Privacy Policy

Introduction: Our Dedication to Privacy and Trust

At Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law, your privacy is not only important, it’s the foundation for the trust and confidence our firm has built with clients over 25 years of real estate legal service. This Privacy Statement describes how we collect, use, protect, and otherwise handle the information and data you provide in using or interacting with our website, our services, or our firm. Whether you are a commercial developer, a first-time home buyer, a landlord, or part of our local Hispanic or Italian community, you can be assured that your personal information and sensitive data are secure in our hands.

Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law does not rent or sell your information. All private information that we have about you is stored securely within our firm and only accessible to you or your most trusted advisors.
We will never sell, distribute, or otherwise share information about our client’s identities or businesses obtained through browsing this site. Third parties will never be provided access to personally identifiable information without prior approval.
We will take reasonable steps to protect the Third Party Information you submit to us from unauthorized access or disclosure; however, because of the worldwide nature of the Internet and other databases, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

What This Privacy Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy governs all visitors and clients interacting with Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law through our website, email, telephone, and in-person meetings in our Guttenberg and Fort Lee offices. It also includes data collected via website and offline in connection with real estate sales, legal consultations, case management, and any added service such as estate plans, tax appeals, or in municipal court. This Policy does not apply to third party websites linked to this website, or data collected by entities unrelated to the site. If you visit this website or engage this firm, you agree to the terms set forth in this policy.

Who We Are: Information About Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law

Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law is a private legal office, located at 6806 Bergenline Avenue, Guttenberg, NJ 07093 and 1073 Palisade Avenue, Fort Lee, NJ 07024. The firm handles all types of legal work in real estate law, tax appeals, estate planning, and related matters. Lead attorney Maria Gesualdi, Esq., is a trilingual lawyer with more than 25 years’ practice experience. Call the firm directly at 201-295-0700 or via e-mail at [email protected]. The firm proudly serves clients from across North New Jersey while committed to delivering legal representation with integrity, discretion, and personal service.

What Information We Collect

To provide legal services and properly administer a responsive website, we collect and use the following information types:

Personal Identifiable Information – items such as your name, email address, mailing address, phone number, date of birth, and government-issued ID numbers, to the extent necessary for provision of legal services.
Transactional Information – details on your real estate transactions, property ownership documents, contract language, trust and will documents, and correspondence regarding any of these services.
Demographic Information – information that could include your language preferences, national origin, and communities to which you belong to the extent necessary to facilitate culturally competent service.
Website Analytics – such as your IP address, browser information, device information, pages you access on our site, and for how long you use our website; generally collected via cookies or analytics monitoring software.
Communications Records – email communications, phone call communication records, consultation notes, chat transcripts, client-attorney correspondence (including through portals).
Payment Data – items such as bank account information, billing addresses, and transaction information necessary to process payments or reimbursements.
Legal Documents – estate planning documents such as Wills and Trusts, court documents filed with any court system or administrative entity to which you may require an attorney to file for you.

How We Collect Information

We collect information in several ways:

In person – when you fill out online forms, arrange for a consultation, or submit documents either in person or through email.
Telephone and email – during scheduled consultations, through email exchanges, or when you make inquiries of our office.
Website software – through online software such as cookies, tracking analytics scripts, and site server logs that monitor the function and effectiveness of our website.
From third parties – with your express permission, certain due diligence services, such as Bancsearch or Landcheck, are requested of banks and title companies and other municipal offices as necessary for your legal needs.
Public records – through docket searches for court records, property deeds, and zoning documents that are filed with relevant government organizations.

Our Purposes for Collecting and Using Your Information

We use your information only for the purposes of facilitating and improving the legal services we provide. In particular, your information is used to:

Identify your case or matter and to provide legal advice and representation: To assess your legal matter, provide appropriate guidance, and represent your interests in real estate transactions, claims, appeals, or other matters.
Communicate with you: To receive and respond to inquiries, schedule and confirm meetings, provide updates, and keep you informed as necessary and appropriate of developments and progress in connection with your case.
Process transactions: To prepare, review and file documents, process payments, manage escrow and/or trust accounts.
Comply: To comply with our legal obligations, regulatory requirements, or ethical responsibilities (e.g., conflict checks, identification and verification, and record keeping required by law).
Improve our services: To better design our website, tailor our services to clients’ needs, or make our services more accessible to our broad audience.
Enhance security: To detect fraud, hack attempts, or other risks to our systems or to identify those who attempt to acquire access without proper authorization.

