General Terms of Sale

1. Preamble

These general terms of sale (GTS) govern contractual relations between Francophone Legal & Administrative Services UK Ltd (FrancoLegal) and its clients, individuals or legal entities, for any service provision.

These GTS are completed by an individual engagement letter signed for each service.

Key document: the engagement letter prevails over these GTS in case of contradiction.

2. Services offered

FrancoLegal offers administrative and document drafting services: FCDO apostille, consular legalisation, drafting of UK Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), corporate services, and additional administrative services.

FrancoLegal is not a firm of solicitors and doesn't perform reserved legal activities within the meaning of the Legal Services Act 2007.

3. Order procedure

Step 1: you send us a request via the site form, by email, or WhatsApp.

Step 2: we qualify your need and send you a detailed quote within 24 working hours.

Step 3: if you accept, we draft a contractual engagement letter specifying scope, timelines, prices, and our mutual commitments.

Step 4: you sign the engagement letter and proceed with payment (full or deposit by service).

Step 5: we begin service execution.

4. Pricing

Prices are indicated in pounds sterling (GBP) all taxes included. FrancoLegal not being subject to UK VAT at the time of these GTS drafting (revenue below the threshold), no VAT is applied. If this status changes, the GTS will be updated.

Third-party fees (FCDO, embassies, notarisation, translation, international shipping) are indicated separately in the quote and re-invoiced at actual cost without hidden margin.

Administrative handling fees (£15 standard, £25 Express) are included in the first line of the quote.

5. Payment terms

Payments are made by bank card (via Stripe) or UK bank transfer.

Full payment on order: full payment for the service is required at the time of order, before any processing begins. This rule applies to all FrancoLegal services, without distinction of amount, service type or client's geographic residence.

No service will be initiated without confirmation of full payment.

Additional third-party fees: in some exceptional cases (embassies, foreign notaries), unforeseen third-party fees may arise during processing. Such fees are invoiced separately with supporting documentation and before their engagement.

6. Timelines

Timelines indicated in the engagement letter are target timelines, calculated in UK working days (Monday to Friday, excluding UK bank holidays).

Force majeure: strikes, exceptional closure of an administration (FCDO, embassy, OPG), unforeseen political event. Timelines are then extended without penalty.

For Express services, in case of delay directly attributable to FrancoLegal, partial refund of the Express premium may apply per conditions specified in the engagement letter.

7. Client obligations

You undertake to provide requested information and documents completely, accurately, and within agreed timelines.

You guarantee that the documents you entrust to us are authentic and that you're authorised to request their processing.

You inform us without delay of any change in situation likely to affect the service.

8. Confidentiality

FrancoLegal undertakes to handle your information and documents with strict confidentiality.

Access is limited to persons necessary for service execution.

For sensitive operations (Wills, LPA, confidential Corporate), a specific NDA can be signed on request.

9. Professional insurance

FrancoLegal holds Professional Indemnity Insurance covering possible errors and omissions.

Coverage details are provided on request to clients having signed an engagement letter.

10. Cancellation and withdrawal

Before work starts: you can cancel an order without charges, except a £25 administrative flat fee.

After start: partially executed services are invoiced pro rata (personalised services) or fully non-refundable (standardised services where external work has already been engaged).

Third-party fees already engaged: non-refundable (FCDO, embassy, etc., which never refund).

For consumers under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, the 14-day right of withdrawal applies for distance services, except explicit waiver to start earlier (clause specified in the engagement letter).

11. Liability limitation

Liability cap: in the event of direct financial loss resulting from an error attributable to FrancoLegal in the execution of the service, FrancoLegal's liability is strictly limited to the total amount paid by the Client for the relevant service.

This limitation does not apply in the event of proven gross or wilful misconduct, in accordance with applicable English law (England & Wales).

Liability exclusions:

• FrancoLegal cannot be held responsible for consequences of decisions made on the basis of information provided by the client.
• FrancoLegal does not guarantee the final administrative outcome when it depends on third-party authorities (FCDO, embassies, OPG, foreign registrars, notaries) — only the obligation of means and diligent coordination are guaranteed.
• FrancoLegal is not liable for delays attributable to third parties (couriers, administrations, embassies).
• FrancoLegal is not liable for indirect damages, loss of business, moral damages or remote consequences of its intervention.

12. Disputes

In case of dispute, we favour amicable settlement. Any complaint must be addressed to contact@francolegal.co.uk.

Failing amicable settlement, the dispute falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of UK courts (England & Wales).

These GTS are governed by UK law (England & Wales).

13. Updates

These GTS may be updated. For ongoing contracts, applicable GTS are those in force at the engagement letter signature date.

14. Contact

For any question regarding these GTS: contact@francolegal.co.uk.

15. Geographic scope

FrancoLegal operates exclusively for clients residing in the United Kingdom, the European Union, francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Maghreb.

Territorial exclusion: residents of the United States, Canada, and their associated territories cannot benefit from our services. This exclusion results from the coverage restrictions of our professional indemnity insurance.

In the event of a request from these territories, FrancoLegal reserves the right to refuse the file without further explanation, or to refer the client to a qualified provider.

Documents intended for foreign use: FrancoLegal may support the preparation of documents intended for use outside its client operational scope, provided that the resident client is based within the covered zone.

16. Nature of services

FrancoLegal acts exclusively as an administrative coordinator.

FrancoLegal is not a law firm within the meaning of the Legal Services Act 2007. FrancoLegal does not provide substantive legal advice and does not certify the intrinsic legal validity of the documents processed.

FrancoLegal's responsibility is limited to the operational coordination of administrative stages (document preparation, certified translation, apostille, consular legalisation) via its qualified partner providers (ITI/CIOL translators, Notaries Public, FCDO agents, consular coordinators).

For procedures involving patrimonial complexity, contentious matters or requiring formal legal advice, FrancoLegal refers the client to qualified solicitor or lawyer partners.

Coordinator, not certifier: FrancoLegal does not sign any document as guarantor of its substantive legal validity. Certifications of compliance or authenticity are exclusively issued by authorised authorities and professionals (Notaries Public, FCDO, embassies, STEP solicitors, foreign notaries).