email: [email protected]
Address: Room 301, Endeavour House, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4HS
3.3 In order for us to provide you with a high-quality service on an ongoing basis it is essential that you provide us with relevant records and information when requested, reply to correspondence in a timely manner and otherwise follow the terms of the agreement between us set out in this Standard
Terms of Business and associated Engagement letters. We therefore reserve the right to cancel the engagement between us with immediate effect in the event of:
your insolvency, bankruptcy or other arrangement being reached with creditors;
failure to pay our fees by the due dates;
either party being in breach of their obligations where this is not corrected within 30 days of
being asked to do so.
4 Commissions or other benefits
4.1 In some circumstances, commissions or other benefits may become payable to us or one of our associates in respect of transactions we or such associates arrange for you. If this happens, we will notify you in writing of the amount and terms of payment. The fees that would be otherwise payable by you will be abated by such amounts.
5 Client monies
5.1 Money held by us on your behalf is deposited in a designated client account with one or more banks. We do not accept any liability to you or anyone else if such a bank holding client account monies defaults in making a required payment when due, including refunding the money to you or to us. However, if there is such a default, you may be entitled to compensation under such financial services compensation schemes as may be operated by the Financial Conduct Authority at the relevant time.
5.2 We pay gross interest on money held in a client account in accordance with our policy and in line with SRA Account Rules 2019. The rate of interest applied is that considered fair and reasonable for the amount of money held. This will usually be based on an instant access account, enabling us to facilitate the necessary transactions. You are unlikely to receive as much interest as might have been obtained had you held and invested the money yourself. Interest will be calculated on a quarterly basis and accrued sums under £50 will be disregarded, but all other interest will be paid in accordance with our policy, unless some other arrangement has been agreed with you. Where a designated deposit account is held, interest due to you will be paid net of basic rate income tax unless evidence to the contrary is received.
6 Retention of and access to records
6.1 During the course of our work we will collect information from you and others acting on your behalf and will return any original documents to you following the preparation of your accounts and returns.
You have a legal responsibility to retain these records. The law requires individuals, trustees and partnerships to keep records in relation to trading or rental income 6 years from the 31 January following the end of the tax year to which they relate. Other records should be kept for 22 months after the end of the tax year they relate to. Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships and other corporate entities are required to keep records for 6 years from the end of the accounting period.
6.2 While certain documents may legally belong to you, unless you tell us not to, we intend to destroy correspondence and other papers that we store which are more than 6 years old from the date of the closure of the matter, other than documents which we consider to be of continuing significance. If you require retention of any document, you must notify us of that fact in writing.
7 Conflicts of interest and independence
7.1 We reserve the right during our engagement with you to deliver services to other clients whose interests might compete with yours or are or may be adverse to yours. We confirm that we will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest involving us and affecting you.
We have safeguards that can be implemented to protect the interests of different clients if a conflict arises. Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then we regret that we will be unable to provide further services.
7.2 If a conflict of interest should arise, either between two or more of our clients, or in the provision of multiple services to a single client, we will take such steps as are necessary to deal with the conflict.
In resolving the conflict, we would be guided by the Code of Ethics of the CILEx Regulation which can be viewed at www.cilexregulation.org.uk .
8 Confidentiality
8.1 Communication between us is confidential and we shall take all reasonable steps to keep your information confidential except where we are required to disclose it by law, by our regulatory body CILEx Regulation, by our insurers or as part of an external peer review. We may, on occasions, subcontract work on your affairs to other tax or accounting professionals. Any subcontractors we use will be bound by the same confidentiality requirements.
9 Quality control
9.1 As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a quality service, our files are periodically subject to an independent regulatory or quality review. Our reviewers are highly experienced and professional people and are, of course, bound by the same requirements of confidentiality as our principals and staff.
10 Applicable law
10.1 This engagement letter is governed by, and construed in accordance with, English law. The Courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning this engagement letter and any matter arising from it. Each party irrevocably waives any right it may have to object to any action being brought in those courts, to claim that the action has been brought in an inappropriate forum, or to claim that those courts do not have jurisdiction.
10.2 If any provision in these terms of business or any associated engagement letter, or its application, are found to be invalid, illegal or otherwise unenforceable in any respect, the validity, legality or enforceability of any other provisions shall not in any way be affected or impaired.
11 Changes in the Law
11.1 We will not accept responsibility if you act on advice previously given by us without first confirming with us that the advice is still valid in the light of any change in the law or your circumstances.
11.2 We will accept no liability for losses arising from changes in the law or the interpretation thereof that occur after the date on which the advice is given.
12 Internet communication
12.1 Unless you tell us otherwise, we will at times use email or other electronic means to communicate with you.
12.2 Internet communications are capable of data corruption and therefore we do not accept any responsibility for changes made to such communications after their despatch. It may therefore be inappropriate to rely on advice contained in an e-mail without obtaining written confirmation of it. We do not accept responsibility for any errors or problems that may arise through the use of internet communication and all risks connected with sending commercially sensitive information relating to your business are borne by you. If you do not agree to accept this risk, you should notify us in writing that e-mail is not an acceptable means of communication.
