Terms of Use and Research Services

Last updated: October 8, 2026

These Terms of Use and Research Services ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the website and any family-history, genealogy, research, educational, consultation, or related services offered by European Roots ("we", "us", "our", or "our team").

By accessing or using the Website, submitting an inquiry, purchasing services, providing research materials, or otherwise engaging our team, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Website or request services.

1. Services

Our team provides basic family-history and genealogical research services. Depending on the scope agreed upon, services may include:

Reviewing information and records supplied by you.
Searching publicly available, subscription-based, archival, library, governmental, or other lawful sources.
Identifying possible records, family relationships, places, events, or research leads.
Preparing research notes, summaries, reports, source citations, record transcriptions, research plans, or recommendations for further research.
Providing general genealogical education, consultation, or guidance.

The specific scope, fee, estimated timeframe, deliverables, and any limitations for a project will be described in a written proposal, service description, invoice, email, or other written communication before work begins. If there is a conflict between these Terms and a written project-specific agreement, the project-specific agreement controls for that project.

2. No guaranteed results

Genealogical research involves incomplete, inaccurate, conflicting, inaccessible, misindexed, restricted, damaged, lost, or unpublished records. It may not be possible to prove a relationship, identify an ancestor, locate a record, verify family tradition, establish biological parentage, or answer a particular research question.

Our team will use reasonable professional effort within the agreed scope and time or fee budget. However, we cannot guarantee that research will produce a particular result, record, conclusion, family connection, or outcome.

Research findings represent professional interpretations based on the information and sources available at the time of the research. New records, evidence, DNA results, later corrections, or different interpretations may change or contradict a finding.

3. Client responsibilities

To help our team provide useful services, you agree to:

Provide information that is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge.
Disclose prior research, known uncertainties, relevant documents, prior reports, and existing DNA or genealogical findings that may affect the project.
Tell us promptly if another person is conducting substantially similar research for you while our project is underway.
Respond promptly to reasonable requests for clarification, documents, approvals, or instructions.
Ensure that you have the right to provide any materials, information, photographs, documents, DNA-related information, or personal information that you send to us.
Obtain any permissions required to share information about living persons with us.
Avoid providing unnecessary sensitive information, including full Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, passwords, government identification numbers, or medical information.

We are not responsible for duplicated, delayed, or misdirected research caused by incomplete, inaccurate, or withheld information; conflicting instructions; unavailable records; or a client’s simultaneous or substantially duplicative research activity.

4. Living persons and sensitive information

Family-history research can involve information about living people. You may provide personal information about yourself and, where appropriate, other individuals only if you have the right to do so.

We will use reasonable care in handling client information and research materials, as described in the Privacy Policy. However, you should not send highly sensitive personal information unless we specifically request it and it is necessary for the agreed project.

We may decline, limit, or end research that we reasonably believe would:

Violate privacy, data-protection, or record-access laws.
Violate the terms, policies, or restrictions of an archive, repository, database, website, or record custodian.
Involve harassment, stalking, doxxing, identity theft, fraud, discrimination, or another unlawful or harmful purpose.
Seek to identify, locate, contact, or disclose sensitive information about a living person without an appropriate lawful and ethical basis.
Involve genetic, adoption, medical, criminal, or other sensitive matters beyond the scope our team is willing or able to handle.

Unless separately agreed in writing, our team will not contact living individuals on your behalf, conduct surveillance, obtain restricted records through misrepresentation, or use deceptive or unlawful methods.

5. Fees, expenses, and payment

Fees, payment timing, included work, and any anticipated expenses will be stated in the applicable service description, proposal, invoice, or written agreement.

Unless otherwise stated in writing:

Research fees cover our team’s time and the deliverables described in the agreed scope.
Third-party costs are separate from research fees. These may include repository fees, archive fees, record-copy fees, certified-record fees, postage, travel, parking, database subscriptions, translation, document retrieval, or other approved out-of-pocket expenses.
We will seek your approval before incurring a third-party expense that was not previously authorized.
Payment is due according to the payment schedule in your proposal.
We may pause work, withhold final deliverables, or cancel the project if required payment is not received.

Unless required by law or otherwise agreed in writing, fees compensate for time, expertise, and work performed; they are not contingent on locating a particular record or achieving a particular result.

6. Cancellations and refunds

You may cancel a research project by written notice. If you cancel after work has begun, you remain responsible for fees for research time already performed and for approved third-party expenses already incurred.

If we need to cancel a project before completing it, we will notify you and will return any unearned prepaid fees, less the reasonable value of work already completed and nonrefundable third-party expenses, unless applicable law requires a different result.

If research cannot proceed because needed records are unavailable, access is restricted, a repository does not respond, the project is outside the agreed scope, or you do not provide needed information or approvals, we may close or pause the project. We will provide any completed work or research notes that are included in the agreed deliverables and for which payment has been made.

7. Research materials and work product

You retain ownership of the original materials you provide to us, subject to any rights held by third parties.

Subject to your full payment of all amounts due, you may use final research reports, summaries, charts, research plans, citations, and other work product our team creates for your personal, family-history, educational, or noncommercial purposes.

