Terms of Service

Using HeirVault means you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy, and our Cookie Policy. If you accept on behalf of another person, organization, or estate, you represent you have authority to do so.

If you do not agree, do not create an account or use the service.

HeirVault is offered as a public beta. The product is still evolving. You understand and agree that:

• Features, limits, workflows, and interfaces may change, be redesigned, delayed, or withdrawn
• You may encounter bugs, incomplete features, delayed emails, or temporary outages
• Check-in timing, release flows, portal links, and billing edge cases may not always behave as you expect during beta
• We may pause or restart parts of the service for maintenance or fixes with limited notice when needed to protect users or the platform

Beta status does not change our encryption model: your live vault contents remain end-to-end encrypted as described in these Terms and the Privacy Policy. Beta also does not reduce your responsibility for keys, recovery material, beneficiaries, witnesses, and check-in settings.

If you need production-grade certainty for a time-critical estate handoff, keep offline copies of critical materials and consult qualified professionals. Use of the beta service is at your own risk, subject to the disclaimers and liability limits below.

HeirVault is a software service that helps you store encrypted docs, passwords, spreadsheets, files, and instructions, configure check-in reminders, and arrange release to contacts you name when your check-in rules are not met. Features may include a built-in doc editor, password entries, spreadsheet editor, folders, beneficiaries, witnesses, billing, security settings (including optional authenticator MFA), help content, and related tools on heirvault.io and associated apps.

We may improve, add, or adjust features over time, especially while the product is in beta. We will not remove material paid functionality during an active paid term without a suitable replacement or a refund for the unused portion of the affected period.

The product may include optional product analytics and in-product surveys or announcements when you consent, as described in the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Those tools are meant to improve HeirVault and offer support-style prompts. Vault ciphertext and keys stay outside analytics tooling as described there.

HeirVault offers Free, Pro, and Shield plans. Plan limits (for example storage, number of beneficiaries, witnesses, check-in API keys, or security features) are described in the product and on the pricing page. Some features, such as witnesses or login-session history, may require Pro or Shield. Device check-in API keys, shorter check-in intervals, configurable waiting period, pre-due reminders, and priority release processing are Shield features. You are responsible for protecting API keys; anyone who holds a valid key can check in and delay release.

If your usage exceeds Free limits after a downgrade or plan change, we may restrict new uploads or new invitations until you return within limits or upgrade. Leaving Shield revokes check-in API keys and clamps check-in intervals and waiting-period settings back to Free or Pro rules. We will try to avoid disrupting release workflows already in progress, but you remain responsible for keeping designations current.

You generate and safeguard vault keys on your devices. Encryption and decryption of live vault contents happen client-side using industry-standard cryptography (AES-GCM for vault secrets). TrueWear, LLC hosts encrypted blobs and operational metadata. We cannot decrypt your live vault contents and do not have your passphrase or raw vault key in a form that lets us unlock your live vault. If you choose system-assisted delivery for a beneficiary, we may hold a protected key for that separate handoff until claim transfer.

Sign-in methods and vault unlock

Your account sign-in methods may include:

• A passphrase authenticated with the OPAQUE protocol, so the server never receives your cleartext passphrase
• Passkeys for convenient account access (and, when you enable device unlock helpers, optional wrapped key material on that device and/or as encrypted wraps we store for that credential)
• Email one-time codes and, when enabled, Google sign-in for account access only
• Optional authenticator MFA (TOTP) with one-time backup codes for account sign-in

Email one-time codes and Google sign-in help you access your account. They do not unlock vault contents by themselves. Unlocking the vault requires the vault secret (your passphrase or recovery material) or a device unlock wrap you previously set up on that device. MFA protects account sign-in; it is separate from vault encryption and from your emergency kit.

While unlocked, key material is held in browser memory on your device and may be cleared when you lock the vault, sign out, or idle auto-lock runs. Optional device unlock may store an encrypted wrap in IndexedDB on that device. Servers never receive your raw vault key in a form that lets us unlock your vault.

