Last Updated: September 20, 2026
Ordo Elevatum LLC · ProofTrail · prooftrail.net
These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User," "you," or "your") and Ordo Elevatum LLC ("we," "us," or "our") governing your access to and use of ProofTrail ("Service"). By creating an account or using the Service, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy.
If you do not agree to these Terms, do not create an account or use the Service. We may update these Terms from time to time; continued use after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
ProofTrail is a professional genealogy, DNA match-metadata management, investigation, collaboration, and reporting platform. It provides tools for organizing case files, tracking research actions, managing DNA profiles and genealogy match/comparison data, generating timelines, building investigation boards, collaborating with clients and co-investigators, and producing professional research reports.
ProofTrail itself provides software, education, marketplace, payment-enablement, and recordkeeping tools. Ordo Elevatum LLC does not provide legal or medical advice and does not itself perform client genealogical research through the marketplace. Independent professionals accessible through the Service may provide genealogical research services directly to their clients under separate professional-service agreements.
You must be at least 13 years old to create a ProofTrail account. If you are under the age of legal majority where you live, a parent or legal guardian must authorize your use of the Service and accept these Terms on your behalf. You must be at least 18 years old to hold a ProofTrail Research Professional credential, purchase a professional directory listing, connect a seller account, accept paid marketplace work, or enter a professional service agreement as the service provider.
To use most features of the Service, you must create an account. You agree to:
We reserve the right to terminate accounts that we determine, in our sole discretion, have been compromised or are being used in violation of these Terms.
ProofTrail offers the following subscription plans:
Professional Software Plan: The ProofTrail Professional software subscription is available to any eligible ProofTrail user. It does not require, award, imply, or include the ProofTrail Research Professional credential, and it does not place a user in the Hire a Genealogist directory.
Introductory Subscription Offers: ProofTrail may offer a reduced introductory price on monthly or annual software subscriptions. A monthly introductory offer may apply to the first monthly billing period before continuing at the standard monthly rate. An annual introductory offer may apply to the first annual billing period before continuing at the standard annual rate. When an introductory offer is shown at checkout, the introductory charge, the recurring renewal price, the billing cadence, and the cancellation path are displayed before purchase. Introductory pricing does not permanently replace the standard recurring rate.
Automatic Renewal: Paid subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing period unless you cancel before the renewal date. You authorize us (or our payment processor) to charge your payment method on each renewal date at the recurring price disclosed at checkout, subject to any later price change communicated as required by applicable law.
Cancellation: You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings or by contacting us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. No partial refunds are issued for unused portions of a billing period.
Plan Changes: To protect against duplicate recurring subscriptions, changes to an already-active paid plan may require ProofTrail support rather than opening a second checkout. Contact us when the Service directs you to do so for an active-plan change or billing correction.
Failed Payments: If a payment fails, your account may be downgraded to the Free plan. We will attempt to notify you by email. You remain responsible for any outstanding balance.
Plan Downgrades and Archive Mode: When a paid subscription expires or is canceled at the end of its billing period, paid-only features stop being available. If your account contains more investigations than the Free plan permits, ProofTrail preserves those investigations in Archive Mode rather than deleting them. You may keep one eligible real investigation active under the Free allowance; additional preserved investigations remain viewable, searchable, and exportable but cannot be edited or imported into until you reactivate a qualifying subscription or otherwise become entitled to edit that investigation. The Academy practice case does not count against the one-investigation Free allowance.
Feature and Usage Allowances: Plan features, AI usage allowances, transcription allowances, supported import formats, and other product limits are described in the Service and may evolve as ProofTrail changes. Any material change to an active paid subscription's price will be communicated as required by applicable law before the new price is charged.
Paid ProofTrail Academy lessons, modules, levels, specialty pathways, and challenge assessments are separate one-time educational purchases unless the checkout page expressly states otherwise. Academy purchases do not create a recurring software subscription.
Access: Unless a product page states a different access period, a completed Academy purchase provides ongoing access to the purchased product while ProofTrail continues to operate the Academy and the account remains in good standing. “Permanent” or “lifetime” access, where stated in the Service, means access for the supported life of the applicable ProofTrail Academy service or product and is not a guarantee that the Service will operate forever.
Upgrade Price Adjustment: When ProofTrail offers an upgrade path from a previously purchased Academy product to an eligible larger product that contains it, eligible amounts previously paid may be subtracted from the larger product's purchase price as a non-cash, non-transferable upgrade credit. The adjustment is capped at the larger product's price, does not create a store-credit or cash balance, and cannot be applied more than once.
Challenge Assessments: A Challenge Assessment is a competency-equivalency pathway for ProofTrail Academy prerequisites. Passing a Challenge Assessment does not grant ownership of the corresponding instructional content unless separately purchased and does not confer an external professional credential, certification, accreditation, license, or Board for Certification of Genealogists credential.
