Privacy Policy

1. Controller

Prof. Dr. Frank Martin, lawyer (Rechtsanwalt)
Parkstraße 33, 65549 Limburg an der Lahn, Germany
Telephone: 06431 – 2 80 75 00
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 – German Federal Lawyers' Act).

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 (initiation of 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. Call-back request / short enquiry

In addition to the divorce form, we offer two short ways of getting in touch without this already creating an engagement: the call-back form and – in the first step of the divorce form – the option of having an outline of the procedure sent to you by email. We process only the details you provide there: your name or first name, the email address and/or telephone number you provide, – if you write one – your voluntary note about your matter and, where you request the assessment, your answers from the eligibility check including the approximate date of separation, if provided (no income details) and, where applicable, your consent to reminder emails (section 6) and to a call (below). We do not require any further information; your IP address is not stored for this process.

Transmission is TLS-encrypted and goes directly to the firm. The sole purpose is to contact you and to make an initial assessment of whether we can help you. You can request this assessment either by telephone or by email; we get back to you via the channel you have chosen and store the chosen channel for this purpose. You may voluntarily also provide the other means of contact – it serves only the purpose stated on the page: an email address provided in addition is used by us to send you the assessment in writing as well, together with the continuation link (below); a telephone number provided in addition when you have chosen email as your channel is used by us only to call you briefly with any follow-up questions about your assessment – and only if you tick the box provided for this purpose, which is not pre-ticked. The legal basis for this call is your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; you may withdraw it at any time with effect for the future, for example informally by email or during the call. Without the box being ticked, we do not store the number. As evidence, we record with your case the time of the declaration as well as the version and wording of the box text and the accompanying note; the same deletion periods apply as for the case and for the call-back request itself. In all other respects the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (steps taken at your request prior to entering into a contract); insofar as you write a message about your matter, it may contain information about your family life – processing this information is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims within the meaning of Art. 9(2)(f) GDPR and for the purposes of legal advice. Please enter in that field only what is needed for the call-back – we will discuss the details personally.

Call-back after the assessment: If you have requested the assessment by email and without a telephone number, the email containing your assessment already includes the offer of a free call-back (button “Arrange a call-back”); if you have asked for and confirmed reminders (section 6), we repeat the offer in the first reminder email. If you accept the offer via the link in one of these emails, we additionally process your telephone number, the time slots you have chosen and – if you write one – your short note. The sole purpose is the call-back you have requested; the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. The telephone number is assigned to your continuation record and deleted together with it after 30 days; the call-back request itself is subject to the deletion period set out in the following paragraph. Once you have requested a call-back, you will not receive any further continuation reminders.

If no engagement results, we delete the details from your call-back request after 90 days at the latest. If an engagement does result, the retention periods under section 7 and section 10 apply. If you provide an email address, you will receive an automatic acknowledgement of receipt; this does not create an engagement. To protect against abusive bulk sending, we limit the number of submissions per connection and hour; a non-reversible short hash is used for this, without storing the IP address.

Continuation link and server-side interim storage: If you provide an email address for the assessment – as your chosen channel or voluntarily in addition –, the email contains a personal, non-guessable continuation link. From that point on, your saved form progress is additionally stored in an access-protected area of our server that cannot be reached via the web, so that you can continue the form at any time – even on a different device (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, pre-contractual measure at your request). The saved progress is deleted as soon as you submit your request for representation, but automatically 30 days after your last entry at the latest. Without a continuation link – for example if you request the assessment by telephone only – the saved progress remains stored exclusively locally on your device.

Started engagement intake: If you enter your first name and a means of contact (email address or telephone number) in the step “Your details (petitioner)” of the divorce form and then leave the field or select “Continue”, we inform the firm of this by email – with your first name, the email address and/or telephone number entered and your answers from the eligibility check including the approximate date of separation, if provided –, so that the firm can match up the instructions you have begun and help you with any queries (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). Your other form entries are not transmitted in this process, and we do not send a continuation link in this case. If no engagement results, we delete these details after 90 days at the latest.

6. Date reminder, continuation reminder and follow-up diary

Reminder of the earliest filing date: If your year of separation is still running or has not yet begun, you can ask us to remind you of the earliest point in time at which the divorce petition can be filed. For this purpose we process only your first name (optional), your email address, the month of separation you have given (month and year, no day) or the information that you are not yet living apart, as well as the language of the page. From the month of separation we calculate the key date and send you a confirmation and up to three further emails (approximately two months before, two weeks before and on the key date; without a separation date: an information email after approximately one week and a follow-up enquiry after approximately two months). The sole purpose is this reminder you have requested. The legal basis is your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; you may withdraw it at any time with effect for the future – via the unsubscribe link contained in each of these emails, or informally by email to us. Once you have withdrawn your consent, your entry is deleted.

Continuation reminder (only with your consent): If, after the divorce check, you provided an email address for the assessment and ticked the box „Ja, erinnern Sie mich per E-Mail …“ (“Yes, remind me by email …”; available only in the German-language form – via the English page we do not send continuation reminders), we remind you by email no more than twice if you do not complete the form afterwards (after approximately one day and after approximately one week without any further entry), with a link to your saved progress. If you did not provide a telephone number and confirmed your consent within one day, the first of these emails instead once again contains the offer of a free call-back (section 5) and is sent as early as approximately one hour after your last entry; the second follows after approximately one week. If you request the call-back, the reminders end. We send these emails only between 8:30 and 20:00. Your consent only takes effect once you confirm it via the button in the email containing your assessment (double opt-in); without this confirmation you will not receive any reminder. As evidence, we store with your case the time of the request and of the confirmation as well as the version and wording of the declaration of consent. Because the case is deleted after 30 days, we also record the confirmation in a separate evidence log that is not accessible via the web – with a hash value of your email address (not the address itself), the version and a hash value of the wording, and the times of the request and of the confirmation – and keep this evidence for three years (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR: proof of consent under Art. 7(1) GDPR and defence against claims; three years corresponds to the regular limitation period). The legal basis is your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (for sending by email also Section 7(2) No. 2 of the German Act against Unfair Competition, UWG). You can withdraw it at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7(3) GDPR) – via the unsubscribe link in each of these emails or informally by email to us. The limit of two emails applies per case: if you request another assessment later on, the count starts again. In total, however, we send no more than four such emails to the same email address within the 30-day retention period; if you request the assessment several times in close succession, it remains two. Without your consent – for example if you do not tick the box, do not provide an email address or fill in the divorce form directly – we do not send any continuation reminder.

The following applies to both types of reminder: the data is stored on our own server in an access-protected area that cannot be reached via the web, and is not disclosed to third parties. The emails contain no tracking pixels, no personalised tracking links and no information on fees; we do not learn whether or when you open an email. Date reminders are deleted no later than 60 days after the last scheduled message, and continuation records and saved form progress no later than 30 days after your last entry (section 5). Your IP address is not stored for these processes; to protect against abusive bulk sign-ups, we limit the number of submissions per connection and hour by means of a non-reversible short hash. The reminders do not create an engagement; they do not contain legal advice on any individual case.

Internal follow-up diary of the firm: If you already instruct us while the year of separation is still running or before the separation has taken place, we create an internal follow-up diary entry for your engagement. For this purpose we process only data from your engagement, namely your name, your contact details, your information on the separation and the earliest filing date calculated from it. The sole purpose is the timely preparation and filing of your divorce petition; the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (initiation and performance of the engagement; pre-contractual measure at your request). The reminders from the follow-up diary go exclusively to the firm, not to you and not to third parties. The data is stored as part of your client file; the retention periods applicable to client matters apply (section 10). The technical reminder list on our server is deleted no later than 60 days after the last follow-up date, or earlier as soon as the follow-up has been completed.

7. 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 you have together, 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 request for representation (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 you have together, 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 10).

7a. Electronic withdrawal (withdrawal function)

Using the button “Withdraw from contract · Vertrag widerrufen” in the footer of every page, you can withdraw electronically from a contract concluded with us online (§ 356a BGB). The purpose of the processing is to receive your notice of withdrawal, to acknowledge its receipt, to unwind the contract and to prove that and when the notice was received.

Data processed: your name, the details of the contract, optionally a reference code or file number, your e-mail address for the acknowledgement of receipt, the date and time of receipt, the language chosen and the fixed declaration sentence; there is no field for giving reasons. Nothing is stored before you click “Confirm withdrawal” in the second step – until then, your details are only carried along in the review page, protected against alteration. If you state a reference code, we compare it with the signing processes stored with us (section 7) and, if there is a unique match, note the matched process (name and e-mail address according to the request for representation, date created, signature status). The page sets no cookies and includes no reach measurement; on the server side, we merely count, without any link to your person, that a notice has been received.

No IP address in the log: your IP address is not included in the log of notices of withdrawal. To protect against mass automated submissions, the server counts the confirmations per connection; for this purpose, a shortened hash value is derived from your IP address and stored in a counter file together with the times of the last hour. These times expire after one hour; the counter file is then deleted automatically on one of the following requests. If the limit is exceeded, your notice is as a rule nevertheless stored; only the acknowledgement of receipt follows with a delay. Only in the event of a massive overload of the function is the notice not stored; the page then tells you so expressly and names alternative channels (e-mail, post). In this case only the time of the attempt is recorded, without your details. A check field invisible to visitors serves to detect spam; if it is filled in, the notice is nevertheless stored and reported to the firm marked “suspected spam”. Independently of this, the host records the technical access data described in section 3.

Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with § 356a Abs. 4 BGB (obligation to acknowledge receipt of the notice of withdrawal without undue delay on a durable medium), Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (unwinding the contract after the withdrawal) and Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in proving timely receipt, in defending against claims and in protecting the function against misuse).

Recipients: the acknowledgement of receipt is sent by e-mail to the address you provide, and a notification with your details to the firm (kontakt@scheidungsprofessor.de). Processing takes place on the server of our host, which acts as a processor (section 3). No disclosure to other third parties takes place.

Stopping reminder e-mails: if the reference code allows your notice to be matched uniquely to a process, upon its receipt we stop the automatic e-mails under section 6 (date reminder and continuation reminder) to the address stored in the process and to the e-mail address provided, and block the signing link of that process (section 7). Without a unique match, if spam is suspected or in the event of an unusually high number of simultaneous submissions, this automatic blocking does not take place; the firm then reviews the submission itself. The firm's internal follow-up diary remains in place so that we can deal with your notice.

Storage period: by way of derogation from the 90-day rule in section 7, we keep notices of withdrawal for longer, because we must be able to prove their timely receipt. If a client relationship exists, we place the notice in the client file (Handakte) and keep it together with that file in accordance with § 50 BRAO (section 10). Otherwise we store it for three years from the end of the year in which it was received (regular limitation period, §§ 195, 199 BGB). The log on our server is deleted automatically three years after the end of the year of receipt.

8. 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's staff. Call data is automatically deleted after 30 days, unless a client relationship or statutory retention obligations require longer storage.

9. 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.

10. 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).

11. 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.

12. 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, as is – for the year-of-separation calculator – the date of separation you enter, so that it can be carried over into the form. This data remains on your device, is not transmitted to third parties and is not used for tracking purposes; it is transmitted to us only in the cases described in sections 5 and 6 (assessment, continuation link, started engagement intake, date reminder) and with your request for representation. You can remove the form entries stored on your device at any time using the “Start again instead” button in the form or by clearing your browser storage; you can ask us informally to delete a version already saved on our server. The legal basis for this technically necessary storage is § 25 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 TDDDG (German Telecommunications and Digital Services Data Protection Act); the subsequent processing of transmitted data is governed by sections 5 to 7.

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, a 2-letter country code and the traffic-source category are stored. For the traffic-source category we record solely whether the visit arrived via a paid Google ad, via a paid ad on Facebook or Instagram, via an organic referral from Facebook or Instagram, or was native (organic search, direct access or other referral); this is derived from whether the address bar contains a click identifier (e.g. gclid or fbclid) or a campaign label, and from the referring domain – the click identifiers themselves are not stored for reach measurement. We do not use a Meta pixel or any comparable Facebook/Instagram measurement tool; no data is transmitted to Meta in this context. For visits arriving via a paid ad we additionally store, where present, the plain campaign and keyword label of the ad (parameters utm_campaign/utm_term); these are campaign and search-term labels assigned by us, without any personal reference. 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.

Measuring the success of Google Ads (without cookies). If you reach our website via a Google ad, the address you open contains a click identifier assigned by Google (parameter gclid, gbraid or wbraid). This identifier is not stored in cookies or in browser storage; it remains in the address bar (where, like any address you open, it appears in the technical server logs, section 3); we store and evaluate it only if you get in touch with us of your own accord – that is, if you submit the online divorce form, request a free assessment or a call-back, or set up a date reminder. When you submit the divorce form, the identifier is stored until signature together with your form data in the signing process (section 7) and is deleted together with it after 30 days at the latest. For the other contact channels, the identifier is stored separately from your contact details and without a name in a separate directory; we do not establish any link to your person there. In doing so we distinguish between three stages – initial contact, request for representation and instructions given (digital signature of the power of attorney) – and in each case store the identifier together with the time — without names or any other personal data — for no longer than 90 days and transmit it to Google Ads so that the ad placement can be counted as successful. Google can match the identifier to the original ad click; Google does not learn from us which person got in touch or instructed us. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in measuring the success of our advertising); § 25 TDDDG is not engaged, as no terminal-equipment storage is accessed. The “Do Not Track” and “Global Privacy Control” signals are respected here as well; in that case no measurement takes place. You can also prevent it by removing the click identifier from the address bar before submitting.

13. 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 (Hessian Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information), Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 1, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany.

14. Status

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