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This is a translation provided for convenience. In case of doubt, the German version of this privacy policy prevails.

A. Data protection information of the law firm Schwenke Schütz

We take the protection of your personal data seriously and would like to inform you here about data protection in our law firm.

With the entry into force of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), additional obligations have been imposed on us as part of our responsibility under data protection law in order to ensure the protection of the personal data of the persons affected by processing. Where we decide on the purposes and means of data processing, either alone or jointly with others, this includes above all the obligation to inform you transparently about the nature, scope, purpose, duration and legal basis of the processing (cf. Art. 13 and 14 GDPR). With this statement we inform you how your personal data is processed by us.

Our data protection information has a modular structure. It consists of a general part covering any processing of personal data and processing situations that arise in the course of operating our law firm (I. General part), a special part describing the data processing on our website (II. Data processing on the website of the law firm Schwenke Schütz), and the other processing operations that our law firm’s business involves (III. Further data processing).

Under B. you will find the data protection information of our notaries.

I. General information

1. Name and address of the controller

The controller responsible for data processing in the operation of the law firm and on this website is:

Rechtsanwälte Schwenke Schütz GbR,

Authorised representatives: Hans-Joachim Schwenke, Dr. Sebastian Schütz, Dr. Astrid Pütz, Holger Schütz

Bernburger Straße 32, D-10963 Berlin, Germany

Phone: +49 30 88 57 17 – 0

E-mail: berlin@slegal.de

2. Name and address of the data protection officer

We have appointed a data protection officer for our law firm, whom you can contact as follows:

Rechtsanwälte Schwenke & Schütz GbR,

Data Protection Officer

Bernburger Straße 32, D-10963 Berlin, Germany

Phone: +49 30 88 57 17 – 0

E-mail: datenschutz@slegal.de

3. Legal bases

By law, any processing of personal data is prohibited in principle and only permitted if the data processing falls under one of the following grounds:

• Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR (“consent”): if the data subject has freely, in an informed manner and unambiguously indicated, by a statement or other clear affirmative action, that he or she agrees to the processing of personal data relating to him or her for one or more specific purposes;
• Art. 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR: if the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
• Art. 6(1)(1)(c) GDPR: if the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject (e.g. a statutory retention obligation);
• Art. 6(1)(1)(d) GDPR: if the processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person;
• Art. 6(1)(1)(e) GDPR: if the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller, or
• Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR (“legitimate interests”): if the processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate (in particular legal or economic) interests of the controller or of a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or rights of the data subject (in particular where the data subject is a child).

For each of the processing operations we carry out, we state the applicable legal basis below. Processing may also be based on several legal bases.

4. Storage period

For each of the processing operations we carry out, we state below how long the data is stored by us and when it is deleted or blocked. Unless an explicit storage period is stated below, your personal data will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose or the legal basis for the storage no longer applies. As a rule, your data is stored only on our servers in Germany.

However, data may be stored beyond the stated period in the event of (impending) legal disputes with you or other legal proceedings, or if storage is required by statutory provisions to which we are subject as controller (e.g. § 257 German Commercial Code (HGB), § 147 German Fiscal Code (AO)). When the storage period prescribed by statutory provisions expires, the personal data is blocked or deleted, unless further storage by us is necessary and there is a legal basis for it.

5. Data security

We use appropriate technical and organisational security measures (TOMs) to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or unauthorised access by third parties, taking into account the state of the art, the costs of implementation and the nature, scope, context and purposes of processing, as well as the existing risks of a data breach (including its likelihood and impact) for the data subject. Our security measures are continuously improved in line with technological developments. We will be happy to provide further information on request.

6. Recipients of data

As a rule, the data we collect is only passed on if:

• you have given your express consent to this in accordance with Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR,
• the disclosure is necessary under Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims and there is no reason to assume that you have an overriding interest worthy of protection in your data not being disclosed,
• we are legally obliged to disclose it under Art. 6(1)(1)(c) GDPR, or
• this is legally permissible and necessary under Art. 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR for the performance of contractual relationships with you or for taking steps prior to entering into a contract at your request.

