Worthington Clark

Privacy policy

Part A – About this privacy policy

Who we are and what we do

We, Worthington Clark Pty Limited (ACN 002 216 953) along with our related and associated corporate bodies, are a specialist genealogy and asset research firm. We provide a range of genealogy and asset research services. Our services include finding missing executors, beneficiaries and inheritances and recovering lost or unclaimed assets.

We have a strict privacy policy which controls how we collect, store, use and disclose your personal information. We developed this policy in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

If you want to use any of our services, you can contact us using our details set out at the end of this policy and on our website at www.worthingtonclark.com. By contacting us, you accept the terms of this policy.

If you have any questions or would like more information on our practices and privacy policy, please contact us using the contact details at the end of this policy.

Part B – How we handle your personal information

Types of personal information we collect and hold

When you contact us or use any of our services, the information we may ask you for includes:

  • your name, email address, postal address and other contact details;
  • your date of birth;
  • information about your family members and other relatives;
  • information about your assets (including any unclaimed assets);
  • personal information (for example, your bank account details, legal records, gender and marital status);
  • information you give us about anyone else; and
  • any other information we need so we can provide you with our services.

We will not collect any sensitive information about your:

  • race or ethnicity;
  • political opinions;
  • religious or philosophical beliefs;
  • trade union memberships (if any); or
  • health or any disabilities.

Exceptions to this include if:

  • you have given us your full permission to collect this information and it is reasonably necessary to allow us to carry out our functions or activities;
  • using this information is required or authorised under Australian law or a court or tribunal order; or
  • the information is necessary to make, enforce or defend a legal claim.

How we collect your personal information

If it is reasonable and practical to do so, we will collect personal information directly from you. This may be when you phone us, send us an email or letter, visit our offices, or when you enter into an agreement to use our services.

We may also collect personal information from third parties such as your representatives (including your legal and financial advisors, executor, administrator, guardian, trustee and broker), or from publicly available sources of information such as public share registers, to help us provide our services. This may also include your custodians and family members who want to find you.

We will only use fair and lawful ways to collect the personal information.

Cookies and IP addresses

When you visit our website, our server may attach a ‘cookie’ to your computer’s memory. Cookies allow us to track and store information about how you use the website and the pages that you may find the most interesting.

We may use cookies from time to time to:

  • monitor how you use our website;
  • improve your experience on our website;
  • provide you with a better service when you use our website; and
  • recognise you when you return to our website.

Our website creates a personal record of how you use it, links the information collected through cookies to any personal information you provide and may be used to identify you. We will not try to identify anonymous users or your browsing activities except when a law enforcement agency exercises a warrant to inspect our files or our internet service provider’s logs.

When you use our website, we may also use your IP address to help with diagnosing problems with our server and to manage our website. We will not attempt to link IP addresses with anyone who visits our website.

You may be able to set your computer to disable cookies or refuse to accept them. However, disabling cookies may affect your experience on our website and you might not be able to use certain functions.

Why we collect your personal information

All personal information that we or our associated businesses collect is reasonably necessary to provide our services to you.

You can contact us anonymously (using a false name). However, if we can’t collect the personal information we reasonably need, we may not be able to provide you with our services.

How we use and share your personal information

We will use your personal information to provide you with our services, which may include:

  • finding missing executors, beneficiaries and inheritances around the world;
  • working with or consulting third parties to help us recover lost or unclaimed assets;
  • claiming assets, entitlements or inheritances and any earnings;
  • researching adoptions to reunite families; and
  • genealogy research for print and TV media.

We may also use your personal information for other purposes, including to:

  • promote our services;
  • carry out our business;
  • contact you for feedback on how you found our services;
  • gather and analyse statistics that are relevant to our business; and
  • meet our legal responsibilities.

If we use your personal information to analyse statistics or for similar research purposes, we will de-identify your personal information before we use it. This means we will remove your name and any other information which could be used to identify you.

We may also publish your testimonials on our website with your permission.

We will only share your personal information as described in this privacy policy, when you give us your permission to do so, when we can remove information which can be used to identify you, or as otherwise allowed in line with the Privacy Act.

Third parties and your information

To provide our services to you, we may share your personal information with our third-party service providers, such as partners, data suppliers and organisations that hold unclaimed assets.

When we share your personal information with third parties, we will do everything reasonably possible to make sure that:

  • these service providers meet strict privacy obligations in relation to protecting your personal information; and
  • we only share relevant information that it is accurate, complete and up to date.

We will not sell or loan your personal information to anyone.

Although our website may link directly to third-party websites (known as linked sites), we do not run these linked sites. You should always read the privacy policy that applies to any linked site. We are not responsible for the content or practices of any linked sites or their privacy policies.

Disclosing your information with other countries

We may disclose your personal information with some of our service providers in other countries and we have contracts in place with them to protect your personal information.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

When we collect and use personal information from people in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU), we are the data controller under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. This means we look after your information and decide how it is used. If you use our website and our services, you give us permission to process your personal information for the reasons given in this privacy policy.

