Professional Genealogy Services

Terms of Engagement for Genealogical Research Services

These terms apply to all research services performed by Reparative Genealogy ("the Researcher") for the client named in the applicable engagement agreement ("the Client"). By retaining research services, the Client acknowledges and agrees to the following.

1. Nature of Services — Fees Compensate Time and Expertise, Not Outcomes

Genealogical research is a professional investigative service. Fees paid to the Researcher compensate professional time, expertise, methodology, and access to specialized knowledge — including record analysis, repository correspondence, transcription, evidence evaluation, and report writing. Fees do not purchase, and the Researcher does not promise, any particular finding, connection, identification, or result. A research session that establishes an ancestor could not have appeared in a given record set, or that a record no longer survives, is professionally performed work and is billable on the same basis as research producing an affirmative discovery. Negative findings — documented evidence of what does not exist, or what the records cannot support — are legitimate and often essential research results.

2. Records Availability Governs Outcomes

The outcome of any genealogical research project is governed by the survival, accessibility, and content of original records, which are outside the Researcher's control. The Client acknowledges in particular that:

1. Courthouse fires, floods, wars, neglect, and deliberate destruction have eliminated many record groups. Many Southern counties are "burned counties" with substantial pre-1865 or pre-1900 record loss.
2. Enslaved ancestors were systematically excluded from most records created before 1865, and appear in surviving records primarily through the enslaving family's property, probate, tax, and court documents. Research before 1870 may be slow, indirect, and in some cases impossible despite exhaustive professional effort.
3. Some repositories restrict access, charge their own fees, require onsite visits, or hold unindexed and uncataloged materials with unpredictable retrieval times.
4. The Researcher will conduct a reasonably exhaustive search consistent with professional genealogical standards, will document all sources examined (including those that yielded nothing), and will report findings honestly — including the finding that a question cannot presently be answered.

3. Fees, Retainers, and Expenses

1. Research time is billed at the rate, or in the session blocks, stated in the engagement agreement. Time includes research, analysis, correspondence, travel to repositories where agreed, transcription, and report preparation.
2. Retainers. Projects may require a retainer before work begins. Retainer amounts not yet expended on time or costs are refundable upon written cancellation; time already expended and costs already incurred are not refundable, regardless of research outcome.
3. Third-party expenses — record copy fees, certificate fees, repository charges, postage, database access required for the project, and pre-approved travel — are billed at cost and are separate from research time.
4. Estimates of total hours are good-faith projections, not caps or quotes. If it becomes clear that a question will require substantially more time than estimated, the Researcher will pause and consult the Client before proceeding.
5. Invoices are due as stated in the engagement agreement. Work may be suspended on accounts with unpaid balances.

4. Confidentiality and Privacy of Client Materials

1. All materials the Client provides — family documents, photographs, oral histories, DNA results, and personal information — are held in confidence and used solely for the Client's project.
2. The Researcher will not sell, publish, share, or otherwise disclose the Client's materials, identity, or research findings to any third party without the Client's written consent, except as required by law.
3. Research involving living persons is conducted with heightened care. Reports identify living individuals only as necessary to the research question, and the Client is responsible for obtaining any consents needed to share information about living relatives with the Researcher.
4. DNA data. Where DNA analysis is part of an engagement, the Researcher accesses only what the Client explicitly shares, does not retain login credentials beyond the engagement, and never uploads, transfers, or shares the Client's genetic data without written direction.
5. Working files are retained securely so that future sessions can build on completed work. The Client may request return or destruction of provided materials at the close of an engagement.

5. Sensitive and Unexpected Findings

Genealogical research — especially African American genealogical research — routinely uncovers painful history: enslavement, family separation, violence, dispossession, misattributed parentage, and DNA results that differ from family understanding. The Researcher will report findings truthfully and with care, but cannot soften what the records contain. The Client acknowledges that commissioning research means accepting the possibility of distressing or unexpected findings, and that such findings do not constitute deficient performance.

6. Work Product, Copyright, and Credit

1. Research reports, narratives, websites, and compiled works prepared by the Researcher are original works of authorship. Copyright in the compiled work product is retained by the Researcher unless the engagement agreement states otherwise.
2. The Client receives an unrestricted license to use, copy, and share the work product for personal, family, and non-commercial purposes, including lineage-society and reparative-program applications.
3. Commercial publication of the work product (books, film, media) is welcome and is arranged by separate agreement with appropriate credit to the Researcher.
4. Original historical records themselves are not copyrighted by either party; citations in reports allow the Client or any future researcher to retrieve the originals independently.

7. Story Sharing and Case Studies — Only With Your Consent

Part of this Hub's mission is teaching through real research, as in the published case studies. No client's story, name, documents, or findings are ever used in case studies, publications, presentations, or on this website without a signed Media & Story Release (form below). Declining the release has no effect on the quality, priority, or pricing of research services. Clients who consent may choose full identification or anonymization, and may limit which materials are used.

8. General Provisions

1. The Researcher provides genealogical opinion based on evidence; conclusions may be revised if new records surface. Reports are not legal documents, and the Researcher is not a law firm; clients requiring legal effect for findings (estates, tribal enrollment, litigation) should engage an attorney, whom the Researcher will gladly support.
2. The Researcher's total liability for any claim arising from an engagement is limited to the fees paid for the session or project giving rise to the claim.
3. Either party may end an engagement with written notice; the Client pays for time and costs through the date of termination and receives all completed work product and a log of research performed.
4. These terms, together with the signed engagement agreement, are the entire agreement and are governed by the laws of the state named in the engagement agreement.

These terms are provided as a professional-practice template. They are not legal advice; have your attorney review the final language and insert your governing state before publication and first client use.