12.3 It is the responsibility of the recipient to carry out a virus check on any attachments received.
13 Data Protection
13.1 We adhere to all applicable data protection legislation when processing personal data. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for further information on how we process personal data. For a copy of our policy, please contact Nikki Drake, our Data Protection Officer.
13.2 Where you provide us with any personal data it is your sole responsibility to ensure its accuracy and legality. We will use the personal information we receive about you for the management of our relationship with you and for our marketing purposes where you agree for us to do so.
13.3 If you have any questions regarding the content of our Privacy Policy, or if you wish to make a request to exercise your rights as a data subject (including your right to access copies of the personal data we hold about you, or to stop receiving marketing communications from us), please email [email protected]
14 Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
14.1 Persons who are not party to this agreement shall have no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this agreement. This clause does not affect any right or remedy of any person which exists or is available otherwise than pursuant to that Act.
14.2 The advice we give you is for your sole use and is confidential to you and will not constitute advice for any third party to whom you may communicate it. We will accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them.
15 The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017
15.1 In common with all accountancy and legal practices, the firm is required by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 to:
Maintain identification procedures for clients and beneficial owners of clients;
Maintain records of identification evidence and the work undertaken for the client; and
Report, in accordance with the relevant legislation and Regulations.
15.2 The offence of money laundering includes concealing, converting, using or possessing the benefits of any activity that constitutes a criminal offence in the UK. It also includes involvement in and arrangement that facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of such a benefit.
15.3 This definition is very wide and would include such crimes as deliberate tax evasion, deliberate failure to inform the tax authorities of known underpayments or excessive repayments, fraudulent claiming of benefits or grants, or obtaining a contract through bribery. Clearly these examples are by no means exhaustive.
15.4 Firm’s Principals: We are obliged by law to report any instances of money laundering to NCA without your knowledge or consent. In consequence, neither the firms; principals nor staff may enter into any correspondence or discussions with you regarding such matters.
15.5 We may use electronic checks as part of our identification procedures. We confirm that these electronic checks are not credit checks.
16 General limitation of liability
16.1 We will provide services as outlined in this letter with reasonable care and skill. However, to the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be responsible for any losses, penalties, surcharges, interest or additional tax liabilities where you or others supply incorrect or incomplete information or fail to supply any appropriate information or where you fail to act on our advice or respond promptly to communications from us or the tax authorities.
16.2 You will not hold us, the owners of this firm and any staff employed by the firm, responsible, to the fullest extent permitted by law, for any loss suffered by you arising from any misrepresentation (intentional or unintentional) supplied to us orally or in writing in connection with this agreement. You have agreed that you will not bring any claim in connection with services we provide to you against any of the principals or employees personally.
16.3 Our work is not, unless there is a legal or regulatory requirement, to be made available to third parties without our written permission and we will accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them.
17 Use of our name in statements or documents issued by you
17.1 You are not permitted to use our name in any statement or document that you may issue unless our prior written consent has been obtained. The only exception to this restriction would be statements or documents that in accordance with applicable law are to be made public.
18 Draft/interim work
18.1 In the course of our providing services to you we may provide advice or reports or other work products in draft or interim form. However final written work products will always prevail over any draft or interim statements. Where you request it, we will provide you with written confirmation of matters stated orally.
19 Advice
19.1 Advice we give you orally should not be relied upon unless we confirm it in writing. We endeavour to record all advice on important matters in writing. However, if you particularly wish to rely upon oral advice we give you during a telephone conversation or a meeting, you must ask for the advice to be confirmed in writing.
19.2 Unless specifically instructed and agreed in advance we will not assist with the implementation of our advice.
20 Intellectual property rights
20.1 The copyright in any document prepared by us belongs to us in entirety unless the law specifically provides otherwise.
21 Interpretation
21.1 If there is a conflict between the engagement letter and these terms of business then the engagement letter takes precedence.
21.2 If any provision of this engagement letter or terms of business or its application is held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect, the validity, legality or enforceability of any other provision and its application shall not in any way be affected or impaired.
22 Provision of cloud-based services
22.1 Where the firm provides accounting software in the Cloud, this will be provided by a third party (the ‘Cloud Supplier’). The third party has signed a confidentiality agreement with the firm to ensure compliance with the relevant clauses in the firm’s standard terms of business i.e. our fees (2), Confidentiality (8), Internet Communication (12), Data Protection Act (13) and General Limitation of Liability(16).
22.2 The service provided by the Cloud Supplier will be a discrete web based hosted facility, and you agree that access will also be provided to the firm and the third party.
22.3 The firm cannot be held liable for any interruption of service provided by the Cloud Supplier. However, we will liaise with them to help ensure that normal service is resumed as soon as possible.
