Key points

1. Who we are

This Privacy Notice explains how Freewills, operated by Ezi Systems Ltd, a New Zealand entity with its registered office in Christchurch, New Zealand (“Freewills”, “we”, “us”, or “our”), collects, uses, stores, protects, discloses and deletes personal information in connection with the Freewills website and service at app.freewills.co.nz (“Service”).

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020, including the Information Privacy Principles.

This Privacy Notice should be read together with our Terms of Use.

By using the Service, you acknowledge the collection and handling of personal information described in this Privacy Notice.

This Privacy Notice does not remove or restrict any rights you may have under the Privacy Act 2020 or other applicable New Zealand law.

2. What personal information we collect

Account information

When you create an account, we collect information including:

• your name;
• your email address;
• account and verification information; and
• a securely hashed representation of your password.

We do not store your password in plain text.

Will and questionnaire information

To provide the Service and generate your will document, we collect the information and choices you provide through the questionnaire.

Depending on your circumstances, this may include:

• your full name;
• date of birth;
• address or location information;
• relationship and family information;
• marriage, civil union or partnership information;
• information about children and other family members;
• executor and substitute executor details;
• beneficiary details;
• guardian details;
• gifts and distribution instructions;
• asset information;
• information about charities or organisations;
• wishes, notes and other instructions; and
• other information reasonably required to generate the document you request.

This information can be highly personal and may include personal information about people other than you.

If you are signed in, stored will information is encrypted before it is stored.

Generated document versions

When you deliberately generate or complete a will version, we may record information including:

• a document identifier (“Doc ID”);
• template version;
• generation date and time;
• relevant document metadata; and
• information necessary to associate the generated version with your account.

A Doc ID records generation of a document only. It does not establish that the document was printed, signed, witnessed, retained or legally valid.

Verification and audit information

To maintain the integrity and traceability of the document-generation process, we may create and retain verification and audit information relating to important events in the Service.

Depending on the feature involved, this may include:

• a Doc ID or other document-generation identifier;
• the date and time a document was generated;
• the versions of the questionnaire, document template, signing instructions, Terms of Use and Privacy Notice associated with that generation;
• the version of an executor-notification template associated with a notice;
• records that an executor notice was queued, sent, delivered, failed or otherwise processed;
• records of significant account, privacy, security or administrative actions;
• cryptographic fingerprints or other integrity-verification values; and
• tamper-evident audit information used to detect later alteration or deletion of records.

Verification and audit records are intended to establish what the Service did at a particular point in time. They do not establish that a generated will was signed, witnessed, remained the person’s latest will, or was legally valid.

Where reasonably practicable, verification information retained after account deletion is separated from ordinary account data and reduced to the minimum information reasonably required for verification, security, dispute-resolution, legal-claim and compliance purposes.

Executor information

When you name an executor or substitute executor, we may collect information including:

• their name;
• their relationship to you, where requested;
• their email address; and
• other limited information reasonably necessary to identify them or provide the executor-notification feature.

Where you provide an executor’s email address, that address is used for the automatic executor notice described in section 6.

Partner information

If you provide your partner’s email address, we collect that address together with your partner’s name.

Where a partner’s email address is provided, that address is used for the automatic partner notification described in section 6.

Will-location information

The Service may allow you to provide a brief note describing where your signed original will is or will be kept.

For example, this might identify that the will is kept with a particular person, professional adviser or at a particular location.

If you enter a will-location note, that note may be included in an automatic email sent to your named executor or executors.

You should provide only enough information to help an executor locate the signed original.

Do not include passwords, PINs, safe combinations, alarm codes, private keys, security codes, banking credentials or other security secrets in a will-location note.

Support and communications

If you contact us, we may collect:

• your name;
• email address or other contact details;
• account information relevant to your request; and
• the contents of your communication.

We use this information to respond to your request and, where necessary, investigate problems, complaints or security concerns.

Technical and security information

We may collect technical information reasonably necessary to operate, maintain and secure the Service, including:

• IP addresses;
• browser information;
• device information;
• timestamps;
• authentication and session information;
• security events; and
• server log information.

We use session cookies and similar necessary technologies to keep you signed in and operate the Service.