Our Legal Basis for Processing Personal Information

Contract performance: Necessitating specific information to enter into and fulfill contracts related to legal services.
Legal requirements: Necessitating certain data as mandated by law, such as AML (anti-money laundering) obligations or court pleadings and filings.
Legitimate interest: Maintaining a legitimate interest in ensuring the security of our website and preserving client records for our lawful services.
Consent: Obtained when applicable, which will result in a specific affirmative confirmation from you, particularly for communications or additional requirements such as cookies and analytics tools.
Vital interests: In very limited situations, to safeguard your vital interests or those of another individual, such as in an emergency.

Our Information Protection Measures

At the law office of Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law, protecting your privacy and data security is a top priority. We have implemented several physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to that end.

Locked offices: Client files are stored in locked cabinets in physically secure controlled-access office areas.
Encrypted electronic records: Electronic documents and e-mail are encrypted in transit and at rest using industry-standard encryption protocols.
Limited access: Access to client information is limited and requires authorization. Confidentiality obligations are documented in an Office Policy and Procedure Memorandum on Privacy and Confidentiality.
Regular audits: We conduct periodic security audits of our systems and processes designed to identify and remediate ways in which individual or client data could be compromised or exposed.
Training: Staff members at all levels are trained on their legal obligations to protect privacy, their ethical, professional, and legal duties to handle client information appropriately, and the steps taken to recognize and address potential security threats.
Incident response: In the very unlikely event we would face a data breach with the potential for information to be compromised, we have established procedures for notifying affected individuals and authorities as required by law.

Sharing and Disclosure of Your Information

We do not sell, rent, or otherwise provide your personal information to third parties. Information is disclosed in any of the following conditions:

With Your Consent: You consent to the disclosure of information to third parties such as banks, title companies, co-counsel, etc., as it relates to your matter.
Required by Law: We may disclose information if we are required by law, court order, or governmental regulation to do so.
Service Providers: We may disclose your information to service providers that assist us in our business operations (i.e. IT support, payment processing) if you requested those services and subject to appropriate non-disclosure provisions.
Professional Requirements: We may disclose your information where required to do so by bar associations, regulatory authorities, or as part of professional audits, compliance examinations, supervision requirements, etc.
To Protect Our Rights: We may disclose information to protect the rights, property, or safety of our clients, our firm, or others. Such disclosures include for fraud protection and/or security.

Data Retention: How Long Do We Keep Your Information

Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law maintains client information only for so long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which the information was obtained, including assisting in the representation of the client, or through the course of complying with legal or regulatory obligations, or resolving disputes. As a general rule, legal files and records are retained for a minimum period of seven years from the end of the representation of your matter, unless a longer time period is required under applicable law or professional standards. Once the retention time has expired, records are deleted or destroyed in a secure manner. If you inquire about the retention of your specific information, please call us at 201-295-0700 or email us at [email protected].

Your Information Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have rights as it relates to your personal information, including:

Access: Ask us to provide copies of your personal information that we hold.
Correction: Request correction or updates to any inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
Deletion: Ask us to delete the personal information we maintain, subject to applicable legal and ethical obligations to retain certain such information.
Restriction: Ask us to limit the use of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Portability: Ask us to transfer your data to another entity where technically feasible.
Objection: Object to certain processing of your information such as direct marketing purposes or analytics.

To exercise any rights above please contact us at 201-295-0700 or [email protected]. We will review and respond to all such requests in accordance with applicable law.

Special Considerations for Sensitive Information

Some areas of practice, such as estate planning or tax appeals, regularly involve the exchange of very sensitive personal and financial data. Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law will treat your information with the utmost discretion and we use additional measures such as:

Separate secure folders for estate documents and tax files
Restricted access to sensitive information within our firm
Audit logs of folder access and handling

We will not disclose your sensitive information to any party outside our firm, without your specific consent, except as may be required by law or under standard attorney professional duty to the court. If you have other worries about the handling of especially sensitive information, please address these concerns with Maria Gesualdi during the consultation process.

Website Cookies and Website-Tracking Technology

We use cookies on this site and related web analytics and other tools to create a better browsing experience for you, measure website performance, and meet our business objectives. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored by your web browser and are used to remember information about your preferences, as well as information about how you use our services. We use third party applications such as Google Analytics (and others) that will collect data in the form of pseudonymized statistics on web traffic and other outbound activity. Those cookies are not collecting any personally identifiable information unless you submit information via a form on this site. You can control the presence of cookies in your browser and disable them entirely, however that may limit the functionality of the site. By using this Website, you consent to these cookies, technologies, and processes as described.

