ASHWORTH & RYE, PLLC

PRIVACY POLICY

AND SMS TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Our Firm:

Ashworth & Rye, PLLC (“Ashworth & Rye,” “the Firm,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a Tennessee professional limited liability company with offices in Franklin and Columbia, Tennessee. We provide legal services and related title and closing services, including real estate closings and title insurance, business formations and transactions, commercial leasing, civil and business litigation, estate planning and probate administration, private fiduciary services, and other related services.

This document is both the Firm’s Privacy Policy and the terms and conditions of the Firm’s SMS / text-messaging program. It describes how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect personal information when you visit https://ashworthfirm.com (the “Website”), contact the Firm, engage us for legal or title/closing services, or communicate with us by telephone, email, client portal, or text message.

This Policy does not replace the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct, attorney-client privilege, the work-product doctrine, or any engagement letter, closing instruction, or title-insurance commitment that governs a particular matter.

2. Scope and Important Limitations:

2.1 No attorney-client relationship from Website use. Visiting the Website, submitting a contact form, calling, emailing, or texting the Firm does not, by itself, create an attorney-client relationship. Do not send confidential information until we have confirmed in writing that we represent you and that no conflict prevents the representation.

2.2 Legal advice. Information on the Website is general information only and is not legal advice.

2.3 Professional confidentiality. Information we receive in the course of representing a client is also subject to the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct and, where applicable, attorney-client privilege. Those duties control if they are stricter than this Policy.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Information you provide:

We may collect information you give us directly, including:

(a) Identity and contact information: name, mailing address, email address, telephone and mobile numbers, and preferred method of contact.

(b) Matter information: details about a proposed or existing real estate transaction, business matter, estate plan, probate administration, lease, or dispute, including property addresses, contract terms, and other facts you or your advisors provide.

(c) Closing and title information: buyer, seller, borrower, lender, and realtor information; Social Security or tax-identification numbers when required for closing, 1099 reporting, or title underwriting; marital status; vesting; payoff and wiring instructions; survey, HOA, and lien information; and other nonpublic personal information customary in a Tennessee real estate closing.

(d) Financial information: bank account or wiring details, loan amounts, earnest money, and similar settlement data needed to close or disburse funds.

(e) Employment or vendor information, if you apply for a position or provide services to the Firm.

(f) Communications content: emails, letters, portal messages, call notes, and text messages you send or receive in connection with the Firm.

3.2 Information collected automatically:

When you visit the Website, our hosting provider and any analytics, security, or form tools we use may collect IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, referring URL, approximate location derived from IP address, and cookie or similar identifiers. The Website may use session cookies necessary to operate the site and, if enabled, analytics cookies to understand traffic.

3.3 Information from third parties:

We may receive information from real estate agents, lenders, title underwriters, surveyors, HOA managers, opposing counsel, courts, public records, credit or identity-verification vendors used in closings, and practice-management or communication vendors such as Clio or RingCentral.

4. How We Use Information:

We use personal information to:

1. Respond to inquiries and determine whether we can accept an engagement, including conflict checking.

2. Provide legal services and title and escrow/closing services.

3. Communicate about appointments, document requests, closing dates, funding, recording, and matter status.

4. Send operational text messages through Clio, RingCentral, and related messaging providers, as described in Section 8.

5. Operate, secure, and improve the Website and our internal systems.

6. Comply with law, court orders, title-underwriting requirements, banking and wire-fraud controls, tax reporting, and professional-conduct rules.

7. Maintain files as required by Tennessee law and good professional practice.

8. Evaluate employment or vendor relationships.

We do not sell personal information. We do not use client matter information to train public artificial-intelligence models.

5. How We Share Information

We share information only as needed to operate the Firm and serve the matter, including with:

(a) Firm personnel who have a need to know.

(b) Service providers acting on our instructions, including (practice management, client portal, billing, and text messaging), document-execution platforms, email and hosting providers, IT and cybersecurity vendors, accounting and banking institutions, RingCentral and the wireless carriers and messaging aggregators that deliver SMS messages.

(c) Parties necessary to a real estate closing or title transaction, such as lenders, underwriters, recording offices, surveyors, HOAs, real estate licensees, and other settlement participants, consistent with closing instructions and industry practice.

(d) Courts, opposing parties, and other persons when disclosure is required or authorized in the representation.

(e) Regulators, title underwriters, or law-enforcement authorities when required by law or necessary to prevent fraud, including wire fraud.

All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent. This information will not be shared with any third parties for marketing or promotional purposes. We may share mobile numbers and message content with Clio, RingCentral, and the messaging vendor solely to deliver, receive, log, and support the Firm’s text-messaging service.

6. Closings, Title Insurance, and Nonpublic Personal Information:

When we act in a closing, escrow, or title-insurance capacity, we collect nonpublic personal information necessary to examine title, issue title insurance, prepare settlement statements, receive and disburse funds, record documents, and issue 1099-S forms. We use and disclose that information to:

(a) Carry out the transaction;

(b) Meet underwriter and lender requirements;

(d) Comply with law or a lawful request.

We do not disclose nonpublic personal information collected in a closing or title file to unaffiliated third parties for those parties’ independent marketing. Closing files are retained according to title-underwriter guidelines, banking rules, and the Firm’s records policy.

7. Practice-Management Systems, Including Clio and RingCentral:

The Firm uses RingCentral, Clio and related Clio products to manage contacts, matters, documents, billing, the client portal, and text messaging. Information entered into Clio is stored and processed by Clio as our service provider under Clio’s terms and privacy practices. Conversations stored in RingCentral and/or Clio are subject to RingCentral’s and/or Clio’s security controls. Ordinary SMS messages traveling over the wireless network are not end-to-end encrypted. For sensitive or privileged content, we prefer the Clio client portal, encrypted email, or another channel appropriate to the matter.