3. Why we collect and use personal information

We collect and use personal information where reasonably necessary for purposes including:

• creating and managing your Freewills account;
• authenticating you;
• verifying your email address;
• providing password-reset and account-security functions;
• providing the questionnaire;
• generating your requested will document;
• saving questionnaire answers and document versions;
• providing document-history and version features;
• automatically notifying named executors;
• automatically notifying a named partner;
• sending an executor a will-location note where you have supplied one;
• providing information about the role of an executor;
• responding to support requests, correction requests and complaints;
• operating, maintaining and securing the Service;
• detecting, investigating and preventing fraud, misuse, security incidents and unlawful activity;
• diagnosing technical problems;
• complying with legal obligations; and
• improving the reliability, security and operation of the Service.

We do not use your will information to make unrelated decisions about you based solely on automated processing.

The document-generation process necessarily uses the answers and choices you provide to create the document you request.

4. Information you provide directly to us

Most information about you is collected directly from you when you:

• create an account;
• answer questionnaire questions;
• generate a document;
• change your account or will information; or
• contact us.

Providing personal information to Freewills is generally voluntary.

However, some information is required for particular parts of the Service to work.

If you do not provide information required by a particular questionnaire question or feature, Freewills may be unable to:

• create the relevant provision in your will;
• generate a complete document;
• save particular information;
• verify your account; or
• provide the relevant feature.

Where an executor’s email address is provided, the Service uses that address for the automatic executor notification described in section 6.

5. Information about beneficiaries and other people

When creating a will, you may provide personal information about people other than yourself.

These people may include:

• executors;
• substitute executors;
• beneficiaries;
• children;
• adopted children;
• stepchildren;
• other family members;
• guardians;
• partners or former partners;
• friends;
• people receiving particular gifts; and
• other individuals relevant to your will.

We collect this information from you rather than directly from those people because it is information you provide as part of preparing your own will.

We ask you to provide only information reasonably necessary for that purpose.

Indirect collection under the Privacy Act

The Privacy Act 2020 contains rules relating to personal information collected about an individual from another source.

Where Freewills collects information about another person from you, we will handle that information in accordance with those requirements.

In some circumstances, the Privacy Act allows information to be collected indirectly or allows an organisation not to notify the individual concerned.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include situations where we reasonably believe that:

• collecting the information from you rather than directly from the other person would not prejudice that person’s interests;
• not separately notifying the person would not prejudice their interests;
• the person has already been appropriately made aware of the relevant matters;
• notification is not reasonably practicable; or
• another exception permitted by the Privacy Act applies.

We assess these requirements having regard to the nature of the information, why it is collected and how it is used.

Beneficiaries

Freewills does not normally contact a beneficiary simply because they have been named in your will.

Beneficiary information is collected for the purpose of preparing, storing and administering your will information within the Service.

We do not use a beneficiary’s information for advertising, profiling or unrelated marketing.

Where we do not hold a beneficiary’s contact details, we do not collect additional contact information solely for the purpose of notifying them that they have been named in a will.

Where an applicable exception under the Privacy Act permits us not to notify an individual of indirect collection, we may rely on that exception.

Confidentiality of your testamentary choices

We recognise that information about who you have chosen to include or exclude from your will can be highly private.

Except where authorised by you, required for operation of a feature you have used, or permitted or required by law, we do not disclose the contents of your will to beneficiaries or other family members during your lifetime.

6. Automatic executor notifications

Freewills uses a different process for executors because an executor may need to know that they have been selected for that role.

When an executor is emailed

Where you provide an email address for a named executor, the Service automatically sends an executor notification after you deliberately complete the relevant will version.

There is no separate checkbox to enable the notice once the executor’s email address has been provided for this purpose.

The executor notice may tell the recipient:

• that you have named them as an executor in a will created using Freewills;
• your name, so they can identify the person who named them;
• general information about what an executor does;
• that being named does not itself prove that the will has been correctly signed, witnessed or remains the current will;
• that they should speak directly with you if they are unwilling or unable to act as executor;
• how to learn more about the general role of an executor;
• how Freewills handles their personal information;
• how they may contact Freewills about privacy, incorrect contact details or the notification; and
• a brief note about where your signed will is or will be kept, if you have entered and approved such a note.