Unless we give written permission, you may not:

Resell, sublicense, publish for commercial use, or distribute our reports or written analysis as your own work.
Remove our name, copyright notice, source citations, disclaimers, or attribution from the work product.
Alter excerpts of our written conclusions in a way that changes their meaning or creates a misleading impression.
Use our work product to train artificial-intelligence systems, create commercial genealogical databases, or provide paid research services to others.

You may share final work product with family members, collaborators, or professional advisers for personal or family-history purposes, provided that the material is not misrepresented and appropriate attribution is retained.

We retain ownership of our preexisting materials, methods, templates, research processes, Website content, educational materials, and any general research knowledge, skills, and experience used in performing services.

8. Third-party sources and rights

Research may involve materials supplied by archives, libraries, governments, record custodians, subscription databases, publishers, websites, or other third parties. Such materials may be subject to copyright, contract terms, privacy restrictions, access restrictions, reproduction limits, or other rights.

A genealogical fact may be available from a public source, but a record image, transcription, index, database, compilation, photograph, written analysis, website content, or other presentation may still be protected by copyright or governed by a provider’s terms.

You are responsible for complying with applicable laws and third-party terms when you use records, images, transcriptions, reports, or other materials included with or referenced in your research results. If a source imposes reproduction or sharing restrictions, we may provide a citation, summary, transcription, or research note instead of a copy of the underlying material.

9. Website content and acceptable use

The Website and its content, including text, designs, logos, graphics, original articles, research aids, downloadable materials, videos, and other content created by our team, are owned by or licensed to European Roots and are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws.

You may view, download, and print free Website content solely for your personal, noncommercial use, provided that you preserve all copyright and proprietary notices.

You may not, without our prior written permission:

Copy, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute, sell, license, scrape, harvest, or exploit Website content beyond personal, noncommercial use.
Use automated tools, bots, crawlers, scripts, or similar methods to access, index, extract, or collect data from the Website, except for ordinary search-engine indexing or as expressly permitted in writing.
Interfere with the Website’s operation, security, or access controls.
Upload or transmit malware, harmful code, spam, or unlawful material.
Impersonate another person, misrepresent your identity, or submit false information.
Use the Website or services for unlawful, fraudulent, defamatory, invasive, discriminatory, or harmful purposes.

10. Feedback and submissions

If you voluntarily send suggestions, comments, feedback, testimonials, or other non-confidential communications, you grant us a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, and display that material for operating and improving the Website and services.

We will not publicly identify you in connection with a testimonial, client story, or research example without your permission, except where the information is already public or disclosure is required by law.

Do not submit confidential, sensitive, or proprietary information through a public comment area, testimonial form, or other feature not designed for secure client communication.

11. No legal, medical, or financial advice

The Website and services provide genealogical research, historical research, and educational information. They do not provide legal, medical, mental-health, genetic-counseling, tax, immigration, financial, investigative, or other professional advice.

You should consult an appropriately qualified professional for advice concerning inheritance, citizenship, probate, adoption, identity, genetic testing, health, privacy, intellectual property, or other legal, medical, financial, or personal matters.

12. Disclaimer of warranties

The Website and its content are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied, or statutory, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, noninfringement, accuracy, availability, completeness, and uninterrupted or error-free operation. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or continuing availability of third-party records, databases, archives, repositories, or linked websites.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, European Roots and our team will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, loss of goodwill, emotional distress, reputational harm, or business interruption arising from or related to the Website, services, research results, third-party records, or these Terms.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability arising out of or related to a specific research project will not exceed the amount you paid us for that project during the six months before the event giving rise to the claim.

14. Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless European Roots and our team from claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from:

Materials or information you provide in violation of another person’s rights or applicable law.
Your misuse of the Website, services, work product, or third-party materials.
Your violation of these Terms.
Your use or disclosure of research findings in a manner that violates privacy rights, intellectual-property rights, record restrictions, or other legal obligations.

15. Third-party links

The Website may contain links to third-party websites, archives, databases, social-media platforms, vendors, or other resources. These links are provided for convenience only. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party content, services, availability, privacy practices, terms, accuracy, or security.

Your use of a third-party website or service is subject to that provider’s own terms and privacy policy.

16. Privacy

Your use of the Website and services is also subject to the Privacy Policy, available at European Roots Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, retain, protect, and disclose personal information.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top shows when they were most recently revised.

Changes will apply prospectively from the date posted, unless otherwise required by law. If a change materially affects an active research engagement, we will provide notice where reasonably practical and will not apply the change retroactively to alter the agreed scope, price, or deliverables without your consent.

18. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Utah, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Before filing a formal legal claim, you agree to contact us and make a good-faith effort to resolve the concern informally for at least 30 days.

Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Provo, Utah, unless applicable law requires another forum or prohibits this provision.

19. General terms

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any project-specific written agreement are the entire agreement between you and European Roots regarding the Website and services, except where a separate written agreement expressly states otherwise.

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of that provision or any other provision.

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a sale, transfer, or reorganization of the business, subject to applicable law.

20. Contact

For questions about these Terms, research services, an active project, or a request to use Website content, you can reach us by using the Contact us form.