Privacy Policy

1. Controller

Prof. Dr. Frank Martin, lawyer (Rechtsanwalt)
Parkstraße 33, 65549 Limburg an der Lahn, Germany
Telephone: 06431 – 2 88 88 88
Email: kontakt@scheidungsprofessor.de

2. General information on data processing

As a matter of principle, we process our users' personal data only to the extent necessary to provide a functioning website and our content and services. Processing takes place on the basis of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). All data relating to a client engagement is additionally subject to the lawyer's duty of professional secrecy (§ 43a Abs. 2 BRAO).

3. Hosting and server log files

This website is hosted by IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Straße 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany. When the website is accessed, the provider automatically collects information transmitted by your browser (including IP address, date and time of access, page accessed, referrer URL, browser used). This data is technically necessary in order to display the website and to ensure its stability and security. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest). A data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR is in place with the provider.

4. Contacting us

If you contact us by email or telephone, the information you provide is processed in order to handle your enquiry. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (steps taken to enter into a client relationship) or Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The data is erased as soon as it is no longer required to achieve the purpose, unless statutory retention obligations prevent this.

5. Online divorce form

Our guided online form allows you to send us the details required for a divorce petition (Scheidungsantrag) and to instruct the firm to represent you in the divorce proceedings. The data you enter is processed for this purpose, in particular: names, dates and places of birth, addresses and nationalities of both spouses, details of the marriage (date, registry office (Standesamt), register number), of the separation, of any children of the marriage, of pension entitlements (pension rights adjustment – Versorgungsausgleich), of any marriage contracts (Ehevertrag) or divorce settlement agreements (Scheidungsfolgenvereinbarung), as well as details of income and your contact data.

Transmission is TLS-encrypted and goes directly to the firm. The purpose of the processing is to review your enquiry (including the conflict-of-interest check required under professional rules, § 43a Abs. 4 BRAO) as well as the initiation and performance of the engagement. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (pre-contractual measures and performance of the contract).

Where you provide information about your spouse or about children of the marriage, we process this third-party data exclusively in order to prepare and conduct the divorce proceedings (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR). Please inform your spouse of the transmission; in all other respects, the information required under Art. 14 GDPR is provided at the latest when the divorce petition is served by the court.

Together with the acknowledgement of receipt you will receive your power of attorney for the proceedings (Verfahrensvollmacht) as a PDF, as well as a personal, non-guessable link that allows you to sign the power of attorney (Vollmacht) electronically (simple electronic signature). For this purpose the form data is stored for the duration of the signing process in an access-protected area of our web server; when the signature is given, the time, the name you enter, your IP address and the browser identifier are additionally logged and included in the signature document (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR – evidence of the signature). Once signing is complete, the case data is removed from the signing process; unused signature links are automatically deleted after 30 days at the latest.

If no engagement comes about, we erase the transmitted data at the latest 90 days after the review has been completed, unless statutory retention obligations prevent this. If you do instruct us, the retention periods applicable to client matters apply (section 8).

6. AI-assisted telephone assistant

In order to be reachable outside office hours and to handle incoming telephone calls at first contact, the firm uses an AI-assisted telephone assistant. Callers are informed at the beginning of the call that they are communicating with an automated system based on artificial intelligence (Art. 52 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 – AI Act).

The following data is processed: the caller's telephone number and, where applicable, name, the content of the call (voice data), the date and time of the call and the matter communicated. Insofar as special categories of personal data within the meaning of Art. 9 GDPR are disclosed, this data is subject to the lawyer's duty of professional secrecy. The legal bases are Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (initiation of a client relationship) and Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in orderly availability).

For technical provision of the service, data is transmitted to a provider of AI-assisted telecommunications services as a processor pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR; that provider is contractually bound to confidentiality. Insofar as the provider processes data outside the European Economic Area, the transfer takes place on the basis of EU standard contractual clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). The telephone assistant does not take any automated decisions within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR; all legally relevant decisions are taken by members of the firm. Call data is automatically deleted after 30 days, unless a client relationship or statutory retention obligations require longer storage.

7. Payments

Bank transfer: If you pay by bank transfer, we process the payment-related data (name, IBAN, payment reference) for billing and allocation purposes. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.

Bitcoin (our own payment server): You may voluntarily settle the firm's invoices in Bitcoin. Only the details you enter are processed (file reference, invoice number, invoice amount, name). These are transmitted to our self-operated payment server (BTCPay Server, hosted in a German data centre) in order to generate a payment page and to allocate the incoming payment. No external payment service providers are involved. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. For technical reasons, transaction data on the Bitcoin blockchain is public; it does not contain any of the details referred to above.

Card payment (SumUp): Where we offer card payment, this is handled by the payment service provider SumUp. The data required to process the payment is processed directly by SumUp as a separate controller. The legal basis for the transfer is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Further details are set out in SumUp's privacy policy.

8. Client relationship

Within the framework of a client engagement, we process personal data in order to carry out the instructions given. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR together with the rules of professional conduct. Lawyers are subject to special duties of confidentiality. Retention periods arise from § 50 BRAO (6 years for case files), the German Commercial Code (HGB) and the German Fiscal Code (AO) (up to 10 years for accounting records).

9. Disclosure of data

Your data is transferred to third parties only where this is necessary in order to carry out the engagement – in divorce proceedings in particular to the competent family court (Familiengericht), to the pension providers (in connection with the pension rights adjustment) and to your spouse as a party to the proceedings –, where you have consented, or where there is a legal obligation to do so.

10. Cookies, local storage and reach measurement

This website uses no cookies and integrates no external analytics, tracking or advertising services. No external fonts and no content from third-party servers are loaded.

Local storage on your device. So that you can interrupt the online form and continue later, your browser stores the entries you have made locally as a draft (in localStorage under the key sp_formular_entwurf). In order to produce your power of attorney, the details are additionally held in sessionStorage for the duration of the session. This data remains exclusively on your device, is not transmitted to us or to third parties and is not used for tracking purposes. You can remove it at any time using the “Start over” button in the form or by clearing your browser storage. The legal basis for this technically necessary storage is § 25 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 TDDDG; the subsequent processing of transmitted data is governed by section 5.

Cookieless reach measurement. In order to improve our services, we record anonymously and without cookies which pages are accessed. Only the page accessed, the referring domain, the rough device type (mobile/tablet/desktop), the browser language and a 2-letter country code are stored. Your IP address is not stored; in order to count returning visitors within a single day, a non-reversible short hash formed with a value that changes daily is used, which rules out recognition beyond that day. Processing takes place on our own server without disclosure to third parties. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in a data-minimising measurement of reach); as no information is accessed on terminal equipment within the meaning of § 25 TDDDG and no cookies are set, consent is not required. Signals such as “Do Not Track” and “Global Privacy Control” sent by your browser are respected; in that case no count takes place.

11. Your rights

You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), to rectification (Art. 16), to erasure (Art. 17), to restriction of processing (Art. 18), to data portability (Art. 20) and to object (Art. 21). You may withdraw any consent given at any time with effect for the future. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority; the competent authority is the Hessischer Beauftragter für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 1, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany.

12. Status

This privacy policy will be adapted if the legal situation or our services change. Last updated: July 2026.