www.TheProbateDepartment.co.uk
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Terms and Conditions of Business
The Company
1. The Probate Department Ltd is the “Company”. The company is in no way connected with the official Government Probate Registry.
Material Interests and Conflicts
2. Occasions can arise where the Company or one or other of its clients will have a material interest in business which the Company is transacting for a trust, estate or a Power of Attorney matter. If this happens, or the Company becomes aware that its interests or those of one or other clients conflict with the interests of anyone for whom the Company acts in a fiduciary capacity, it will inform all potential beneficiaries who are of age and competent and obtain their consent before it carries out a transaction. Where minor beneficiaries may receive trust or estate assets, the Company may at its discretion proceed without their consent, provided that the consent of their parent or guardian is obtained.
Complaints
3. If you should have any complaint about the services you receive from the Company, you should write to the Compliance Officer at the Company’s address set out below. Additionally, if your complaint relates to investment business, you have the right to write directly to the Investment Ombudsman concerning the matter; details will be provided by the Company upon request. We do not conduct investment business in house.
4. If you make a valid claim against the Company arising out of the transactions which have been entered into, arranged or effected pursuant to this Agreement and the Company is unable to meet its liabilities in full, you may be entitled to redress from the Investors Compensation Scheme. Details of the cover provided by the scheme are given in a leaflet which any financial adviser involved will send to you at your request.
Records and Communications
5. The Company requires its Clients to give instructions in writing, to avoid possible disputes. If this is not practicable, the Company may, at its discretion, accept oral instructions, provided they are subsequently confirmed in writing. Instructions to acquire investments cannot be effected until the Company has received the necessary funds, or, for disposals, any relevant registrations have taken place.
6. The Company shall keep records of all business transactions for a period of six years from the date of such transaction. You or your appointed agent may inspect contract notes, vouchers and entries in the Company’s books (whether kept manually or electronically)
which relate solely to your affairs. The Company treats all Clients’ records as confidential and, therefore, reserves the right not to give you copies of your records if to do otherwise would be to allow access to files containing information about other Clients.
Fees and Commissions
7. The Company shall be entitled to remuneration out of the estate of the funds subject to the trusts of the Will, settlement or funds administered under a Power of Attorney as the case may be, in accordance with its standard scale of fees in force for the time being or such amended or other scale as may be subsequently introduced after the date of death or commencement of the settlement, which remuneration shall be payable free of all Inheritance Tax or other taxes or duties and as a first charge upon the estate, trust fund or funds administered under a Power of Attorney and without liability to abatement and exclusive of all legal costs and disbursements and other expenses properly incurred and paid.
8. Subject to any express provision to the contrary in the Will, Codicil, or trust instrument, the Company reserves the right to determine the incidence of its remuneration as between different parts of an estate or trust or as between beneficiaries and every such determination shall be binding on all persons concerned.
9. The Company may without being liable to account for any profit thereby made:
(a) Perform any service on behalf of the estate, trust, or client by whom a Power of Attorney is given, and make charges commensurate with the service rendered;
(b) Retain for itself any remuneration including brokerage or commission or share of such received by it on the sale, purchase or transfer of investments, effecting or renewing insurance and otherwise and any remuneration received as a result of the appointment of a Nominee of the Company as a Director or other officer of any other company whose shares, stocks or debentures are comprised in the estate or trust;
(c) Employ and retain any company or concern notwithstanding that the company or any subsidiary or associated company has an interest in such company or concern or that such company has an interest in the Company.
The Company will disclose any such earnings in the statements it produces.
10. The Company may from time-to-time open bank accounts on behalf of its clients with At the date of these terms of business it would cost more to pay over the interest in most cases than the interest, we will therefore retain any interest totalling less than £50 and pay over the balance as at the date of distribution. Anything arriving subsequently will not be paid over. 11. 11. All Stamp Duty, brokerage commission, currency conversion costs and other expenses (together with any taxes added thereto) shall be the responsibility of the trust, estate or client by whom a Power of Attorney is given, and may be paid by deduction from the account balances as and when they fall due.
Client Money
12. All money belonging to Clients will be held in separate Client bank accounts which are identified as Trust Accounts. All Client Account money is segregated from the funds belonging to the Company.