What executors are not given

The executor notification does not provide the executor with:

• a copy of your will;
• access to your Freewills account;
• your questionnaire answers;
• your beneficiary list;
• gift amounts;
• distribution percentages;
• asset information; or
• other contents of your will except the limited information expressly described above.

Executor role information

The notification may contain links to general information explaining the role and responsibilities of an executor.

This information is provided for general information only and does not constitute personalised legal advice to the executor.

If an executor is unwilling or unable to act

The notification encourages an executor who is unwilling, unable or uncertain about acting to discuss the matter directly with the will-maker.

Freewills does not decide whether an executor accepts or declines an appointment.

Contacting Freewills, deleting an executor’s email address from our systems, or asking not to receive further emails does not by itself amend the will or remove that person as executor.

Any change to the appointment in the will must be made by the will-maker through an appropriate new or amended will-making process.

Privacy information for executors

Because Freewills obtains an executor’s personal information from the will-maker rather than directly from the executor, the automatic executor notification may also be used to make the executor aware of:

• that Freewills has collected their information;
• why it was collected;
• how it is being used;
• who holds the information;
• the intended recipients of the information; and
• their rights to request access to or correction of personal information held about them.

The notification may provide a link to this Privacy Notice for further information.

Optional Freewills link for executors

An executor notice may include an optional link allowing the executor to visit Freewills and, if they choose, create their own free will.

Receiving an executor notice does not:

• create a Freewills account for the executor;
• add them to a mailing list;
• enrol them in marketing communications;
• imply that they have agreed to receive future promotional emails; or
• require them to use Freewills.

Any promotional electronic communication will be handled in accordance with applicable New Zealand electronic-messaging law, including the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007.

We will not use an executor’s email address for unrelated promotional follow-up merely because they were named as an executor.

Automatic partner notifications

Where you provide an email address for your partner, the Service automatically sends a partner notification after you deliberately complete the relevant will version.

The partner notice may tell the recipient:

• that they have been named as your partner in a will created using Freewills; and
• your name, so they can identify you.

The partner notification does not provide the recipient with:

• a copy of your will;
• access to your Freewills account; or
• any other contents of your will.

If the recipient believes they are not the intended recipient, they should disregard the email.

Because Freewills obtains a partner’s personal information from you rather than directly from the partner, the notification may also be used to make the partner aware that their information has been collected, why it was collected, how it is being used, and their rights to request access to or correction of their personal information. The notification may provide a link to this Privacy Notice for further information.

7. Children and young people

The Service does not allow a person under 18 to use Freewills to create their own will through the standard Service.

However, an adult will-maker may provide limited personal information about a child or young person.

For example, a child may be identified as:

• the will-maker’s child;
• a beneficiary;
• a substitute beneficiary;
• a family member; or
• a person relevant to a guardianship provision.

We therefore may hold personal information about people under 18 even though people under 18 do not use the Service to create their own wills.

We handle that information in accordance with this Privacy Notice and applicable New Zealand privacy law.

We ask users not to provide unnecessary information about children or young people.

8. Information we do not use for advertising or AI training

We do not sell or rent your personal information.

We do not use the contents of:

• your generated will;
• your questionnaire answers;
• your beneficiary information;
• your executor information;
• your asset information; or
• your personal wishes

to build advertising profiles about you or another person.

We do not use this information to train artificial intelligence or machine-learning models.

If our use of personal information materially changes in the future, we will update this Privacy Notice and take any additional steps required by law before using information for a new purpose.

9. How we store and protect personal information

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

Measures used by the Service include:

• encrypting stored will information at rest;
• using encrypted connections when information is transmitted;
• restricting access to personal information to people who need access for authorised purposes;
• keeping the production database private to the server network; and
• not logging questionnaire answers or generated will contents in plain text.

No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure.

While we take reasonable security precautions, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

You are also responsible for keeping your Freewills login details secure.

10. Privacy and security breaches

If we become aware of a privacy or security incident involving personal information, we will investigate and assess it promptly.

Where a privacy breach has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm and notification is required by the Privacy Act 2020, we will notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals as required by law.