8. SMS Terms and Conditions:

This Section 8 is the Firm’s SMS Terms and Conditions. By providing a mobile number and agreeing to receive texts, checking an SMS consent box, signing an engagement or intake form that includes SMS consent, or initiating a text to the Firm’s business number, you agree to this Section 8 and to the remainder of this Policy as it relates to text messaging.

8.1 Program:

Ashworth & Rye, PLLC operates an informational text-messaging program for clients, prospective clients, real estate and lending professionals, and other persons who have a relationship with the Firm. Messages are sent from a dedicated business number assigned through Clio and/or RingCentral.

8.2 Types of messages:

Texts are used for operational, client-service, and matter-related purposes, including:

(a) Appointment scheduling, confirmations, and reminders;

(b) Requests to complete intake forms or sign documents;

(d) Billing and payment-link notices when appropriate;

(e) Responses to texts you initiate; and

(f) Online review requests.

8.3 Consent:

By providing your mobile number and agreeing to receive texts, or by texting the Firm first, you consent to receive recurring automated and non-automated informational SMS or MMS messages from Ashworth & Rye, PLLC at that number. Consent is not a condition of hiring the Firm or of obtaining legal or closing services.

8.4 Frequency, rates, and carriers:

Message frequency varies with the matter. Message and data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Availability may depend on your wireless plan and carrier.

8.5 Opt-out and help:

Reply STOP to cancel. After you opt out you may receive one confirmation message. Reply HELP for help. You may also opt out by emailing [email protected] or calling (615) 810-8150. We will process opt-out requests promptly. Opting out of SMS does not cancel an existing legal engagement or closing. After you opt out, we may still contact you by other means about an existing matter when necessary.

8.6 Privacy of SMS data; no sale of opt-in information:

Mobile information will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Information sharing with service providers that support delivery of the messaging service, such as Clio, RingCentral, and wireless carriers, is permitted. All other use-case categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent. This information will not be shared with any third parties.

8.7 Prohibited content; wiring instructions:

Do not use SMS to send wiring instructions, account numbers, Social Security numbers, or other highly sensitive data. The Firm will not change wiring or disbursement instructions by text. For confidential documents, use the channel the responsible attorney, paralegal, or escrow officer designates, typically the client portal or another secure method.

8.8 Eligibility:

You represent that you are the authorized user of the mobile number you provide and that you are at least 18 years of age, or that you are providing a number for a matter in which you have authority to consent.

9. Cookies and Website Technology:

The Website may use cookies or similar technologies that are necessary for the site to function and, if configured by our web host, limited analytics. You can control cookies through your browser settings. Blocking cookies may affect site functionality. We do not use the Website to collect sensitive client-matter files.

10. Retention

We keep personal information for as long as needed to:

(a) Provide services;

(b) Maintain client and closing files;

(d) Resolve disputes.

Typical client and closing files are retained for a period consistent with Tennessee practice and underwriter requirements, which may be many years. Website logs and marketing inquiries that do not become client matters are kept for a shorter administrative period.

11. Security:

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to a law firm handling real estate, title, and client data, including access controls, email encryption, vendor contracts, and staff training. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Ordinary email (i.e. unencrypted email) and SMS are not confidential channels. We encourage clients to use encrypted email, the client portal, or other secure methods we designate for sensitive documents.

If you receive an unexpected request for money or wiring instructions that appears to come from the Firm, telephone us at a number you already have for the office before sending funds.

12. Children’s Information:

The Website is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 through the Website. Information about a minor may appear in an estate-planning, probate, or real-estate file when a parent, guardian, or client provides it in connection with a matter.

13. Your Choices:

You may:

1. Ask us to correct contact information we hold;

2. Opt out of SMS as described in Section 8.5;

3. Unsubscribe from any optional firm newsletter or marketing email using the link in the message or by emailing [email protected]; and

4. Request access to certain personal information we hold about you, subject to privilege, work product, ethical duties to other clients, and legal holds.

We may decline a request when disclosure would violate professional-conduct rules, privilege, a court order, or another person’s rights, or when we cannot verify the requester’s identity.

14. State Privacy Laws:

Depending on your residence and our relationship with you, state consumer-privacy statutes may confer additional rights. The Tennessee Information Protection Act generally applies only to businesses that meet specified volume or revenue thresholds and contains exemptions relevant to legal services and certain financial and title activities. If a state law applies to a particular request, we will honor it to the extent required. Submit requests to [email protected].

15. Third-Party Sites:

The Website may link to third-party sites, listing services, or payment pages. Their privacy practices are their own. We are not responsible for those sites.

16. Changes:

We may update this Policy and these SMS Terms from time to time. The “Last Updated” date will change when we do. The current version will be posted at https://ashworthfirm.com/privacy-policy. Continued participation in the text-messaging program after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised SMS terms to the extent permitted by law.

17. Contact Us:

Questions about this Policy, the SMS program, opt-out (other than by replying STOP), or privacy requests should be directed to:

Ashworth & Rye, PLLC

Franklin Office: 237 2nd Ave South, Franklin, TN 37064

Phone: (615) 810-8150 Fax: (615) 810-8151

Columbia Office: 900 Nashville Hwy, Columbia, TN 38401

Phone: (931) 398-5500 Fax: (931) 298-5056

Email: [email protected]

Closings and title: [email protected]

For SMS help, reply HELP to a Firm text or call (615) 810-8150.

Ashworth & Rye Law Firm