Links to and Use of Third-Party Applications

Our webpages may contain links to the webpages or other online resources of third-party individuals or companies, such as title companies, realtors, or other professionals or organizations (for example, NAHREP). Our Privacy Policy does not apply to those webpages or online resources. We are not responsible for the content of those webpages or online resources or their privacy policies. Any time you provide personal information over the internet we recommend that you check the privacy policy or statement of the organization collecting such information. If you visit external webpages or online resources via a link from our webpages, you do so at your own risk.

Child Data Protection

Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law does not knowingly collect, use, or disclose personal information from children under the age of 18. Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law’s legal services and website are not intended for children. Our website is designed for adults and other individuals with legal capacity to enter into real estate transactions or other legal contracts. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child without parental consent, we will delete that information as soon as possible. If you are aware of any information we may have collected about a child, please contact us at 201-295-0700 or [email protected].

International Clients and the Transfer of Your Data

While our practice is predominantly limited to clients throughout New Jersey, at times Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law may receive clients or parties from outside of the United States, particularly in the Hispanic and Italian communities. If your information is transferred for processing and/or storage to a foreign country, Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law shall provide sufficient privacy protection for your information consistent with applicable privacy laws. If you retain the services of Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law, you consent to the process and storage of your information in the United States and agree to our security and privacy procedures.

Confidentiality and Attorney-Client Privilege

This correspondence, and all communications or interaction between you and Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law, are protected by attorney-client privilege and the strict professional standards of confidentiality. Material or information that you transmit to Gesualdi-Galvez Law Group, and any affiliated company, in the context of your legal representation, will not be disclosed to third parties without your authorization, unless we have a statutory or ethical duty to do so, or need to do so to avoid certain death or serious physical injury. We will never disclose information entrusted to us and will take all steps necessary to maintain the absolute confidence you expect us to maintain in respect of all information related to the legal representation.

Updating or Correcting Your Data

In order to maintain accurate and up-to-date records, we ask that you let us know whenever there is a change in your personal information such as address, contact information, or a relevant legal document. You can update your records by calling our office at 201-295-0700, emailing [email protected], or stopping by one of our offices in Guttenberg or Fort Lee. Prompt updates will help ensure that we can continue giving you effective representation and meeting our regulatory obligations.

Opt-Out and Communications Preferences

You have the ability to control how we communicate with you. If you would rather not receive certain kinds of communications from us, such as marketing materials, newsletters, or invitations to events, you may opt out at any time by calling us at 201-295-0700 or by sending us an email at [email protected]. Important case-related communications and mandatory legal notices cannot be opted out of as these are necessary for the provision of our legal services.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law may change the terms of this Privacy Policy from time to time in response to legal, business, or technology changes. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post the revised Policy on our website with an updated effective date, and post notice of the change on our site and, if feasible, email notice to our clients. We encourage you to review this Policy from time to time to remain aware of how we protect your information. By continuing to use our website or services after changes are made, you are accepting the revised Policy.

How to Contact Us Concerning Privacy Issues

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests pertaining to this Privacy Policy or the privacy practices described herein, please contact us by contacting the firm at:

Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law
6806 Bergenline Avenue, Guttenberg, NJ 07093
1073 Palisade Avenue, Fort Lee, NJ 07024
Phone: 201-295-0700
Email: [email protected]

We will respond to your privacy inquiries with all due diligence. If you are not satisfied with our reply, you may necessarily have the right to file a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority.

Your Responsibilities: Good Practices Online

Although Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law employs industry standard security measures, it is not alone responsible for maintaining the security of your personal information. In addition to this site’s secure transmission of your information, we request that you use secure methods when emailing documents (i.e. encrypted email or password protected file); secure your computers and smart devices and associated passwords; and alert us immediately if you believe a third party has compromised your personal information. Exercise caution when transmitting or making otherwise publicly accessible information via public Wi-Fi or via unsecured channels.

Privacy for Bilingual, Multilingual, and Community Clients

As a trilingual attorney who serves English, Spanish, and Italian speaking clients, Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law delivers privacy notices and disclosures to the extent feasible in your preferred language. We take affirmative steps to ensure that each of our clients fully understand their privacy rights and how we practice privacy, regardless of language or culture. If you have a need for privacy materials in a preferred language, please advise during your consultation.

Privacy and Real Estate Transactions

Realtors handle transactions that include disclosure of a great deal of personal and financial information.

Whether purchasing, selling, or leasing real estate, you can trust Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law to maintain confidentiality over all documents related to your transaction – purchase agreements, mortgage papers, property records, and more. We only work with banks, title companies, and realtors as necessary and always with your knowledge and approval. Our process adheres to all federal, state, and local privacy laws about real estate transactions.

Privacy and Court Filing and Other Civil and Commercial Litigation

When we speak for you in court (like in Landlord / Tenant, Municipal Housing Court, Planning and Zoning Board, etc.), we take special care to safeguard your information in filings and when speaking on the record. Public records requirements may require us to disclose certain information, but we minimize exposure and comply with all privacy and confidentiality requirements. Please ask Maria Gesualdi about any concerns you have regarding information that may be disclosed as part of an action when you meet for your initial consultation.

Privacy and Professional Responsibility

Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law maintains the highest of professional ethical standards as mandated by the New Jersey State Bar and relevant professional associations. Private information is respected and maintained not only according to the law but in performance of ethical duties and obligations to act within the best interest and confidence of each and every client. Privacy procedures are regularly reviewed in order to maintain current awareness of legal requirements and guidelines, as well as ethical rules affecting the legal profession.

Frequently Asked Privacy Questions (FAQ)

Q: Will information be disclosed to realtors or others without my consent?
A: No. We disclose information to third parties only when you have provided express permission, or when necessary by law.
Q: Can I obtain what you have on record about me?
A: You may request your records at any time, subject to our obligation to maintain attorney-client privilege and records retention requirements as specified by law.
Q: How can I be assured that my inquiry on the web is confidential?
A: All inquiries made via our website are maintained as confidential information. We also use technology-backed security measures and protocols to transmit your submission. In the case of very personal matters, we advise contacting us directly via phone or in-person.
Q: What happens to my documents after my employment with you is over?
A: We dispose of or maintain records securely according to our Data Retention Policy and professional guidelines.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Other Miscellaneous State Laws

While Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law may practice law in New Jersey, it respects those privacy rights afforded by the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and similar state privacy laws. If you reside within a state with its own privacy law granting you certain rights, such as the right to know what information is collected, the right to request that information to be deleted, or the right to opt out of certain uses of your information, it will abide by the applicable state law requirements. During your consultation, we can advise you of your rights.

This Policy Effective Date and Acknowledgment

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) is effective June 1, 2024. By accessing our website, reaching out directly, and/or retaining Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law to provide legal services, you acknowledge that you have read, have understood, and consent to the privacy practices outlined below. If you do not agree to our Policy, please do not access our website and reach out directly to request a discussion about any potential issues.

This Policy is designed to help you understand the types of information we collect from and about you when you visit this website (“Site”), and how we use this information. By “information”, for purposes of this Policy, we mean information that can be used to identify or contact a person (“personal information”). We will not sell or rent your personal information to any third parties, other than as required by law. When you use our Site and/or request legal consultation, in addition to personally identifiable information we may require you to submit, the following certain information is automatically recorded by our servers: The above information is generally collected for the purpose of scheduling a specific service that you may utilize. We may also utilize information provided by our business partners or affiliates regarding their visitors to see what services may be suitable for them. Throughout our Site, we request personally identifiable information (e.g., name, postal address, email address, telephone number, etc.) via web forms or email in order to provide information regarding the services offered. We do not share or sell your personally identifiable information from inquiries, except as required by law. There may be instances when we partner with another development company offering complimentary services or products to clients of this Firm. In those instances, we may offer information to you regarding that service or product. Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law does not support “spamming” in any form. Email newsletters are sent when expressly requested. You may change your email preferences by emailing request to [email protected]. We utilize analytics software to better improve the value of our website for our clients and prospective clients. Once in a while we may send notices of new services offered by the Firm or upcoming events to our subscribers. We utilize analytical software programming from Google Analytics. We cannot control Google’s use of cookies. To disable Google Analytics data collection by Google Ads on the Site in particular through the use of cookies, visit Google Ads settings (Google is not affiliated with us). The web analytics service does not manage or oversee cookies set on users’ browsers. Users themselves manage the use of cookies. This Policy may be modified occasionally due to operational, legal or regulatory changes. We therefore invite you to read it periodically in order to stay abreast with its contents.

Contact Us for Personalized Assistance and Legal Services

For all of your legal representation needs or if you have questions about how our privacy policy is handled, Maria Gesualdi Attorney at Law can help:
6806 Bergenline Avenue, Guttenberg, New Jersey 07093
1073 Palisade Avenue, Fort Lee, New Jersey 07024
Telephone: 201-295-0700
Email: [email protected]

We offer experienced, individualized service and protection of your privacy at every stage of the process. Consultations are available for real estate law, estate planning – and other related legal needs. Contact us to schedule a consultation to learn the difference of working with a client-focused law firm.

Maria Gesualdi Law