HERITAGE FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC.
BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING

Heritage Financial Services, Inc. has developed a business continuity plan on how we will respond to events that significantly disrupt our business. Since the timing and impact of disasters and disruptions is unpredictable, we will have to be flexible in responding to actual events as they occur. With that in mind, we are providing you with this information on our business continuity plan.

Contacting us – If after a significant business disruption you cannot contact us as you usually do through our local office phone number at 781-255-0214, you should call our alternative numbers, (800) 422-0214, or go to our main website at www.heritagefinancial.net. If the business disruption is limited to Heritage Financial Services, Inc.’s local area of Norwood, Massachusetts, you may access your funds and securities directly with Schwab Institutional by logging into www.schwaballiance.com or calling Schwab directly at  800-762-7458.

In the event the business disruption affects our custodian, Schwab Institutional, we will post a bulletin on the website referenced above, advising you of the status of our operations and providing you with instructions on how you may access your funds and securities.

Our business continuity plan – We plan to quickly recover and resume business operations after a significant business disruption and to respond by safeguarding our employees and property, making a financial and operational assessment, protecting the firm’s books and records, and allowing our customers to transact business. In short, our business continuity plan is designed to permit our firm to resume operations as quickly as possible, given the scope and severity of the significant business disruption. A team of senior personnel within Heritage Financial Services is responsible for evaluating any disruption and instituting the appropriate plan of action.

Our business continuity plan addresses data backup and recovery; all mission critical systems; financial and operational assessments; alternative communications with customers, employees, and regulators; alternate physical location of employees; critical supplier, contractor, bank, and counter-party impact; regulatory reporting; and assuring our customers prompt access to their funds and securities if we are unable to continue our business.

Heritage Financial Services, Inc. and our custodian, Schwab Institutional, back up our important records both online and in a geographically separate area. While every emergency situation poses unique problems based on external factors, such as time of day and the severity of the disruption, we have been advised by our custodian that their objective is to restore their own operations and be able to complete existing transactions and accept new transactions and payments within eight hours of a local, non-severe business disruption. Our objective is to restore our operations within a similar time frame. Your orders and requests for funds and securities could be delayed during this period.

It is important to note, however, that the scope and effect of a local or regional disruption can vary significantly, and certain elements of our and our custodian’s recovery plans may require a longer recovery period and your requests for funds or securities could be further delayed. During a business disruption, we will continually evaluate, estimate, and communicate the recovery time necessary to resume operations.

Heritage Financial Service’s recovery plans place a high priority on preserving this capability to support our commitment to provide you with prompt access to your funds during a significant business disruption.

Varying disruptions – Significant business disruptions can vary in their scope, such as only our firm, a single building housing our firm, the business district where our firm is located, the city where we are located, or the whole region. Within each of these areas, the severity of the disruption can also vary from minimal to severe. In a disruption to only our firm or a building housing our firm, we will transfer our operations to a local site when needed and expect to recover and resume critical business functions within eight hours. In a disruption affecting our Norwood, Massachusetts, home office business district, city, or region, we will transfer our critical business operations to either our satellite office located in Stoneham, Massachusetts or Stoneham, Massachusetts, both of which maintain independent telephone systems and direct lines of connection to our custodian. It is expected that such a transfer will be accomplished within four hours and provide you with immediate and ongoing access to your funds and securities.

In either situation, we plan to continue in business and notify you through our website, www.heritagefinancial.net, or our customer contact numbers, (781) 255-0214 or (800)422-0214. If the significant business disruption is so severe that it prevents us from remaining in business, we will assure our customers prompt access to their funds and securities by whatever means available to us.

Important disclaimers – Heritage Financial Services, Inc., will adhere to the procedures described in its business continuity plan and described above to the extent commercially reasonable and practicable under prevailing circumstances. There are, however, an incalculable number of events or circumstances that could result in a significant business disruption and their impact may vary greatly in size, scope, severity, duration, and geographic location. Further, significant business disruptions may result in varying degrees of harm to human life and regional or national infrastructure (power, transportation, communications, etc.) that could affect the firm’s recovery in significant and different ways.

In light of this, Heritage Financial Services, Inc., in its sole discretion, reserves the right to flexibly respond to any disruption in a situation-specific and prudent manner. Nothing in this disclosure document is intended to provide a guarantee or warranty regarding the actions or performance of the firm, its computer systems, or its personnel in the event of a significant business disruption.

For more information – If you have questions about our business continuity planning, you can contact us by writing Heritage Financial Services, Inc., 477 Washington Street, Suite #15, Norwood, Massachusetts 02062, or by calling us at (781)255-0214.