Dear Customers,

Habsburg Legal Services ltd is changing into Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services ltd.
What does this mean for you?

In order to organise our services to you better we have made some changes.

First of all, Marinka Kuijk as one of the main business partners, is recognised by including her name in our business name.  Although already for some time on board, I like to welcome Marinka now formally as a valued business partner. With her expertise in Dutch and some international Tax Law, business immigration, Dutch American Friendship Treaty immigration (DAFT), and more, she is a big help with ensuring our customers getting the best advice and legal services.

Update to your Retainer Agreement
With this notification we change your Retainer Agreement with us. The company name on your Retainer Agreement is now changed from Habsburg Legal Services ltd to Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services ltd. This change is effective immediately going forward. During August 2025 both names can be used. Don’t worry, you will still be helped by the same lawyers and team. Besides some administrative changes mentioned below everything will continue as agreed.

Current active customers / cases!

• Will not see any change in the services we provide and agreed to.

Future communication:

• We have always held privacy and security of your information important. We move with the time and over the next few months we will introduce a more secure form of emailing and sharing of your files and data technology. For this we will use an additional but different domain name (hakulese.com). Later we will inform you of the new email addresses etc. For now the same email addresses etc stay in place.
• We will also develop new systems and services for personalised newsletters to update you about changes to laws relevant to you.

Due to the new company name this affects our banking and you making payments as follows:

• For current customers, as of 01 September 2025 invoices will have new bank account numbers/details, so update this first when making payments. Check the invoice for the correct bank details. New invoices will give a warning about this as well.
• Later we will have more possibilities to accept card payments in your currency (upon request). We still prefer bank transfers where possible.
• We will continue with our main currencies (accounts) in GBP and EUR, but upon request we can discuss bank transfers in AUD, CAD, USD to our Wise accounts in Australia, Canada or the USA. Through Wise we now also have ZAR and NZD accounts in the UK, but we do not see the benefit of that for our customers. But if that could help you, let us know. We like to help you save some of your money where possible.
• Invoices due, or overdue, are as before to be paid within 7 days. If you had a special payment agreement with us, then contact us to remind us. We kindly ask you to pay any outstanding invoices before the end of August 2025.
• Due to the holidays and these changes we may decide to invoice you for any work in August early on/around 26 August and ask you to pay before the end of the month.
• With the new invoices after that, as before, unless individually agreed otherwise, every first week of the month invoices for work of the previous month are send out. We continue to ask you to pay these within 7 days. And if you did this but the bank is slow, we totally understand.

Current inactive customers / closed cases!
The Retainer Agreement we have with you is thus updated/changed with our new company. And if in the future you want to make use of our services again then you can do so at any time, as previously agreed. Keep in mind that when we finished your case, that the Retainer Agreement stays active for any future eventualities. This means that you do not need to request to register as a customer again if in a few months or years you decide you want more/other advice or assistance from us. When you do contact us later, all the above applies to you as well.

To be clear. As pointed out before, the Retainer Agreement still being in place does not incur any type of membership charges. Unlike some American law firms we do charge you for having a Retainer Agreement with us. You will only be charged for any work you ask us to do, or associated expenses you asked for or agreed to. So, if you don’t ask us anything, we do not give advice or support and will not charge you, even with the (updated) Retainer Agreement staying in place.

New Customers!
Some of you refer friends and family to us for assistance. We appreciate this greatly. Don’t worry, new customers will be set up with the new company name, and will not notice the differences above. Only, if you as the referring friend/family member want to help by making payments for them, then keep in mind the new bank account details etc as set out above. Otherwise, new customers will not notice these changes.

Previous customers!
A very few of you have previously, upon closing your case, advised us to cancel the Retainer Agreement. If you do want to join us again in the future we will ask you to request to become a customer again and register again, but this time with Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services ltd. The above changes apply then as well and keep in mind the new bank account details etc as set out above.

If you do not agree to the changed Retainer Agreement with new company name!
I do not see a reason why you would not want to agree. The Retainer Agreement does not change its terms and conditions or rates/fees which could affect you. Everything stays the same, except for the new company name. However, if you do not accept this changed Retainer Agreement then you can inform us by email. Then our Retainer Agreement with you will stop as of 31 August 2025 and after we cannot continue to provide you with our services anymore. You do need to let us know if you do not agree. Please ensure we answer to your email and confirm the end of the Retainer Agreement. Ask for a read receipt at least. If we do not receive your message your (changed) Retainer Agreement continues and you could be billed for (future) work.

UK residency and Valued Added Tax (VAT, GST, BTW), and the EU.
As advised before, those of you who are resident in the UK we have to charge 20% VAT. If your (new/billing/contact) address is outside the UK then we do not need to charge VAT. So it is of interest to you to keep your address details updated when moving out of the UK, see below.

If in the future the UK is going to rejoin the EU then this may change for those in the EU. This is outside of our hands and if such a thing would happen we ask for your understanding.

Your details with us!
I have emailed all our customers individually as well. Check your emails. In the email I have included your contact and address details we have on our systems. Some of you may have moved or gotten a new phone number. Do let us know if we should update your details.

By law we are required to “know your customer” and keep a copy of your passport(s) on file. This is mostly important at the time of becoming a customer. However, it is for our own work good to know if you get a new passport due time. So keep this in mind. We keep a copy of your passport when you became a customer, but if you wanted to send us an updated copy later that can be helpful. If you legally changed your name, we need to know as well.

Staffing Shortage / Holidays / Asking Your Understanding
Not all things, like above, are always positive and unfortunately we recently saw the departure of an appreciated colleague in admin. We are not a big legal firm and thus we pick up ourselves on what needs to be done. Keep in mind that it is now also holiday period. We are travelling ourselves and spending time with family and friends, while we continue to work at the same time. We don’t mind as we have a heart for our work and customers, but all this can delay our responses to queries/emails, etc. We continue to give priority to our customers with deadlines and urgent situations and ask for your patience if we do not immediately reply to you. We do not mind if you chase us by email or WhatsApp message. Due to meetings and other work we cannot always answer our telephones immediately. We ask you for your understanding.

In short
Habsburg Legal Services ltd will formally cease to operate, with its last date being 31 Aug 25. We will continue to support you as Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services ltd with new bank accounts details and upcoming improvements on security and additional services.

Questions?
If you have any questions about any of this, please do not hesitate to contact me/us.

Met vriendelijke groet, With kind regards,

Kris

Kris von Habsburg
Director
Habsburg Legal Services ltd
going forward as
Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services ltd