Legal
privacy policy
LegacyCheck (Pty) Ltd is committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, and how you can exercise your rights.
Last updated: 27 May 2026
who we are
LegacyCheck (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party for your personal information under POPIA. We are incorporated in South Africa and operate the estate transparency platform at legacycheck.co.za from Cape Town, South Africa.
You can reach our Information Officer at [email protected].
what personal information we collect
We collect different types of information depending on how you use LegacyCheck.
estate lookups
- A one-way cryptographic hash (SHA-256) of the identity or estate number you search — we cannot reverse this to recover the original value
- Your IP address, the date and time of your search, and the result type returned
We never store your raw ID number or the deceased person's full details.
contact form
- Your name and email address (required)
- Your phone number and organisation (optional)
- Your message, inquiry type, IP address, submission timestamp, and a record of your consent
why we process your information
- Estate lookup data: fraud prevention, rate limiting, and an anonymous audit trail — processed under our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and functional.
- Contact form data: responding to your inquiry — processed with your consent and to perform the communication you requested.
- Waitlist emails: notifying you when features become available — processed with your explicit consent.
We will not use your personal information for any purpose incompatible with the purposes stated above.
third parties we share data with
- Cloudflare Turnstile: bot protection on estate lookups. Your browser communicates with Cloudflare's servers to verify you are human. Cloudflare is based in the United States and processes data under their own privacy policy.
- Master of the High Court: we query the publicly accessible Master's Office database to retrieve estate status information. We do not share your personal details with any government body; only the estate number or name is submitted in the query.
- Email delivery providers: we use third-party transactional email services to send confirmation and notification emails. These providers process your email address on our behalf and are contractually bound to protect it.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party.
how long we keep your data
cross-border transfers
Cloudflare Turnstile and our email delivery providers may process data outside South Africa, including in the United States and the European Union. Where such transfers occur, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information receives a comparable level of protection to that required under POPIA.
how we protect your data
- Identity numbers are hashed with SHA-256 before storage and cannot be reversed
- All data in transit is protected by HTTPS (TLS)
- Session cookies are HTTP-only and SameSite=Lax, preventing JavaScript access and cross-site request forgery
- Database access is restricted to authorised personnel only
- We do not store payment card information
your rights under POPIA
You have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you
- Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
- Delete your personal information, subject to legal retention obligations
- Object to processing carried out under legitimate interest
- Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing that occurred before withdrawal
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa
To exercise any of these rights, email us at [email protected] with the subject line "POPIA Request". We will respond within 30 days.
information regulator of south africa
Website: inforegulator.org.za
Email: [email protected]
Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
cookies
Our website uses a session cookie to maintain your browsing session, and stores your cookie consent preference in your browser's local storage. We do not use advertising or analytics cookies. See our Cookie Policy for full details.
changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of our services after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
contact us
For any privacy-related questions, or to exercise your rights under POPIA: