Terms of Service at Professional Family History

My modus operandi is to offer a professional, high quality service ensuring peace of mind for my clients.

As an AGRA Member and a member of APG, I have agreed to abide by the codes of practice of both organisations.

Before beginning any work for a client I will confirm in writing my understanding of the project to be undertaken and ensure agreement of this understanding with the client before commencing the research.

I undertake to report the findings of the research with detailed sources of the information obtained. Where research is not successful I will provide information as to the avenues that have been explored.

It should be noted by any prospective client that it is sometimes not possible to trace a family back as far as expected or find the expected information in a particular document. However, all research may be considered positive if it is viewed that a particular document or direction has been “ruled out”.

I require full payment in advance of any research, with the exception of the Family Tree, Silver Research and Gold Research packages (see prices). In cases where a package has been purchased and research is unable to extend the family tree back as far as expected it is probable that additional research has been undertaken to resolve the issues, which more than covers the cost of certificates not received. In extreme cases where it is apparent that research has reached an insurmountable hurdle early on I may offer a partial refund of the payment received.

Where copies of documents are required and a definite cost cannot be determined upfront, the cost will be deducted from the amount paid and the amount of research reduced pro rata accordingly.

I reserve the right to decline cases where I consider the likelihood of success to be low e.g. if the only information were to be a starting point of “John Smith born in London in c.1900”.