We use commissioned service providers for certain processing operations. These include, for example, hosting, maintenance and support of IT systems, and the destruction of files and data carriers. These service providers process the data only on our express instructions and are contractually obliged to guarantee appropriate technical and organisational data protection measures. In addition, we may transfer personal data of our clients to bodies such as postal and delivery services, our bank, tax advisors/auditors or the tax authorities. Personal data is only transferred to countries outside the EU/EEA (third countries) in the cases described in this information and only under the conditions of Art. 44 et seq. GDPR.

7. Processing in the course of handling your requests under Art. 15 to 22 GDPR

If you exercise your rights under Art. 12 to 22 GDPR, we process the personal data transmitted for the purpose of implementing these rights and in order to be able to provide evidence thereof. Data stored for the purpose of providing information and preparing it will only be processed by us for this purpose and for the purposes of data protection control; otherwise its processing will be restricted in accordance with Art. 18 GDPR. This processing is based on Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with Art. 15 to 22 GDPR and § 34(2) of the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG).

8. Rights of data subjects

You can assert your rights as a data subject regarding your processed personal data against us at any time using the contact details given at the beginning. As a data subject, you have the right:

• under Art. 15 GDPR to request information about your data processed by us. In particular, you can request information about the purposes of processing, the categories of data, the categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, the planned storage period, the existence of a right to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right to lodge a complaint, the source of your data if it was not collected by us, and the existence of automated decision-making including profiling and, where applicable, meaningful information about its details;
• under Art. 16 GDPR to request without delay the rectification of inaccurate data or the completion of your data stored by us;
• under Art. 17 GDPR to request the erasure of your data stored by us, unless the processing is necessary for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
• under Art. 18 GDPR to request the restriction of the processing of your data where you contest the accuracy of the data or the processing is unlawful;
• under Art. 20 GDPR to receive the data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to request its transmission to another controller (“data portability”);
• under Art. 21 GDPR to object to the processing, provided the processing is based on Art. 6(1)(1)(e) or (f) GDPR. This is the case in particular where the processing is not necessary for the performance of a contract with you. Unless the objection concerns direct marketing, we ask you to state the reasons why we should not process your data as we do when exercising such an objection. If your objection is justified, we will examine the situation and either stop or adjust the data processing or show you our compelling legitimate grounds on the basis of which we continue the processing;
• under Art. 7(3) GDPR to withdraw at any time any consent you have given us (including consent given before the GDPR applied, i.e. before 25 May 2018) – that is, your freely given, informed and unambiguous indication, by a statement or other clear affirmative action, that you agree to the processing of the personal data concerned for one or more specific purposes. As a consequence, we may no longer continue the data processing based on this consent in the future, and
• under Art. 77 GDPR to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority about the processing of your personal data in our law firm, for example with the supervisory authority responsible for us, the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit), Alt-Moabit 59-61, 10555 Berlin, Germany, phone: +49 30 13889-0, fax: +49 30 2155050, e-mail: mailbox@datenschutz-berlin.de. A complaint can be lodged with any supervisory authority, regardless of its competence.

Right to object under Art. 21 GDPR: Where we process your data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(1)(e) or (f) GDPR, you have the right to object to this processing at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation. Where your data is processed for direct marketing purposes, you can object to this processing at any time without giving reasons. The objection can be sent informally to the contact details given above.

No automated decision-making, including profiling, within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR takes place.

9. Security, communication by e-mail

If you contact us by e-mail, please note that e-mails can be read or altered without authorisation and unnoticed during transmission. In addition, we use software to filter unwanted e-mails (spam filter). This spam filter may reject e-mails that are incorrectly identified as spam on the basis of certain characteristics. If you wish to send us confidential information, we therefore recommend sending it by post or by fax.

10. Changes to this data protection information

In the course of the further development of data protection law and of technological or organisational changes, our data protection information is regularly reviewed for any need for adjustment or amendment. You will be informed of changes in particular on our website.

