Your payment for research services indicates your agreement with these terms.
The performance of services by My Family Footprints,. (“we,” “us,” or “My Family Footprints”) for you, our client, is subject to the following terms and conditions, and your use of our services constitutes your acknowledgement that you have read, understand, accept and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions of Use.
1. PAYMENTS AND REFUNDS
1.1 If you request a refund before we begin research and no later than one month after your initial payment, your deposit will be refunded. We do not refund full deposits once we have commenced research. A partial refund may be granted depending on the amount of work already performed.
1.2 We require payment of a non-refundable deposit equal to half of purchased research package at the time of the signing of the contract of agreement between My Family Footprints and the client.
1.3 We require the balance of your purchased research package cost when research is completed and before the Findings Report is released to the client.
1.4 We will not provide research results until payment is made in full.
2. RESEARCH AND COMPLETION TIME
2.1 We will commence research only after we have received necessary information from you. You are requested to provide to us a detailed research request that includes all known information concerning the family or individual to be researched as well as any previous research that has been conducted. We are not responsible for duplication or misdirection of effort due to a lack on your part to provide all necessary information.
2.2 If you send us documents or books with family information for us to use in our research do NOT send original records, only send copies. We are not responsible for records damaged or lost in transit.
2.3 We handle research projects in the order in which the deposit, research goals, and genealogical information are received from you. We strive to return completed projects to you within the estimated time given; however, we cannot control how soon we receive records from repositories worldwide and a project may take longer to complete than anticipated. If a project is expected to run longer than originally estimated, we will notify you as to the reason and the new estimated completion time.
3. SHARING OF INFORMATION
3.1 We allow clients to use reports, documents, and data that we’ve provided to them, including the use of these things in family history books and on the Internet, provided that excerpts from our reports are not altered and accurately portray our written conclusions. When information that we found is used, please include us as a source or as the author of the information using the following citation: “My Family Footprints, https://myfamilyfootprints.com” Any use of reports, documents, and data which we’ve provided you other than as specifically permitted herein or without our prior written consent is expressly prohibited.
3.2 We reserve the right to talk about our research triumphs and challenges on our website and in other online and print communications. This can include talking about people, locations, records (including images or partial images of records), and other details involving a genealogy research problem but this information is not complete or detailed. We avoid including information about living persons (such as the full name of a client or other living relatives) without changing the names used or obtaining prior permission. You waive any right to royalties or other compensation which may arise or which may be related to the use of information as described above. You also hereby hold harmless and release and forever discharge My Family Footprints from all claims, demands, and causes of action which you or any other person acting on your behalf or on behalf of your estate have or may have.
3.3 Clients acknowledge and agree that we may choose to disclose or withhold disclosure of their information if we believe we are required to do so by law or if such action is reasonably necessary to (a) comply with a legal process or government request; (b) enforce this or any other agreement with a client; (c) respond to claims that our content violates the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or safety of My Family Footprints, our clients, our potential clients, or the public.
4. WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
4.1 The amount payable to us is based upon the value of the services we provide and is not related to the various uses to which you may put our research nor are results guaranteed. For example, if you are using our research for the purpose of establishing genealogy for purposes of qualifying for grants, scholarships or other benefits, or are seeking to locate potential beneficiaries of a decedent, the cost of our services has not been determined with reference to such uses, but has been determined solely by reference to the amount of time we spend performing our research services. We are not an insurer of any risk relating to the uses to which you may put our research.
4.2 To the fullest extent permitted by law, you acknowledge and agree that we have not made and do not make any representations or warranties (whether by statute, common law, custom, usage or otherwise) regarding the accuracy or completeness of our search results, and specifically disclaim any and all implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall we be liable to you or any other person for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages or claims for loss of business or profits, damage to reputation or otherwise under contract, tort (including negligence) or other legal or equitable theory, regardless of the cause of action and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such potential loss or damage.
4.3 To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree that it is impractical and extremely difficult to fix the actual damages, if any, which may approximately result from failure on our part to perform any of our obligations, and that if we should be found liable for loss, damage, or injury due to our services in any respect, our liability shall be limited to the amount you pay for our services, regardless of whether such loss, damage or injury results directly or indirectly from our negligence or active, passive, intentional or other act.
5. MODIFICATION OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE
We reserve the right at any time and at our sole discretion to modify these Terms and Conditions of Use. Modifications will be posted online or communicated to you via email or regular mail. We likewise reserve the right to refuse service to any potential client at our sole discretion.