Terms of Use

Effective date: October 22, 2026

These Terms of Use (the "Terms") form a binding agreement between you and Mariner Finance LLC ("Marinerreview," "we," "us," or "our"), located at 8110 Corporate Drive, Nottingham, MD 21236. They govern your access to and use of marinerreview.com (the "Site") and the family history and ancestry research tools we offer through it (the "Service"). Please read them carefully. This document is a general template and should be reviewed by qualified counsel before it is relied upon.

1. Acceptance of these Terms

By creating an account, ticking the required box on the registration form, or otherwise using the Site, you confirm that you have read and agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not register and do not use the Service. The required box on the registration form covers only your acceptance of the Terms and the Privacy Policy. It does not cover text messages, which are handled separately in Section 6.

2. Eligibility

You may use the Service only if you are at least 18 years old, are a resident of the United States, and are legally able to enter into a binding contract. The Service is not directed to minors, and we do not knowingly register anyone under 18. If we learn that an account belongs to a person who does not meet these requirements, we may close it. You may not register on behalf of another person unless you are legally authorized to do so.

3. The Service

Marinerreview is a family history research site. Depending on the features available when you use it, the Service lets you:

• build and organize family trees;
• search collections of historical records, such as census, civil, immigration, and similar archival material, and review possible matches;
• submit DNA-related results, if you choose, to receive informational insights;
• upload, restore, and organize old photographs and documents;
• record and preserve family stories, notes, and memories.

We run the Service ourselves. Features may change, be added, or be withdrawn from time to time. We describe what the Service does as accurately as we can, but we do not promise that any particular record, ancestor, relative, or origin can be found or confirmed. Creating an account is free of charge. If we ever introduce paid features, we will clearly disclose the price and obtain your agreement before charging you.

4. Your account

• Accuracy. You agree to give accurate, current information when you register and to keep it up to date.
• Security. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for all activity under your account. Use a strong, unique password and notify us at once of any unauthorized use.
• One person, one account. Accounts are personal and may not be shared, sold, or transferred.
• Verification. We may ask you to confirm your email address or identity to protect your account.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to, and not to help anyone else to:

1. break any law or infringe the rights of others, including privacy and publicity rights;
2. upload content you do not have the right to share, or content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, hateful, obscene, or exploitative, particularly any content involving minors;
3. publish private details about living people, such as addresses, financial information, or government identification numbers, without their permission;
4. submit DNA data that belongs to another person without that person's consent, or in the case of a minor or incapacitated adult, without legal authority;
5. use the Service to stalk, track, harass, or locate a person who does not wish to be found, or to commit fraud, impersonation, or identity theft;
6. scrape, harvest, or bulk-download records or other users' information, or use automated tools, bots, or crawlers without our written permission;
7. probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Site, bypass security or access controls, or interfere with its operation;
8. introduce malware or send spam, chain messages, or unsolicited promotions;
9. resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service or its record collections without our written permission;
10. use the Service to make decisions about someone's employment, insurance, credit, housing, or similar eligibility.

We may investigate suspected violations and remove content, limit access, or suspend or end accounts at our discretion.

6. Communications and consent to text messages

6.1 Email and service communications

By registering you agree that we may send you email about your account, including registration confirmations, security alerts, changes to these Terms or the Privacy Policy, and replies to your questions. These are essential service messages. You can opt out of any non-essential email using the link in the message.

6.2 Text messages are optional and separate

The registration form contains two separate checkboxes, both unticked by default. The first is required and covers your acceptance of these Terms and the Privacy Policy. The second is optional and covers your agreement to receive automated account-notification text messages from Mariner Finance LLC through our "Marinerreview Account Alerts" program. These messages are limited to account notices, registration confirmations, security alerts, and customer-service replies. We do not send marketing texts under this program.

Your consent to receive text messages is not a condition of registering, of any purchase, or of any service. You may register and use the Service fully without ticking the optional box. If you tick it, you confirm that you are the subscriber or customary user of the mobile number you provide and that you are authorized to consent.

6.3 Frequency, cost, and revoking consent

Message frequency varies, up to 4 messages per month. Message and data rates may apply according to your mobile plan. You may revoke your consent at any time by replying STOP to any message, by using our opt-out page, or by contacting us at [email protected] or (917) 563-6535. Reply HELP for help. Revoking text consent does not affect your account or your right to use the Service. Full program terms are on our SMS Terms page.

6.4 Calls

If you give us a telephone number, we may call you about your account or to answer a request you made. We will not use automated dialing for marketing calls without separate written consent.

7. Your content and tree data

"Your Content" means the family-tree entries, names, dates, places, notes, photographs, scans, recordings, stories, and other material you submit to the Service.

• Ownership. You keep ownership of Your Content. We do not claim to own your family photos or stories.
• License to us. You give us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, copy, process, adapt (for example, to restore or resize a photo), and display Your Content solely to operate the Service for you and for those you choose to share with, and to keep the Service secure and working. This license ends when you delete the content or close your account, subject to backup cycles and legal retention described in the Privacy Policy.
• Your promises. You state that you own Your Content or have the right to submit it, that it does not violate the law or anyone's rights, and that you have a legitimate basis for including details about relatives.
• Living and deceased relatives. You are responsible for the information you enter about other people. Details about living persons should be limited and entered only with appropriate permission or basis. We provide privacy controls, and living-person details are kept private by default.
• DNA data. Submitting DNA-related data is voluntary and requires a separate consent step. It is handled as described in the Privacy Policy and is never sold. You may delete it at any time.
• Sharing. If you invite others to view or contribute to a tree, you are responsible for who you invite and what they can see. Content you share with others may be copied by them, and we cannot control that.
• Removal. We may remove content that violates these Terms or the law. If you believe content infringes your rights, send details to [email protected] and we will review it promptly.
• Backups. Please keep your own copies of important photos and documents. Although we take care, we do not promise that storage will never fail.