We may also take steps including:

• securing affected systems;
• resetting credentials;
• investigating unauthorised access;
• contacting affected users;
• contacting relevant service providers; and
• taking measures intended to prevent recurrence.

11. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it is held, subject to applicable legal requirements.

Active accounts

Account and saved will information is generally retained while your account remains active.

Account deletion

If you delete your account, active saved account information, questionnaire answers and saved will content are deleted through the Service, subject to the limited exceptions described in this section.

Encrypted backup copies may remain for up to 30 days after account deletion before being deleted or overwritten through normal backup processes.

Minimal verification records after deletion

Account deletion does not necessarily delete every verification or audit record associated with use of the Service.

We may retain a limited verification record where reasonably necessary for purposes including:

• verifying that a particular document was generated by Freewills;
• identifying the system, questionnaire, template, signing-instruction, Terms and Privacy Notice versions associated with a generation event;
• verifying the occurrence and integrity of significant audit events;
• investigating security incidents, fraud or misuse;
• responding to complaints or disputes;
• establishing, exercising or defending legal claims; and
• demonstrating compliance with legal, privacy, security and operational obligations.

Where retained after account deletion, this record is designed to exclude the substantive contents of your will and questionnaire, ordinary account contact details, beneficiary details and other information that is not reasonably required for those purposes.

The retained record may include a Doc ID, generation timestamp, relevant system and legal-document version numbers, cryptographic fingerprints, tamper-evident audit values and limited event metadata.

Some verification values may be pseudonymous rather than fully anonymous and may therefore remain personal information for the purposes of the Privacy Act 2020. We continue to protect any such information in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

We do not retain verification records indefinitely merely because they may be useful. We retain them only for as long as we reasonably consider them required for purposes for which they may lawfully be used, and we periodically review the continuing need for retention.

Unsaved drafts

Draft information created without being saved to an account may be retained temporarily and is deleted after 30 days.

Server and technical logs

Server logs, security logs and other technical information may be retained for up to 90 days for security, fraud-prevention, troubleshooting and operational purposes.

Executor and partner information

Executor contact information associated with a saved will or account may be retained with the relevant account information while the account remains active.

Partner contact information is handled on the same basis while the account remains active.

If an executor contacts us requesting correction of their own contact information, we will consider that request in accordance with the Privacy Act.

A request from an executor to remove or correct contact information held by Freewills does not itself change the executor appointment recorded in the user’s will.

12. Who we may disclose information to

We do not sell or rent personal information.

We may disclose or make personal information available to:

• service providers that help us host, maintain, secure or operate the Service;
• email-delivery providers used to send account, security and executor notifications;
• support providers where required to address a support request;
• professional advisers where reasonably required for legal, privacy, security, compliance or audit purposes;
• courts, regulators, law-enforcement agencies or other authorities where disclosure is required or authorised by law;
• a genuine prospective purchaser or purchaser as part of a sale, merger, restructuring or transfer of the Service, subject to applicable law and appropriate safeguards;
• a person where you have authorised the particular disclosure; or
• another person where disclosure is otherwise permitted or required by law.

Executors

Where you have supplied an executor’s email address, we disclose to that executor the limited information contained in the executor notification described in section 6.

If you provide a will-location note, that information is intentionally disclosed to the named executor or executors receiving that notification.

Partners

Where you have supplied your partner’s email address, we disclose to that partner the limited information contained in the partner notification described in section 6.

13. Service providers and information processed outside New Zealand

We may use service providers for functions such as:

• hosting;
• email delivery;
• infrastructure;
• backups;
• security; and
• support.

Some providers may process personal information outside New Zealand.

Where a provider processes personal information on our behalf, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the information is protected consistently with our obligations under New Zealand privacy law.

Where required, we take reasonable steps to ensure that overseas disclosures comply with applicable requirements concerning disclosure of personal information outside New Zealand.

Service providers acting only on our behalf are not authorised to use will information for their own unrelated advertising or marketing purposes.

14. Accessing and correcting your information

You have rights under the Privacy Act 2020 to request access to personal information we hold about you and to request correction of that information.

Account access and export

Where available, you can access or download account information through the Service.

This may include:

• account details;
• questionnaire answers;
• generated-version records; and
• relevant consent or acknowledgement history held by the Service.