II. Data processing on the website of the law firm Schwenke Schütz

You will find information about our law firm and the services we offer in particular on this website and its subpages. In principle, it is not necessary for you to provide us with personal data, such as your name or e-mail address, in order to visit our website. In the following cases, however, we collect, process and store personal data:

1. Data collected automatically when visiting the website

When you access our website, the browser on your computer automatically sends data and technical information to the server of our website. The following information is temporarily stored in a so-called log file until it is automatically deleted: the IP address of your computer, the name and URL of the file accessed, the access status/HTTP status code, your computer’s browser, and the date and time of the server request.

We collect and use this information to enable a smooth connection to our website, to continuously improve our website and for purposes of (network) security and stability.

The legal basis for the temporary storage is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest follows from the purposes stated above. Under no circumstances is this data used to draw conclusions about your person. This data is not stored together with other personal data.

2. Use of our contact form

You can contact us with questions of any kind using the form provided on our website. In addition to your title and first and last name, a valid e-mail address is required so that we know who the enquiry is from and can answer it. Further information can be provided voluntarily. The data entered in the contact form is transmitted to us exclusively in encrypted form.

The data processing for the purpose of contacting us is based on Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR on the basis of your voluntarily given consent, which you can withdraw at any time with effect for the future. Where your enquiry concerns the initiation or performance of a client mandate, Art. 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR is an additional legal basis. Your enquiry is sent to us by e-mail and is additionally stored in the database of this website, where it is automatically deleted after 30 days.

3. Use of cookies

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your hard drive and assigned to the browser you use by a characteristic character string, and through which certain information flows to the body that sets the cookie. Cookies cannot run programs or transfer viruses to your computer and therefore cannot cause any damage. They serve to make the website more user-friendly and effective overall, i.e. more pleasant for you.

Cookies can contain data that make it possible to recognise the device used. In some cases, however, cookies only contain information about certain settings that cannot be related to a person. Cookies cannot directly identify a user.

A distinction is made between session cookies, which are deleted as soon as you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which are stored beyond the individual session. We use technically necessary cookies on the basis of Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG; the associated data processing is based on Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in a functioning website). These include the cookies in which we store your choice in the cookie banner (Complianz, storage period 365 days). All other access to your device, in particular when loading external content such as YouTube and Google Maps, only takes place with your consent pursuant to Section 25(1) TDDDG in conjunction with Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR. You can withdraw or adjust your consent at any time via the cookie settings.

4. Google Maps

On the contact page we use the map service Google Maps, which is provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland, for users from the European Economic Area and Switzerland, and by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, for all other users. In order for the Google map material we use to be integrated and displayed in your web browser, your web browser must connect to a Google server, which may also be located in the USA, when you open the contact page. Google thereby receives the information that the contact page of our website was accessed from the IP address of your device.

The legal basis is your consent, which you may have given in the cookie banner for the data processing pursuant to Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR, and Section 25(1) TDDDG. For transfers to Google LLC in the USA there is an adequacy decision of the European Commission (Art. 45 GDPR, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework); Google LLC is certified under it. Without your consent, no connection is made to Google’s servers. You can withdraw your consent at any time or change your selection in the cookie settings.

If you use the Google map service on our website while logged into your Google profile, Google can also link this event to your Google profile. If you do not want this association with your Google profile, you must log out of Google before opening our contact page. Google stores your data and uses it for the purposes of advertising, market research and personalised display of Google Maps. You can object to this data collection by Google.

For more information, please see Google’s privacy policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and the Additional Terms of Service for Google Maps (https://www.google.com/intl/en/help/terms_maps/).

5. Fonts

The fonts used on this website are loaded from our own server. When you visit the website, no connection is established to the servers of Google or other font providers.

6. YouTube

On some pages we embed videos from the YouTube service, which is provided for users from the European Economic Area by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. The videos are only loaded once you agree to this in the cookie banner or by clicking on the respective video. Only then does your browser connect to the servers of YouTube or Google, which may also be located in the USA, and YouTube receives, among other things, your IP address and the information which page you have visited.

The legal basis is your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR and Section 25(1) TDDDG. For transfers to the USA there is an adequacy decision of the European Commission (Art. 45 GDPR, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework); Google LLC is certified under it. You can withdraw your consent at any time via the cookie settings. For more information, please see Google’s privacy policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en).