Academy Purchases — Final Sale: ProofTrail Academy purchases are final and non-refundable once access to the purchased digital educational content has been granted. Please review the course or assessment description before purchasing. ProofTrail may make an exceptional administrative reversal for a duplicate charge, confirmed billing error, payment-processor requirement or dispute, or when a refund is required by applicable law. If an exceptional reversal occurs, the corresponding Academy entitlement may be revoked, access to the purchased content may end, and any unused upgrade price adjustment derived from that purchase may be voided. Historical order, assessment, completion, and audit records may be retained as necessary for accounting, integrity, security, dispute resolution, and recordkeeping.
Assessment Results: Academy assessment submissions and assessor feedback may be preserved as an append-only history. A revision or later attempt does not erase earlier submissions or feedback.
ProofTrail Research Professional: ProofTrail may issue its proprietary “ProofTrail Research Professional” credential to users who satisfy the complete ProofTrail Academy professional pathway and any required assessments, practical work, revisions, and integrity requirements. This is a ProofTrail-issued credential only. It is not Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) certification, the Certified Genealogist (CG) credential, a government license, or third-party accreditation.
ProofTrail Professional Directory Listing: Only active ProofTrail Research Professionals may optionally purchase the separate recurring ProofTrail Professional Directory Listing at the price displayed before checkout. This marketplace add-on is separate from Academy purchases and from all ProofTrail software subscriptions, including the ProofTrail Professional plan. A user may purchase the Professional software plan without holding a ProofTrail credential and without appearing in the directory. A directory listing is shown publicly only while the ProofTrail Research Professional credential is active, the professional is accepting clients, and the Professional Directory Listing subscription is in good standing. Cancellation or failed recurring payment may remove the public listing without revoking the underlying ProofTrail credential.
Hiring Through ProofTrail: Users may contact a listed professional through ProofTrail and, after the professional accepts the request, may choose to share a ProofTrail investigation with that professional. The client remains the owner of the shared investigation unless an explicit separate transfer is supported and completed. ProofTrail records the professional engagement and may identify the case owner as the client and the selected professional as the assigned researcher.
Professional Service Quotes and Agreements: A professional may send a client a service quote describing the scope of work, service price, and any research limits or deliverables. Before a client is sent to payment, ProofTrail may require the client to expressly accept the displayed scope, price, and professional-services terms. ProofTrail preserves a snapshot of the accepted agreement, including the scope and pricing in effect at acceptance, as part of the engagement record. Genealogical research is inherently uncertain and payment for research services does not guarantee a particular record, relationship, identity, conclusion, or outcome.
Professional Service Payments: Client research charges are separate from the professional's recurring directory-listing fee and from ProofTrail software subscriptions. Where marketplace payment processing is available, the professional connects their own supported seller account and client research payments are processed to that professional's seller account. ProofTrail does not take a percentage or transaction fee from the professional's client research payment. The professional's quoted service amount is shown to the client before payment.
Completion, Concerns, and Refund Requests: ProofTrail may allow the professional to record when the agreed work has been completed and allow the client to acknowledge completion. Either party may document a concern regarding scope, quality, delay, billing, or a requested refund. Opening a concern or requesting a refund does not itself reverse a payment or guarantee a refund. Refunds, payment disputes, chargebacks, processor actions, and other financial adjustments remain subject to the professional's obligations, the payment processor's rules, these Terms, applicable law, and any review process available through ProofTrail.
Verified Client Reviews: ProofTrail may allow a client to publish one review for a completed, successfully paid professional service agreement. Review eligibility is verified against the ProofTrail engagement, agreement, and payment records; a user who did not complete that paid engagement is not eligible to review that service. Published ratings may be aggregated into the professional's public directory rating. Professionals cannot create, edit, or replace client reviews about themselves. ProofTrail may hide or remove reviews when reasonably necessary for fraud prevention, privacy, legal compliance, abuse, or enforcement of these Terms.
Independent Professional Relationship and Taxes: Directory professionals intend to operate their genealogical practices as independent businesses or independent professionals, subject at all times to applicable worker-classification law. Holding a ProofTrail credential, appearing in the directory, or using marketplace tools does not by itself create employment, agency, partnership, joint venture, franchise, or authority to bind Ordo Elevatum LLC. Professionals independently decide whether to accept engagements, their availability, their lawful research methods, their pricing, the clients and outside work they serve, and how they operate their businesses. Professionals are responsible for their own services, business expenses, registrations or licenses if applicable, insurance, client obligations, tax filings, estimated tax payments, self-employment or other applicable taxes, legal compliance, research conclusions, and professional conduct. ProofTrail does not withhold payroll, income, Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, or other employment taxes from client research payments except where a specific withholding obligation is imposed by law. Client research payments are processed to the professional's connected seller account. Any tax form or information-reporting obligation depends on the payment flow and applicable law and may be handled by the professional's payment processor or another required reporting party. Professionals remain responsible for reporting taxable income even if no information return is issued. Contract language does not determine worker classification; the actual relationship and applicable law control. Clients are responsible for deciding whether a particular professional is appropriate for their needs.