23 Investment services
23.1 Since we are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority then we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised if you need advice on investments. Client Money
23.2 Please note that we are not authorised to hold client money.
24 Complaints handling (Information also on Complaints tab on menu)
24.1 Here at Attenboroughs Probate and Wills Limited we aim to provide the best possible service to all our clients, so if you have any concerns, please contact the individual managing your matter as soon as these arise so that they can be addressed promptly. If this does not address the issue to your satisfaction, you can raise a formal complaint, by contacting David Pattman.
Telephone: 01992 468536
Letter: Attenboroughs, 1 Tower House, Hoddesdon, Herts, EN11 8UR
Email: [email protected]
24.2 We will consider carefully any complaint that you may make about our probate services as soon as we receive it and will do all we can to resolve the issue. We will acknowledge your complaint within five business days of its receipt and endeavour to deal with it within 8 weeks. Complaints should be made by phone, email, letter or any other form of communication commonly used by the firm.
24.3 Where your complaint relates to the misconduct of a CILEx Practitioner, you can refer your complaint free of charge to CILEx Regulation for them to investigate. Misconduct complaints must be made within 12 months of the act or omission that gave rise to the complaint or within 12 months of the complainant having knowledge of the act or omission that gave rise to the complaint, whichever is the greater.
24.4 To help us to understand your complaint, and in order that we do not miss anything, please tell us:
your full name and contact details;
what you think we have got wrong and when it occured; and
how you would like your complaint to be resolved;
24.5 What will happen next?
All complaints will be acknowledged by email within four working days, so that you have confirmation that your complaint is being investigated.
We will then investigate your complaint, which will involve reviewing the file and speaking to relevant members of staff. We may need further information from you and will contact you if this is necessary. If appropriate we may invite you to a meeting to discuss the complaint. You would not be required to attend if you do not wish to, and we would be happy to discuss the matter with you on the telephone if you prefer.
At the end of our investigation, we will provide you with a written response detailing our findings and outlining what action we propose to take. We aim to do this within 28 days of receiving your complaint but will advise you in advance if this period needs to be extended.
Upon receipt of our letter detailing the outcome of our investigation and our proposed action, we would ask that within 14 days you contact us to either inform us:· That you are satisfied with the action that has been taken and that we can therefore close the complaint, or· That you are dissatisfied with what is proposed.
Where you are dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation, we will carry out a further review of the complaint and consider any new information, if there is any. We will aim to do this within 14 days and then provide you with a final written response to your complaint detailing the findings and proposed action.
If your complaint relates to the service we have provided and you are still not satisfied with the outcome in our final written response to you or we have not provided a final written response to your complaint within 8 weeks of receiving it, then you may be able to have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints relating to poor service, but before accepting a complaint for investigation the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, and you are not satisfied with the outcome, then you can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:· Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and· No more than one year from the date of the act / omission that gave rise to the complaint; or· No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman
please contact them:
Contact details:
Visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call 0300 555 0333 between 10am to 4pm.
Relay UK: 18001 0300 555 0333
Email [email protected]
Legal Ombudsman PO BOX 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
As the firm is authorised by the CILEx Regulation, if your complaint relates to the misconduct of a CILEX member or CILEX Practitioner (ACCA Probate), you can refer your complaint free of charge to CILEx Regulation for them to investigate. Misconduct is defined as any breach of the CILEX Code of Conduct: 2.-Code-of-Conduct-2019.pdf (cilexregulation.org.uk) Misconduct complaints must be made within 12 months of the act or omission that gave rise to the complaint or within 12 months of the complainant having knowledge of the act or omission that gave rise to the complaint, whichever is the greater. CILEx Regulation can be contacted by:· Telephone: 01234 845770· Email on [email protected]· Website: https://cilexregulation.org.uk· Post: Room 301, Endeavour House, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire, MK45 4HS.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) bodies such as ProMediate of Brow Farm, Top Road, Frodsham WA6 6SP, www.prometiate.co.uk exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. Currently we do not agree to using an ADR scheme as we believe our own inhouse investigation supported where necessary by that provided by the Legal Ombudsman and CILEx Regulation is sufficient.
25 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standards
25.1 Unless agreed specifically in a separate engagement letter, we are not responsible for your compliance with the International Tax Compliance (United States of America) Regulations 2013, produced as a result of FATCA. In particular, we are not responsible for the categorisation of any UK entity into either a Financial Institution (FI) or an active or passive Non-Financial Foreign Entity
(NFFE) nor, if a Financial Institution, for its registration with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and subsequent submission of the required annual returns to HM Revenue & Customs.
25.2 However, if requested to do so we can provide advice on the completion of the forms supplied by Financial Institutions under these Regulations, or under Common Reporting Standards, and used by them to determine the status of an entity. We can also provide advice on setting up the appropriate systems to identify and report on your clients or beneficiaries who are foreign citizens affected by FATCA or Common Reporting Standards.