7. Hosting and security

This website is hosted by Hostinger International Ltd., 61 Lordou Vironos Street, 6023 Larnaca, Cyprus. The servers are located in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). A data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR has been concluded with the provider.

To protect the website against attacks, we use the security plugin Wordfence from Defiant, Inc., Seattle, USA. Wordfence checks access to the website, including the IP address, on our server, limits excessive requests and logs login attempts. In order to recognise malicious IP addresses, information about attacks may be compared with Wordfence’s threat database. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest lies in the security and functionality of our website. In this context, data (in particular IP addresses and details of the requests) may be transferred to Defiant, Inc. in the USA. For this transfer, Defiant has agreed to the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR).

8. Newsletter

You can subscribe to our newsletter on our website. In doing so, we process your e-mail address and, where applicable, your name in order to send you the newsletter. The legal basis is your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR. You can unsubscribe at any time via the unsubscribe link in each issue or by sending a message to the contact details given above. Your data will then be removed from the mailing list. The newsletter is sent via the WordPress plugin “Newsletter” from our web server at Hostinger.

III. Further data processing

1. Client relationship

In the context of a client relationship, or when initiating a client relationship with our law firm, your personal data required for establishing and carrying out the client relationship is processed. This includes in particular your first and last name, your contact details and other data required to carry out the mandate, depending on the nature and scope of the mandate granted or to be granted. The legal basis for this processing is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

If your personal data is transmitted to us by third parties in connection with an existing or future mandate, the data processing serves to carry out the mandate. If your personal data is transmitted to us because our client is considering asserting claims against you, or because the client expects claims to be asserted against him or her, the data processing also serves the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. The processing serves the legitimate interests of our client pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

2. Applications

If you apply to our law firm, we process your application data exclusively for purposes related to your interest in current or future employment with us and the processing of your application. Your application will only be processed and seen by the relevant contact persons at our firm. All employees entrusted with data processing are obliged to maintain the confidentiality of your data. If we are unable to offer you employment, we will keep the data you have submitted for up to three months after any rejection for the purpose of answering questions in connection with your application and its rejection. This does not apply if statutory provisions prevent deletion, if further storage is necessary for the purpose of providing evidence, or if you have expressly agreed to longer storage. The legal basis for the data processing is Art. 6(1)(1)(b) GDPR (initiation of an employment relationship). If we keep your applicant data for longer than three months and you have expressly consented to this, please note that you can freely withdraw this consent at any time pursuant to Art. 7(3) GDPR. Such a withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out on the basis of the consent before its withdrawal.

B. Data protection information of our notaries

I. Who is responsible, and whom can you contact?

The controllers responsible for the processing of your personal data in the context of notarial engagements are the notaries Hans-Joachim Schwenke, Dr. Sebastian Schütz, Holger Schütz and Dr. Astrid Pütz. Each of these notaries is the sole controller within the meaning of data protection law for the area for which he or she is responsible. For all data protection enquiries, you can contact the responsible notary or the data protection officer of the respective notary as follows:

II. What data do we process and where does it come from?

The notaries process personal data that they receive from you or from third parties commissioned by you (e.g. lawyer, tax advisor, estate agent, credit institution), such as:

• personal details, e.g. first and last name, date and place of birth, nationality, marital status; in individual cases your birth register number;
• contact details, such as postal address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address;
• for real estate contracts, your tax identification number;
• in certain cases, e.g. for marriage contracts, wills, inheritance contracts or adoptions, also data on your family situation and your assets and, where applicable, information on your health or other sensitive data, e.g. because these serve to document your legal capacity;
• in certain cases also data from your legal relationships with third parties, such as file numbers or loan or account numbers at credit institutions.

In addition, they process data from public registers, e.g. the land register and the commercial and association registers.

III. For what purposes and on what legal basis is the data processed?

Notaries hold a public office. Their official activity is carried out in the performance of a task that lies in the interest of the general public in an orderly preventive administration of justice and thus in the public interest, and in the exercise of official authority (Art. 6(1)(1)(e) GDPR).