Ownership: You retain ownership of all content you upload, create, or store in ProofTrail ("User Content"), including case files, evidence, research notes, DNA data, images, reports, and any other materials.
License to ProofTrail: By uploading User Content, you grant Ordo Elevatum LLC a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to host, store, process, display, organize, analyze, transmit to authorized processors, and back up User Content only as reasonably necessary to provide, secure, maintain, support, and improve the Service in ways consistent with our Privacy Policy and your instructions. When you delete content or close your account, this operational license ends for active use of that content, except to the limited extent continued retention or processing is reasonably necessary for backups, legal obligations, accounting, fraud or abuse prevention, security, dispute resolution, audit integrity, enforcement of these Terms, or documented infrastructure-provider retention. Retained content may not be repurposed for unrelated use.
Your Responsibility: You represent and warrant that you have the legal right, authority, consent, or other lawful basis required to upload, process, analyze, and share all content you submit to ProofTrail, including sensitive information and information about living people. Where ProofTrail presents a separate sensitive-data or DNA authorization acknowledgment, you must complete it truthfully before using the affected feature. You are responsible for complying with applicable privacy, confidentiality, intellectual-property, genealogy-platform, and third-party obligations.
ProofTrail is not a laboratory, genetic testing company, genome sequencing service, or direct-to-consumer DNA testing service. ProofTrail does not collect saliva, blood, tissue, or other biological samples; perform genetic tests; sequence genomes; generate genotype data; or accept raw genotype files for DNA Profiles.
ProofTrail's DNA functionality is limited to organizing and analyzing genealogy research information already generated by third-party testing or comparison platforms. This may include names, testing-platform identifiers, kit identifiers, shared centiMorgans (cM), relationship estimates, segment counts, chromosome numbers and coordinates, SNP-count metadata, shared-match information, researcher notes, and match-list or comparison reports.
Users must not upload raw genotype downloads, biological samples, or files intended for genome sequencing or laboratory analysis. ProofTrail may reject or remove material that falls outside this scope.
ProofTrail is an organizational and research platform. We do not verify, certify, or validate any genealogical findings, biological relationships, or family history claims made through or within the Service.
ProofTrail expressly does not guarantee:
All research conclusions remain the responsibility of the investigator. ProofTrail's tools assist with organization and analysis; they do not replace professional genealogical judgment.
ProofTrail includes AI-powered features designed to assist with research organization, summarization, interpretation, and report generation. AI-generated summaries, hypotheses, timelines, relationship interpretations, and reports may contain inaccuracies, omissions, or errors.
You must independently verify important findings before relying on them. ProofTrail does not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any AI-generated content. Use of AI features is at your own risk, and ProofTrail is not liable for decisions made in reliance on AI-generated output.
Research involving living individuals carries significant privacy and legal responsibilities. You agree to:
ProofTrail may not be used for:
The Team plan provides a Team Workspace and organization-level collaboration tools. Depending on your role and permissions, these tools may include managing team collaboration, assigning roles, granting or restricting case access, managing shared investigations, reviewing audit or version accountability, and using the team standards and shared-settings hub.
Workspace Owners and Administrators: Users with team-management authority are responsible for the invitations, roles, permissions, assignments, and access they grant to other users. Team members may only access information and actions permitted by their account, subscription tier, case-sharing settings, and assigned permissions.
Shared Investigations: Sharing a case does not transfer ownership of User Content. The case owner and authorized administrators remain responsible for determining who should have access. Removing a collaborator may end that collaborator's access, but activity already recorded in audit or version history may remain as part of the investigation record.
Team Standards: The Team Workspace may provide centralized access to report settings, collaboration controls, and other shared workflow standards that are currently available in the Service. Availability of a specific branding, report, collaboration, or administrative control depends on the feature currently provided and the user's assigned permissions.
Investigators using ProofTrail may share case information with clients through the Client Portal feature. Investigators are solely responsible for controlling what information is shared with clients. Clients receive only information that the investigator explicitly chooses to make visible. ProofTrail does not independently control or review what information is shared through the Client Portal.