13. If the Company decides it is able to distribute money to a person beneficially entitled, the Company will either forward the money to the client at the latest address the Company has for that client, by crossed cheque, or if the Company has been given details of the client’s bank account, it may Telegraphically Transfer the money to the client’s account, at the client’s request. Alternatively, the Company may hold the money as Bare Trustee.
Documents of Title
14. When the Company is acting as executor, administrator, trustee or Attorney jointly with another or others then, unless the Company otherwise agrees:
(a) All monies, securities, Title Deeds and documents belonging or relating to the estate or trust shall be under the exclusive custody and control of the Company, any other executor, administrator, trustee or Attorney having all reasonable facilities for verification or inspection.
(b) The name of the Company or the name of its nominees shall be placed first in the
registers of all registered stocks, shares, securities, or property and all steps shall be taken for ensuring the payment to the Company exclusively or to its nominees for the time being, of all dividends and interest thereon and for enabling the Company to exercise all voting and other rights arising therefrom.
15. The Company may decline to retain investments on which there is a liability and in particular partly paid shares or shares in companies with unlimited liability.
Use of Nominees
16. The Company may at its discretion vest any property of the estate or trust in any person or corporate body as its nominee provided that in the case of any investment falling within Schedule 1 of the Financial Services amd Markets Act 2000, such person or corporate body shall be an eligible custodian as defined by the FSA Rules.
Sundry Provisions
17. Notwithstanding the power to charge for its services the Company shall be entitled to employ such solicitors, accountants and other agents as it thinks fit and be repaid out of the estate or trust any expenses which may legally be retained or paid by a private executor, trustee or Attorney, including the costs of a solicitor or other agent.
18. The Company may act in the exercise of any discretionary or other powers by its proper officers.
19. Unless otherwise provided in the Will, Codicil, or trust instrument, every appointment, whether under the statutory power or under any special power of a new trustee, during the period of trusteeship of the Company, shall be subject to the consent in writing of the Company.
20. The Company shall have the right to retain income from client accounts up to £20.
21. If the estate, trust, or funds over which a Power of Attorney has been given includes a trade or business, the Company will carry on the trade or business only with a view to realisation or distribution and on the terms that the Company shall be indemnified against expenses and losses out of the trust funds and the Company and its Co-executors, Co-Attorneys, Co-administrators or Co-trustees (if any), shall have power without an order of the court to effect any disposition or transaction relating to any such trade or business which the court would have had jurisdiction to authorise under Section 57 of the Trustee Act 1925, save only where, under a Power of Attorney, the Company agrees to carry on the trade or business.
Periodic Statements
22. For trusts and Power of Attorney matters, periodic statements of monies received or paid out by the trustees together with a list of the trust’s or Power of Attorney clients’ assets will be issued by the Company every six months, upon the anniversary, and the half year thereafter for each trust or Power of Attorney client, save only where agreed otherwise by the trustees or Attorney. For estates, a periodic statement will be issued when the Company believes it appropriate to do so, failing which a periodic statement will be issued at the end of the estate administration.
This Agreement
23. This Agreement constitutes the entire Agreement between us in relation to the matters referred to herein and is to be considered as accepted in its entirety even if not returned signed if no objections are raised to it within 14 days.
Termination
24. The termination of this Agreement will be considered as follows:
(a) When the Company is appointed as a trustee, it will give careful consideration to any request for the Company to retire, subject to suitable new trustees being appointed and the appropriate indemnities given. The Company will generally accede to such requests unless it believes that the interests of the beneficiaries may be adversely affected.
(b) Where the Company is appointed as an Attorney and the Enduring Power of Attorney has not been registered with the Court of Protection, the donor has the right to revoke the Power of Attorney at any time. Once registration has occurred, the Company will cease to act only on the direction of the Court.
(c) When the Company acts in the administration of an estate, the Company will be unable to cease to act once it has intermeddled with the estate, except at the direction of the High Court of Justice.
Insurance
25. The Company maintains Professional Indemnity Insurance
26. In order that we may maintain records for you, we are assuming your consent that information provided by you be processed (in terms of the Data Protection Act 1998) to provide you with advice within the Fry Group of Companies. This information will not be disclosed to third parties (with the exception of the necessary processing of business) without obtaining your consent.
Jurisdiction
27. The Company provides a service in England and Wales only and claims no expertise in other jurisdictions.
Signed Signed:
For the family For the Probate Department Ltd
Dated: Dated:
NAME: Name:
Address:
Revised December 2011
