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ForeverTrail - Terms of Service

DRAFT - not yet reviewed by an attorney. This document was prepared to reflect how ForeverTrail actually works today, but it has not been reviewed by a lawyer and should not be published or presented to users as binding until it has been. Bracketed items like [STATE OF FORMATION] need a real value filled in before this goes live.

Effective date: [DATE] Operated by: ForeverTrail LLC, a limited liability company formed in the State of [STATE OF FORMATION] ("ForeverTrail," "we," "us," or "our") Contact: privacy@forevertrail.com

1. What ForeverTrail is

ForeverTrail is a public, communal website and app where people can create a memorial page for someone who has died, and where anyone can add a "memory" - a written story, optionally with photos, tied to a real place - to a memorial once it has been verified and approved. Memories, comments, memorials, and the people who post them (by username) are visible to anyone who visits ForeverTrail, whether or not they have an account, with one exception: a memory you mark "Only me" (see "Private memories" below). Comments, memorials, and every other memory are public by design - there is no way to make them private, followers-only, or visible to a limited group. Please keep that in mind before posting anything you or your family would not want visible to the general public.

Private memories ("Only me"). When you add or edit a memory, you can choose who sees it: "Everyone" (the default) or "Only me". A memory marked "Only me" is shown only to you, on your own map, profile, and list of your posts. It is not shown on the memorial, does not count toward the memorial's statistics, and cannot be commented on. You can switch a memory either way at any time by editing it; switching a public memory to "Only me" also hides the comments already on it from everyone except you. Private memories are still stored on ForeverTrail's servers, are still subject to these Terms, and can be accessed by ForeverTrail where needed to run the service, keep it safe, or comply with the law. Photos in a private memory are kept at web addresses that are not published anywhere, but anyone who obtains such an address could open the photo, so do not rely on "Only me" for anything that must stay strictly confidential.

By creating an account, posting content, or otherwise using ForeverTrail, you agree to these Terms of Service (the "Terms"). If you do not agree, please do not use ForeverTrail.

2. Who can use ForeverTrail

You must be at least 18 years old to create or use a ForeverTrail account. ForeverTrail accounts are for adults only. When you create an account, or the first time you sign in with Google or Apple, you will be asked to confirm that you are 18 or older, and by confirming you represent that this is true. We keep a record that you confirmed and when, but we do not ask for your date of birth or otherwise verify your age. If we learn or reasonably believe that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will delete the account and may remove anything posted from it.

You need an account (a username, email address, and password) to create a memorial, add a memory, or leave a comment. You do not need an account to browse ForeverTrail, view memorials, memories, or comments, or to report content you believe violates these Terms or our Community Guidelines.

You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for all activity that happens under your account. Tell us right away at privacy@forevertrail.com if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission.

3. Memorials: creating one, and what verification means

Anyone can submit a memorial for a person who has died. Creating one requires:

A human reviewer checks the obituary link before a memorial goes live. This review confirms that a real, published obituary exists at the link provided and is a reasonable check against obviously false or fabricated submissions - it is not a background check, a verification of your identity, or a confirmation that you are legally entitled to create a memorial for that person. You are solely responsible for having an appropriate connection to the person you are memorializing, and for the accuracy of everything you submit. ForeverTrail may reject, remove, or request changes to any memorial submission or live memorial at any time, for any reason, including if we later determine it was created without an appropriate connection to the deceased or contains false information.

The person who submits a memorial is recorded internally but is never shown publicly on the memorial page itself - see our Privacy Policy for how that information is used and who can see it.

Once a memorial is live, it is open: any signed-in user may add a memory to it, without further verification. ForeverTrail does not control, and is not responsible for, the content other users add to a memorial you created.

4. Your content

You keep ownership of what you post. When you post a memory, a comment, a photo, or any other content through ForeverTrail (your "Content"), you retain all rights you have in it. By posting Content, you grant ForeverTrail a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and distribute that Content as part of operating ForeverTrail - for example, showing it on the map, on the relevant memorial page, in search results, and in any place ForeverTrail normally displays that kind of content. This license lasts as long as the Content remains on ForeverTrail, or as needed to comply with legal obligations after removal (for example, a backup that has not yet been purged).

You are responsible for your Content, and you represent that:

ForeverTrail does not pre-screen memories, comments, or photos before they appear publicly (only memorial submissions themselves go through the review step described in Section 3). Content you post is visible immediately.

No soliciting. You may not use ForeverTrail to solicit business. That means you may not use any memory, comment, memorial, photo, profile, or username to offer, advertise, or promote services or products (for example funeral, burial, legal, financial, insurance, real-estate, grief-counseling, psychic or medium, or memorial-product services), to ask other users to hire or buy from you, or to contact families or other users for a commercial purpose. If we determine that an account has been used to solicit, we will delete that account and may remove anything it posted, without prior warning.