Correction

You can update many questionnaire answers and account details directly through the Service.

If you believe personal information we hold about you is incorrect, you can contact us to request correction.

Requests from executors and other individuals

An executor, beneficiary or other person whose personal information has been provided to Freewills may also contact us about personal information that relates to them.

We may need to verify the requester’s identity before providing access to information.

Access rights relate to the requester’s own personal information and do not automatically give them a right to receive another person’s will, account information or confidential testamentary instructions.

Timeframes

We will respond to requests for access to or correction of personal information as soon as reasonably practicable and within the timeframes required by the Privacy Act 2020, subject to any extension or other provision permitted by law.

15. Deleting your account and information

You can delete your Freewills account through the Service.

Deletion removes active saved account and will information, subject to:

• the backup-retention period described in section 11;
• temporary technical and security logs;
• information we are required or permitted to retain by law; and
• limited records reasonably necessary to establish that a deletion, security or privacy request was actioned; and
• the minimal verification and audit records described in section 11, where their continued retention is reasonably necessary for a lawful purpose.

Deleting your account therefore means that Freewills deletes the active account and substantive saved will information associated with it. It does not necessarily erase limited verification evidence showing that a document or system event existed at a particular time.

We do not use a retained post-deletion verification record to recreate your deleted account or reconstruct the substantive contents of your will.

Deleting your Freewills account does not destroy copies of documents that you have already:

• downloaded;
• printed;
• emailed;
• saved elsewhere; or
• provided to another person.

Freewills does not hold or destroy your signed original paper will.

16. Cookies and analytics

We use cookies and similar technologies that are reasonably necessary to:

• authenticate users;
• maintain sessions;
• secure accounts; and
• operate the Service.

We do not use advertising cookies.

If we introduce non-essential analytics, advertising technologies or additional tracking in the future, we will update this Privacy Notice and obtain consent where required by law.

17. Electronic communications

We may send electronic communications reasonably necessary to operate the Service, including:

• email-verification messages;
• security notifications;
• password-reset emails;
• account communications;
• support responses; and
• automatic executor and partner notices.

Executor notifications are sent because the will-maker has supplied the executor’s email address for that purpose.

We do not add an executor to a general marketing mailing list merely because they have received an executor notification.

Where we send promotional electronic messages, we will comply with applicable requirements of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007, including requirements relating to consent, sender identification and unsubscribe facilities where those requirements apply.

18. Your responsibilities when providing information about other people

When you provide information about another person through Freewills, you should:

• provide only information reasonably necessary for preparing your will or using the relevant feature;
• take reasonable care that contact details are accurate;
• not knowingly provide another person’s email address without a genuine will-related purpose;
• not use executor notifications to harass, threaten or repeatedly contact someone;
• avoid including unnecessary sensitive information about another person; and
• avoid entering passwords, access codes, financial credentials or other security secrets.

You should understand that providing an executor’s email address causes Freewills to send that executor an automatic notification.

You should also understand that providing your partner’s email address causes Freewills to send that partner an automatic notification.

19. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect:

• changes to the Service;
• changes to our privacy practices;
• changes to service providers;
• changes to technology; or
• changes to legal requirements.

The current version will be made available through the Service.

Where a change is material, we will take reasonable steps to notify users where appropriate.

The effective date at the top of this Privacy Notice identifies when the current version applies.

20. Privacy officer, questions and complaints

If you have a question, request or complaint concerning privacy, contact our privacy officer:

Privacy officer: Web Manager

Support: support page

Freewills

Ezi Systems Ltd

Christchurch, New Zealand

We will consider privacy complaints and respond in accordance with applicable Privacy Act requirements.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand.

Privacy Commissioner information is available at:

privacy.org.nz

21. Relevant legislation

Our handling of personal information is principally governed by the Privacy Act 2020, including its Information Privacy Principles.

The following legislation may also be relevant to particular aspects of the Service or electronic communications:

Privacy Act 2020

Privacy Act 2020

Information Privacy Principle 3A guidance

IPP3A guidance (privacy.org.nz)

Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007

Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007

These links are provided for general reference. Legislation and official guidance may change over time.