ProofTrail may allow you to import, upload, or reference genealogy match lists, comparison reports, segment reports, screenshots, PDFs, spreadsheets, and similar research outputs from third-party genealogy platforms and services (such as AncestryDNA, 23andMe, GEDmatch, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, and others). Raw genotype downloads are not accepted as DNA Profile data. You are solely responsible for complying with the terms of service, privacy policies, and applicable laws of any third-party services whose data you import or use within ProofTrail.
You agree not to use the Service to:
We reserve the right to suspend, restrict, or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, for:
Upon termination, your access to the Service will cease. We may retain certain data as required by law or for legitimate business purposes, as described in our Privacy Policy.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW:
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.
ORDO ELEVATUM LLC SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA, LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR FAILURE TO ACHIEVE RESEARCH OUTCOMES, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
OUR MAXIMUM AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID TO PROOFTRAIL DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100 USD).
Informal Resolution Is the Required First and Primary Process: If you have any dispute, claim, complaint, or controversy arising from or relating to ProofTrail, these Terms, an account, subscription, Academy purchase, credential, marketplace feature, or other use of the Service, you agree to first give Ordo Elevatum LLC written notice describing the issue and requested resolution and to allow at least 30 days for good-faith informal resolution. Notices must be sent to tori.ralston@prooftrail.net.
Covenant Not to Sue or Arbitrate: TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, BY ACCEPTING THESE TERMS YOU KNOWINGLY AND VOLUNTARILY AGREE NOT TO COMMENCE, FILE, MAINTAIN, JOIN, OR PARTICIPATE IN ANY LAWSUIT, COURT ACTION, ARBITRATION, OR OTHER ADVERSARIAL PROCEEDING AGAINST ORDO ELEVATUM LLC, PROOFTRAIL, OR THEIR OWNERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, OR AGENTS FOR A CLAIM ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE. YOU EXPRESSLY WAIVE, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ANY CONTRACTUAL RIGHT TO HAVE SUCH A DISPUTE DECIDED BY A COURT, JUDGE, JURY, OR PRIVATE ARBITRATOR.
Contractual Resolution: For disputes that may lawfully be resolved exclusively by agreement between the parties, your contractual remedies are limited to the informal resolution process described above and any refund, credit, correction, account action, privacy remedy, or other resolution that Ordo Elevatum LLC agrees to provide or that applicable law requires. Nothing in this section obligates ProofTrail to provide a refund or other remedy that is not otherwise required by these Terms or applicable law.
No Class, Collective, Representative, or Mass Proceeding: To the fullest extent permitted by law, you waive the right to commence, participate in, or obtain relief through any class, collective, consolidated, coordinated, mass, or representative lawsuit, arbitration, or other proceeding involving ProofTrail or Ordo Elevatum LLC.
No Jury Trial: To the fullest extent permitted by law, you waive any right to a trial by jury in any dispute for which this covenant not to sue is found inapplicable or unenforceable.
Nonwaivable Rights and Limited Exceptions: This section does not waive a right, remedy, claim, regulatory complaint, statutory cause of action, small-claims right, request for injunctive relief, or other proceeding that applicable law expressly prohibits a consumer from waiving in advance. It also does not prevent Ordo Elevatum LLC from seeking relief necessary to protect its intellectual property, confidential information, platform security, payment rights, or to stop unauthorized access or misuse. Any exception is construed as narrowly as applicable law permits.
Severability and Maximum Enforcement: If any portion of this covenant, waiver, or dispute-resolution section is found unenforceable, it will be modified or severed only to the minimum extent required by law, and every remaining waiver and limitation will continue to be enforced to the fullest extent permitted.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles, except to the extent superseded by applicable federal law or the law of your jurisdiction where required.
If a court proceeding is permitted notwithstanding the Dispute Resolution, Covenant Not to Sue, and Waiver of Arbitration section above because applicable law makes the relevant waiver unenforceable or because a stated exception applies, the proceeding shall be brought exclusively in the appropriate state or federal courts located in Texas, unless applicable law requires a different forum. You consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of those courts to the fullest extent permitted by law.
By using the Service, you consent to receive account, security, legal, billing, transactional, and service communications electronically, including by email and in-product notice. Marketing communications remain subject to separate preference and unsubscribe controls where required.
If you believe content available through ProofTrail infringes your copyright or other intellectual-property rights, contact tori.ralston@prooftrail.net with identification of the protected work, the material at issue, your contact information, and a good-faith explanation of the claimed infringement. ProofTrail may remove or restrict disputed material and may request additional information before acting.
Entire Agreement: These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Ordo Elevatum LLC regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements.
Severability: If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.
No Waiver: Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it in the future.
Contact: Questions about these Terms should be directed to tori.ralston@prooftrail.net.
Ordo Elevatum LLC
Product: ProofTrail
Website: https://prooftrail.net
Email: tori.ralston@prooftrail.net