Celebrating 15 years of Brick & Patel LLP

Brick & Patel

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 07.17.2026. Last Updated: 07.17.2026.

Brick & Patel LLP (“Brick & Patel,” “the Firm,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a law firm focused on trusts and estates matters, including estate planning, trust and estate administration, fiduciary representation, wealth transfer and tax planning, charitable planning, and general corporate work. This page sets forth the terms that govern your use of our website at www.brickandpatel.com (the “Site”), as well as our practices regarding personal information.

Because Brick & Patel handles sensitive personal, family, and financial information when advising on trusts and estates matters, we take the privacy of that information seriously. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard personal information.

1. Scope

This Policy covers personal information relating to:

  • Site visitors and subscribers to our publications;
  • Prospective, current, and former clients and their family members;
  • Beneficiaries, heirs, trustees, executors, personal representatives, guardians, agents under powers of attorney, and other fiduciaries whose information we receive in connection with client engagements;
  • Referral sources such as accountants, financial advisors, insurance professionals, and other attorneys;
  • Vendors, suppliers, and event attendees;
  • Job applicants and personnel; and
  • Any other individual who interacts with the Firm.

When the Firm processes information while providing legal advice to clients, this Policy is supplemented by our professional and ethical obligations and by our engagement letters.

2. Categories of Personal Information We Collect

Given the nature of trusts and estates work, we may collect a broader range of information than a typical business would, including:

  • Identifiers – name, address, telephone numbers, email addresses, date of birth, Social Security or taxpayer identification number, and government-issued IDs where required for identity verification, tax reporting, and statutory or anti-money-laundering compliance;
  • Family information – marital status identities of spouses, children (including minors), other family members, and dependents; family history relevant to succession planning; family office structures, activities, and employees; household employees and service providers;
  • Financial information – assets, liabilities, income, account information, business interests, insurance policies, retirement plans, beneficiary designations, contracts and other documents relating to investment and financing activities, and;
  • Health-related information – limited information relevant to advance health care directives, HIPAA authorizations, incapacity planning, and long-term care planning;
  • Estate planning documents – existing wills, trusts, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, buy-sell agreements, and prior tax returns;
  • Professional information – occupation, employer, and professional advisors;
  • Internet/network activity – IP address, device and browser data, pages visited, and interactions with our emails and Site (via cookies and similar technologies);
  • Audio/visual information – recordings of calls, videoconferences, or events where notice is given; and
  • Sensitive information – collected only where appropriate or necessary and permitted by law (for example, tax IDs for tax filings; health information for incapacity planning; information about minors for guardianship or trust provisions).

3. How We Collect Information

We collect information (a) automatically through your use of the Site (via cookies, pixels, and analytics tools); (b) directly from you or your representatives (through intake forms, questionnaires, meetings, and document exchanges); and (c) from third parties, including your other professional advisors, financial institutions, courts and probate registries, public records, and identity-verification, sanctions, and PEP-screening services.

4. How We Use Information

We use personal information to:

  • Operate, secure, and improve the Site and our communications;
  • Send legal updates and newsletters, seminar and event invitations, and other marketing communications, subject to your right to opt out;
  • Conduct conflict-of-interest checks and client due diligence, and to comply with anti-money-laundering, sanctions, tax reporting, and other legal obligations;
  • Communicate with your other advisors (with your authorization) to coordinate planning;
  • Provide trusts and estates legal services, including estate planning, drafting and executing documents, trust and estate administration, probate, tax planning and filings, fiduciary representation, and general corporate work;
  • Evaluate and recruit personnel; and
  • Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

5. How We Disclose Information

We disclose personal information only as reasonably necessary to provide our services and to comply with law. Recipients may include:

  • Firm personnel with a need to know;
  • Service providers (IT, secure document management, e-signature, accounting, e-discovery, marketing, and security), bound by confidentiality and data-protection obligations;
  • Fiduciaries and beneficiaries in connection with trust and estate administration;
  • Co-counsel, opposing counsel, courts (including probate and surrogate’s courts), mediators, and arbitrators;
  • Tax authorities and other regulators, including the IRS and state tax and revenue departments, where required;
  • Financial institutions, custodians, and insurance carriers, with your authorization; and
  • Law enforcement or other authorities, where required by law or legal process.

We do not sell personal information for monetary consideration, and we do not “share” personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are defined under U.S. state privacy laws.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our Site uses cookies and similar technologies for functionality, analytics, and, where you consent, preferences and limited marketing. You can manage cookies through your browser settings and, where offered, through our cookie preferences tool. We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as an opt-out of any activity that would qualify as a “sale” or “sharing” under applicable law.

7. Your Privacy Rights

U.S. state privacy rights (California and other states with equivalent laws). Subject to verification and legal exceptions, you may request to: know what personal information we have collected about you; access or receive a copy in portable form; correct inaccurate information; delete personal information; opt out of any sale, sharing, or targeted advertising; limit the use of sensitive personal information beyond permitted purposes; and be free from discrimination for exercising your rights. California residents may also request information under the “Shine the Light” law.

Because much of the information we hold is retained pursuant to legal, tax, and fiduciary record-keeping obligations, certain requests — particularly deletion requests — may be limited or denied where retention is required by law or is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
How to exercise rights. Submit a request using the contact information in Section 11. You may use an authorized agent, subject to verification of your identity and the agent’s authority. We will respond within the timeframes required by applicable law.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Policy, and in any event for the periods required by:

  • Applicable rules of professional conduct and client-file retention rules;
  • Federal, state, and non-U.S. tax record-keeping requirements (for example, records supporting gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax returns, which may need to be retained for many years — often for the lifetime of the client, and in some cases well beyond);
  • Fiduciary accounting and trust and estate administration requirements; and
  • The Firm’s obligation to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Given the multi-generational nature of trusts and estates work, some records — including estate planning documents, trust records, and tax returns — may be retained indefinitely or for the life of a trust and a period thereafter. Retention is governed by the Firm’s records-management schedule.

9. Information Security

We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These include access controls, encryption in transit and (where appropriate) at rest, secure document exchange tools, and staff training. No system, however, can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and you should use care when transmitting sensitive information to us — particularly by unencrypted email.

10. Children’s Privacy

Our Site is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children through the Site. We do, however, receive information about minor children in the ordinary course of trusts and estates work (for example, as beneficiaries, wards, or subjects of guardianship or trust provisions). Such information is collected from the adults engaging the Firm and is handled in accordance with this Policy and applicable law.

11. Contact and Data Controller

For privacy inquiries, or to exercise any right described above, please contact:

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. The “Last Updated” date at the top indicates when it was most recently revised. Material changes will be communicated as required by applicable law, and, where appropriate, we will notify clients directly.