Your data is processed exclusively in order to carry out the notarial activity requested by you and, where applicable, by other persons involved in a transaction, in accordance with the notary’s official duties, for example to prepare draft deeds, to notarise and execute notarial transactions or to provide advice. The processing of personal data is therefore always based solely on the professional and procedural provisions applicable to notaries, which essentially arise from the German Federal Notaries Code (Bundesnotarordnung) and the German Notarisation Act (Beurkundungsgesetz). These provisions also give rise to the notaries’ legal obligations to process the necessary data (Art. 6(1)(1)(c) GDPR). If you do not provide the data requested by the notaries, the respective notary would therefore have to refuse to carry out (or continue) the official transaction.

IV. To whom is the data passed on?

Notaries are subject to a statutory duty of confidentiality. This duty of confidentiality also applies to all notary office staff and other persons commissioned by the respective notary.

Notaries may therefore only pass on your data if and to the extent that they are obliged to do so in the individual case, e.g. due to reporting obligations to the tax authorities, or to public registers such as the land registry, the commercial or association register, the Central Register of Wills, the Central Register of Powers of Attorney for Care, courts such as probate, guardianship or family courts, or authorities. In the context of professional and official supervision, notaries may also be obliged to provide information to the Chamber of Notaries or their supervisory authority, which in turn are subject to an official duty of confidentiality.

Otherwise, your data will only be passed on if the respective notary is obliged to do so on the basis of declarations made by you or if you have requested the disclosure.

V. Is data transferred to third countries?

Your personal data is only transferred to third countries at your specific request or if and to the extent that a party to the deed is resident in a third country.

VI. How long is your data stored?

The notaries process and store your personal data within the scope of their statutory retention obligations.

Under § 5(4) of the Service Regulations for Notaries (Dienstordnung für Notarinnen und Notare, DONot), the following retention periods apply to notarial documents:

• deed register, register of inheritance contracts, name index to the deed register and collection of deeds including separately kept inheritance contracts (§ 18(4) DONot): 100 years,
• custody book, ledger, name index to the ledger, list of escrow accounts, general files: 30 years,
• secondary files: 7 years; the notary may stipulate a longer retention period in writing at the latest when last working on the content, e.g. for dispositions upon death or in the event of a risk of recourse; the stipulation can also be made generally for certain types of legal transactions, such as dispositions upon death.

After the retention periods have expired, your data will be deleted or the paper documents destroyed, unless the respective notary is obliged to store them for longer pursuant to Art. 6(1)(1)(c) GDPR due to retention and documentation obligations under tax and commercial law (under the German Commercial Code, Criminal Code, Money Laundering Act or Fiscal Code) or professional regulations for the purpose of conflict checks.

VII. What rights do you have?

You have the right:

• to request information as to whether the respective notary processes personal data about you and, if so, for what purposes and which categories of personal data are processed, to whom the data has been forwarded, how long the data is to be stored and what rights you have;
• to have inaccurate personal data concerning you that is stored by the respective notary rectified. You also have the right to have an incomplete data set stored by the respective notary completed;
• to request the erasure of personal data concerning you, provided there is a legal reason for erasure (cf. Art. 17 GDPR) and the processing of your data is not required for compliance with a legal obligation or for other overriding reasons within the meaning of the GDPR;
• to request that the respective notary only processes your data in a restricted manner, e.g. for the establishment of legal claims or for reasons of important public interest, while the notary is, for example, examining your claim to rectification or your objection, or where the notary rejects your claim to erasure (cf. Art. 18 GDPR);
• to object to the processing where it is necessary for the notary to perform tasks in the public interest or to exercise his or her public office, if there are grounds for the objection arising from your particular situation;
• to lodge a data protection complaint with the supervisory authorities. The supervisory authority responsible for our notaries is the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit), Alt-Moabit 59-61, 10555 Berlin, Germany, phone: +49 30 13889-0, fax: +49 30 2155050, e-mail: mailbox@datenschutz-berlin.de.
• A complaint can be lodged with any supervisory authority, regardless of its competence.

Last updated: November 2026