No fundraising appeals. You also may not post requests for money or donations, or links to fundraising or crowdfunding pages, anywhere on ForeverTrail, except through fundraising features that ForeverTrail itself provides. We may remove any such content.

Private homes. Don't use ForeverTrail to reveal where someone lives. Don't put the street address of a private home in a memory, comment, or memorial, and don't pin a memory on someone's house to show where they live. A memory at a family home is welcome: when a memory's pin appears to be on a private home, ForeverTrail shows it near the spot rather than on the house, and a memorial's home is kept at the town level. We may move, blur, or remove content that exposes where someone lives.

Moderation and removal. Any visitor can report a memory, a comment, or a memorial they believe violates these Terms or our Community Guidelines. A moderator may remove any memory, comment, or memorial at any time, whether or not it has been reported, and may suspend or terminate an account for repeated or serious violations. We try to act in good faith, but we do not promise a formal appeals process, a warning before removal, or that removal decisions will always be perfect. If your Content is removed, we will generally email you to let you know, using the address on your account, unless you have turned off moderator notices in your email settings.

Deleting your account, or having a memory or comment removed, does not guarantee immediate removal from backups or caches, though it will no longer be publicly visible.

ForeverTrail is not a backup. We work hard to keep every memory, photo, and comment safe, and we have no plans to delete them. But we can't promise that anything posted on ForeverTrail will be stored forever or will always be available. Content can be lost through technical failures, removed under these Terms, or become unavailable if ForeverTrail changes or shuts down (see Section 10). Please keep your own copies of photos and writing that matter to you.

5. Location information

If you use "Use my current location" when adding a memory, ForeverTrail records your device's GPS coordinates at that moment, to mark the memory as an in-person visit and to calculate the "miles traveled" figure shown on a memorial's page. This only happens if you choose to use that feature - typing a place name instead does not share your device's location with us. See our Privacy Policy for more on how location data is stored and used.

6. Third-party services

ForeverTrail relies on other companies' services to operate, including a database and file-storage provider (Supabase), an email-delivery provider for notifications (Resend), and a free map/geocoding service (OpenStreetMap and its Nominatim search). Your use of ForeverTrail means your data may pass through these providers as described in our Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the availability or performance of third-party services we don't control.

7. Disclaimers

FOREVERTRAIL IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT FOREVERTRAIL WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, OR THAT ANY CONTENT - INCLUDING OBITUARY LINKS, MEMORIAL INFORMATION, OR ANYTHING SUBMITTED BY OTHER USERS - IS ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR TRUTHFUL. FOREVERTRAIL IS A PLATFORM FOR USER-SUBMITTED CONTENT; WE DO NOT ENDORSE, AND ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR, WHAT OTHER USERS POST.

8. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, FOREVERTRAIL LLC AND ITS OWNERS, EMPLOYEES, AND CONTRACTORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, GOODWILL, OR EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF FOREVERTRAIL, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM RELATED TO FOREVERTRAIL WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM (WHICH, FOR A FREE SERVICE, MAY BE ZERO), OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

[This section, and the limits it sets, need attorney review - enforceability varies by jurisdiction, and some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations at all.]

9. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless ForeverTrail LLC from any claims, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your Content, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any third party's rights.

10. Termination

You may delete your own account at any time from your profile's "Edit profile" screen ("Delete my account"), or by contacting privacy@forevertrail.com. Deleting your account permanently removes your login, email, bio, and avatar photo. Memories, comments, and any memorial you created stay visible - so a memorial's history and other people's replies aren't erased - but your username is replaced with an anonymized placeholder (like "Deleted user-a1b2c3d4"). This cannot be undone.

We may also suspend or terminate your account or access to ForeverTrail at any time, for any reason, including a violation of these Terms or our Community Guidelines. An account used to solicit business is deleted (see "No soliciting" in Section 4), and so is an account that belongs to someone under 18 (see Section 2).

If ForeverTrail closes. We may change, suspend, or permanently discontinue ForeverTrail, in whole or in part, at any time - for example, if the service can no longer be operated. If ForeverTrail ever shuts down, the memorials, memories, photos, and comments stored on it may no longer be available. We will try to give users reasonable notice before that happens.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we will try to give reasonable notice (for example, by email or a notice on ForeverTrail) before it takes effect. Continuing to use ForeverTrail after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

12. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of [STATE OF FORMATION], without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, except where local consumer-protection law in your own country or state requires otherwise. Any dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in [STATE OF FORMATION], and you consent to that venue.

[International users: this section, along with any arbitration/class-action-waiver language a lawyer may recommend adding, needs review for enforceability in the visitor's home jurisdiction - mandatory venue and governing-law clauses are treated very differently country to country, and some consumer-protection regimes (e.g., in the EU) override a chosen governing law for certain disputes.]

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms: privacy@forevertrail.com