We will only store your personal information for as long as we need it for the reasons given in this privacy policy or to meet our legal and regulatory responsibilities.

In addition to the rights set out in this privacy policy, if you are in the EU or the UK, you have the following additional rights under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act.

1. Right to get your personal information deleted

At any time you can ask us to delete all the personal information we hold about you. We will do this unless we need to keep it:

  • to meet our official duties;
  • for archiving, research or statistical reasons;
  • to start, exercise or defend legal claims; or
  • because keeping it is in the public interest.

2. Right to limit how we use your personal information

You can ask us to restrict the way we process your personal information if:

  • you believe that the information we hold about you isn’t accurate;
  • the way we are processing the information is illegal;
  • we are storing your information for legal claims but do not need it for processing reasons; or
  • you have good reason to object to the processing.

If you ask us to restrict how we process your information we will not process any of it without your permission, unless it is for the purposes of storing personal information legal claims or protecting the rights of another person, or not restricting it is in the public interest of either the UK, the EU or an EU member.

3. Right to get your personal information in a way that is accessible

In certain circumstances, you can ask us to give you all the personal information that relates to you. We will give you this information in a format that can be read on a computer. If you ask us to, in some circumstances we will also send that information to another data controller.

4. Right to object to the use of your personal information

You have the right to request that your personal information is not processed by us in certain circumstances. These circumstances include pursuing business interests, direct marketing and profiling (a type of automated processing where your personal information is used to analyse or predict things). Unless we have genuine reasons to object to your request, we will stop processing data for the reasons you have specified.

5. Right to withdraw permission

You can withdraw your permission for us to process your personal information. Please send your request to us, using the contact details at the end of this policy.

6. Right to be told if information has been wrongly accessed or shared

We will immediately tell you, and anyone else involved, if personal information has been wrongly accessed or shared in a way that is likely to result in a high risk to people in the EU or the UK.

7. Right to complain

If you believe that how we have handled your personal information has broken data-protection law, you can complain to the Australian Information Commissioner or the data protection authority for the UK or where you live in the EU.

Lawful basis for processing your information

Whenever we collect your personal information, we will always try to get your permission to process it for the purposes outlined in this privacy policy.

We rely on this permission to process your information, however, under GDPR and the Data Protection Act, we may also process your information if there is a legal basis (a valid legal reason), including to:

  • enter into a contract with you or meet the terms of a contract;
  • meet our legal responsibilities;
  • protect your vital interests;
  • carry out a task in the public interest; or
  • act in our or a third party’s legitimate interests.

How we protect your personal information

We have strict systems and procedures in place to protect your personal information from misuse and loss, and to stop it being wrongly accessed, changed or shared. We make sure that our systems can only be accessed with unique logins, passwords and multi-factor authentication (which means users must provide two or more verification methods to gain access), and we carry out regular software updates and patch management (a fix for a specific issue or vulnerability). We will also confirm your personal information with you each time you use our services or from other sources (such as data providers).

If we no longer need your personal information we will destroy it or make it anonymous, in line with our document and information retention policy, unless we need to store it under Australian law or a court or tribunal order.

Unfortunately, data protection measures can be broken. If this happens, we have procedures in place to quicky investigate the incident and see if your personal information has been leaked. If necessary, we will tell anyone affected in line with the Privacy Act.

If we discover that your personal information has been wrongly accessed, used or shared, and a third party who we share personal information with is involved, we will try to work with them to protect the personal information we have shared.

If you reasonably believe that your personal information has been wrongly accessed, used or shared, please contact us using our details at the end of this policy.

Part C – Further information

Accessing your personal information

You can ask to access the personal information we hold about you. We will respond to your request within a reasonable amount of time and, when it is reasonable and practical, we will give you access to the information in the format you requested and as allowed by the Privacy Act.

We will not charge you for asking for a copy of your personal information. However, we will ask you to pay a reasonable fee for the work involved in providing you with this information and for any associated costs such as photocopying. We will tell you about any likely costs before we process your request.

If we refuse to provide you with access to your records, we will write to you to explain why.

Correcting your personal information

If you think that your personal information is wrong, please contact us using our details below.

We will take all reasonable steps to correct it within a reasonable amount of time. If we refuse to correct or update your information, you may ask us to make a note on your record to say that you believe the information is wrong, incomplete, out of date, irrelevant or misleading.

Complaints and feedback

If you have a privacy complaint or concern, or any questions about how we collect, use, disclose or hold your personal information, or if you think we may have broken our obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles or the Privacy Act, please contact us using our details below. We will respond to all questions and concerns within a reasonable time.

If you are unhappy with how we handled your complaint, you can refer your complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner.

Changing our policies

We may change the terms of this privacy policy at any time. To see the most current privacy policy, please visit our website at www.www.worthingtonclark.com or contact us using our details below. You should check this privacy policy regularly so that you keep up to date with any changes. By continuing to use our website or our services, you are agreeing to any changes.

How to contact us

Email: privacy@www.worthingtonclark.com
Phone: +61 2 4868 6888