Legal
Terms of service
These are the terms our work runs under. They're written to be read, not to hide behind — if a clause here ever surprises you when it matters, we've written it badly.
Last updated:[TO ADD before launch.] Replace [LEGAL ENTITY NAME],
[COUNTRY], [CONTACT EMAIL] and the bracketed periods below. Confirm the
cancellation window and governing law suit where you actually trade. This is a starting structure,
not legal advice — have it reviewed before you take payment.
1. Who these terms are with
This service is operated by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME] ("we", "us"), based in [COUNTRY], trading as Ancient Family Roots. Contact: [CONTACT EMAIL]. By booking a session or sending us a file you accept these terms.
We are an independent service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the publisher of Family Tree Maker, Ancestry, or Broderbund. See our disclaimer and trademark notice.
2. What we provide
- Free guides. Published for anyone to use, with no account and no payment.
- Remote support sessions. Screen-share help with a specific Family Tree Maker problem.
- Training. Live one-to-one tuition on your own tree file.
- File repair and recovery. Assessment and repair of damaged tree files.
- Tree cleanup. Duplicate merging, media relinking and structural tidying.
All services are delivered remotely. We do not make house calls or on-site visits, and we never take remote control of your computer — sessions are screen-share only, so we can see your screen but cannot click or type on your machine.
3. What we don't provide
Some things are outside what we can do, or aren't ours to do:
- Licences, activation keys, purchases, refunds or subscriptions for Family Tree Maker or Ancestry. Those belong to the companies that sold them to you.
- Access to your accounts. We have none and will never ask for credentials.
- Genealogical research. We fix the software; we don't research your ancestors or verify your findings.
- Support for unlicensed copies of the software.
- General computer repair unrelated to genealogy software.
- Any guarantee about the software itself. We can't fix bugs in a product we don't publish.
4. Fees, and "no fix, no fee"
Because every job differs in size, the price is agreed with you directly before any work begins. You will always be told what a piece of work costs, and given the chance to decline, before we start it. We do not charge for the conversation that establishes that, and we do not take payment up front.
No fix, no fee. If we can't resolve the problem you came to us with, you don't pay for that work. This applies when the fault turns out to be in the software itself, when it sits with the publisher, or when we simply can't solve it. We'd rather tell you that than bill you for time that didn't help.
What "no fix, no fee" does not cover, so there's no confusion later:
- Training sessions, which are paid for the tuition time rather than a repair outcome.
- Work you asked us to stop partway through, where the original problem was still solvable.
- A different problem discovered during the session, which is quoted separately before we touch it.
- Data that no longer exists. If a file has been overwritten or the drive has failed, there may be nothing recoverable — we'll tell you at assessment, and you won't be charged for the attempt.
5. What you're responsible for
These aren't small print. Two of them decide whether a bad day stays fixable.
- Back up before we start. We will always take or ask for a backup, but the working copy of your research is ultimately yours to protect. See how to back up properly.
- Have the right to the data. You confirm the tree file you share with us is yours to share.
- Tell us the truth about what happened. "I didn't do anything" when an uninstall was run makes the problem far harder to solve.
- Have your licence details to hand where the work needs them. We can't obtain them for you.
- Choose what you share on screen. Share a single window rather than the whole desktop if you'd prefer.
- Turn up. If you can't make a session, tell us — see cancellations below.
6. Your files and your data
- We work on a copy. Your original file is not modified.
- Files sent for repair are deleted within [X] days of the work finishing.
- We treat everything we see in your tree as confidential.
- We never upload your data to Ancestry, share it, or use it as an example.
Full detail in our privacy policy.
7. Cancellations and rescheduling
- Reschedule or cancel with at least [X hours] notice and there's no charge.
- Cancel later than that, or don't attend, and we may charge for the reserved time.
- If we cancel or can't attend, you're refunded in full or rebooked, whichever you prefer.
- Project work already started is charged for the work completed.
8. Limits of liability
We take genuine care with irreplaceable research, and we'd rather set expectations honestly than hide behind a clause.
- Data recovery is never guaranteed. Some damage is beyond repair, and no honest provider can promise otherwise.
- We aren't liable for loss arising from an absent or defective backup you were asked to make.
- We aren't liable for faults in Family Tree Maker, Ancestry or any other product we don't publish.
- We aren't liable for hardware failure, or for a drive that fails during or after our work.
- Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us for that piece of work.
- We aren't liable for indirect or consequential loss.
None of this limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including for death, personal injury, or fraud. Where you deal with us as a consumer, your statutory rights are unaffected.
9. Content on this site
The guides, diagrams and text here are ours. Read them, use them, follow them, and link to them freely. Don't republish them wholesale as your own.
Family Tree Maker®, Ancestry® and other product names are trademarks of their respective owners. We use them only to describe the software we help with — that's nominative fair use, not a claim of any association. See the full notice.
10. The free guides
Our guides are published in good faith, tested, and checked against the publisher's documentation. But every computer is different, and you follow them at your own risk. Back up first — every guide says so for a reason. If you'd rather not do it alone, that's what the paid sessions are for.
11. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms. The date at the top changes when we do. The terms that apply to your work are the ones in force when you booked it.
12. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of [COUNTRY / JURISDICTION], and disputes are subject to its courts. If you're a consumer elsewhere, this doesn't remove protections you have under your own local law.