We are really very lucky to have a team of data protection experts at the firm. They have been working flat out in the run up to GDPR so really appreciated me sending them a copy of the STEP article last week and asking them if it was correct! This is the article in which Helen Hill’s exchange with the ICO is reproduced.
I said that it seemed to me that when the testator died, their executor would become the data controller not the law firm holding the Will in store. My colleague agrees and can’t see how the role would suddenly attach to the firm simply because the testator dies and, as such, the firm itself would not have any obligation to provide a privacy notice. My colleague notes that the article confuses the right of access (Article 15) with the right to be informed (Articles 13 and 14) so do consider how much reliance you wish to place upon it.
Stuart Adams
Mishcon de Reya LLP