8. Intellectual property

The Site, its design, software, text, graphics, logos, compilations of records, indexes, search tools, and the name Marinerreview are owned by Mariner Finance LLC or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service for your own personal, non-commercial family history research. You may not copy, modify, distribute, reverse engineer, or create derivative works from the Service, except as these Terms or law allow.

Historical records displayed on the Site may originate from archives and repositories that hold their own rights. You may use record images and transcriptions for personal research and to cite in your own tree, but you may not republish or sell them in bulk. If you send us feedback or suggestions, you allow us to use them without obligation to you.

If you believe material on the Site infringes your copyright, send a written notice to the contact address below including a description of the work, the location of the material, your contact details, a statement of good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized, and a statement under penalty of perjury that the notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner.

9. Disclaimers

Research is not guaranteed. Family history research depends on records that may be incomplete, damaged, mis-transcribed, inconsistently spelled, or lost. Names and places changed over time, and many events were never recorded. Suggested matches, hints, record results, and tree connections are possibilities for you to evaluate, not confirmed facts. We do not guarantee that you will find any ancestor, relative, document, or origin, or that any result is accurate or complete.

DNA insights. DNA features are informational and based on statistical estimates that can change as methods and reference data develop. They are not medical, diagnostic, or legal advice, and they should not be used to establish legal parentage, inheritance, or immigration status. Results can reveal unexpected family information, and you accept that possibility when you choose to use them.

Photo restoration. Restored or enhanced images are approximations produced by software. They may add, alter, or remove details that were not present in the original, and they should not be treated as faithful historical evidence.

As is. To the fullest extent the law permits, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, non-infringement, and uninterrupted or error-free operation. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers, so some of these may not apply to you.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Mariner Finance LLC, its owners, officers, employees, and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms, even if advised of the possibility. Our total liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose or one hundred U.S. dollars. These limits apply regardless of the legal theory. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, such as liability for fraud or willful misconduct.

11. Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Mariner Finance LLC and its owners, officers, employees, and agents from claims, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising from (a) Your Content, (b) your use of the Service in violation of these Terms, (c) your violation of any law or third-party right, including the privacy rights of relatives whose information you submit, or (d) DNA data you submit without proper authority. We will tell you promptly of any claim and you will cooperate reasonably. We may take over the defense of any matter at our own expense, and you may not settle a claim that affects us without our written consent.

12. Suspension and termination

You may close your account at any time from your account settings or by contacting us. We may suspend or terminate your access, with or without notice, if we believe you have violated these Terms, created risk or legal exposure for us or others, or if we discontinue the Service. When your account is closed, your right to use the Service ends, and we will delete or de-identify your data as described in the Privacy Policy. You may request an export of your tree before closing your account. Sections that by their nature should survive termination, including ownership, disclaimers, limits of liability, indemnity, and dispute provisions, will survive.

13. Governing law

These Terms and any dispute arising from them or from the Service are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and, where applicable, by United States federal law.

14. Dispute resolution

14.1 Informal resolution first

Before filing any claim, you agree to contact us at [email protected] with a written description of the problem and your desired outcome, and to give us at least 30 days to try to resolve it. Most concerns can be settled this way.

14.2 Courts

If a dispute is not resolved informally, you and we agree that it will be decided exclusively by the state or federal courts located in the State of Maryland, and each of us consents to personal jurisdiction and venue there. You may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court in your county of residence if it qualifies. To the extent permitted by law, each of us waives any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class, collective, or representative action, and claims must be brought individually. Any claim must be filed within one year after it arose, unless the law provides a longer period that cannot be waived.

15. Electronic communications and signatures (E-SIGN)

You agree that we may provide notices, disclosures, agreements, and other communications to you electronically, by email to the address on your account or by posting on the Site, and that these satisfy any legal requirement that they be in writing. You consent to the use of electronic signatures and records under the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN) and similar laws. Your act of ticking a box or clicking a button to accept these Terms is your electronic signature. You may withdraw consent to electronic delivery by contacting us, but we may then be unable to continue your account. To receive electronic notices you need a device with internet access and a current browser and a working email address. You can request a paper copy of any notice by contacting us.

16. Changes to the Service and the Terms

We may change these Terms from time to time. We will post the updated version with a new effective date and, for material changes, notify you by email or on the Site before they take effect. If you continue to use the Service after the effective date, you accept the changes. If you do not accept them, you must stop using the Service and may close your account. Changes to the text-message program are described in the SMS Terms.

17. General provisions

• Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and the SMS Terms (if you opt in) are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.
• Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, it will be limited to the minimum extent necessary and the rest will remain in effect.
• No waiver. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
• Force majeure. We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
• Headings. Headings are for convenience only.
• Availability. The Service is intended for use in the United States and may not be appropriate or available elsewhere.

18. Contact us

Mariner Finance LLC
8110 Corporate Drive
Nottingham, MD 21236
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (917) 563-6535
Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–6:00 PM

Related pages: Privacy Policy, SMS Terms, and Opt-out.