Your responsibilities

You are solely responsible for:

• Choosing a strong passphrase and keeping it secret
• Backing up recovery phrases or other recovery material
• Safeguarding MFA backup codes if you enable authenticator MFA
• Locking your devices and browser sessions
• Understanding that if you lose your keys and recovery material, we cannot restore your vault

We are not liable for data loss caused by lost keys, forgotten passphrases, lost MFA factors without backup codes, device failure, misuse of recovery material, or someone else using your credentials or unlocked device.

HeirVault helps you organize and deliver digital materials. It is not a law firm, court filing system, will, trust, power of attorney, or substitute for advice from qualified professionals. It does not provide legal, financial, tax, investment, accounting, medical, or estate-planning advice. Delivery through HeirVault does not by itself create a valid will or transfer legal title under estate law. You are responsible for ensuring your estate plan and any professional advice meet applicable law where you live.

Using HeirVault does not create a fiduciary, attorney-client, doctor-patient, or similar privileged or special relationship between you and TrueWear, LLC. Communications with us are not protected by attorney-client privilege or comparable doctrines.

You must be at least 16 years old. You must provide accurate account information and keep authentication factors secure. You are responsible for activity under your account. Notify us promptly at support@heirvault.io if you believe your account has been compromised.

We may refuse registration, require additional verification (including bot checks such as Cloudflare Turnstile when enabled), or close accounts that appear abusive, automated without permission, or otherwise unsafe for the service.

You configure how often you must confirm you are okay ("check-in") and the waiting period (sometimes shown as grace) that follows a missed check-in. If check-ins are missed and the waiting period ends under your settings, HeirVault may move toward release according to the rules you set. On eligible plans, witnesses you appoint may be asked to confirm before vault-level release proceeds.

If you know you will be unavailable, you can schedule an Away until date that extends your next check-in due date up to your plan limit. You remain responsible for setting and updating it.

You understand and agree that:

• Delivery timing depends on your configuration, email delivery, witness response (when used), ordinary system availability, and third-party providers
• False, delayed, or mistimed check-ins (including someone else checking in with your credentials or an unlocked device) can delay or prevent intended delivery
• Leaked check-in, claim, or witness links can be used by whoever holds them until they expire or are revoked under product rules
• We do not investigate whether a missed check-in reflects incapacity, death, travel, forgetfulness, or any other real-world event
• We do not guarantee that intended recipients will receive, open, understand, or act on materials

Where you appoint witnesses, a majority of the witnesses you configure must approve vault-level release after the waiting period ends. Declines do not count as approvals, and non-response leaves release pending. Witnesses never reset your check-in timer and never receive vault content or handoff keys.

You are responsible for testing your setup, keeping beneficiary and witness contacts current, and protecting portal links sent to them or generated for them.

You designate who may receive materials and under what conditions. You represent that you have the right to share any personal data you provide about beneficiaries or witnesses, and that inviting them complies with applicable law (including notice or consent requirements where they apply).

Beneficiaries and witnesses may access limited portal experiences using secret links we may email when the product sends them, or that you share. Those portals are not full owner accounts. You are responsible for explaining the process to them and for any consequences of incorrect email addresses, stale contacts, or forwarded links.

Depending on your plan and per-beneficiary settings, delivery may be HeirVault-assisted handoff (system-assisted: HeirVault stores a protected handoff key for silent delivery and transfers it to the beneficiary account after a valid claim, so it is not end-to-end to the beneficiary alone), Invite now (direct account: the beneficiary enrolls and holds the account key, so the handoff is end-to-end), or Shared beneficiary passphrase (owner-shared: you share a unique beneficiary passphrase out of band, which is end-to-end for that handoff). Free plans use HeirVault-assisted handoff for new beneficiaries. Witnesses may confirm whether vault-level release should proceed; they are not a delivery mode. Item-level, folder-level, and vault-level release scopes follow the designations you configure; you remain responsible for those choices and for keeping beneficiary contacts accurate.

Operational details we can see about invitations (such as names and emails you enter) are described in the Privacy Policy. Vault contents remain encrypted as described there.

You retain rights in content you upload or configure. You represent and warrant that you own or have all rights and permissions needed to store that content in HeirVault and to instruct delivery to beneficiaries or witnesses, and that your content and instructions do not violate law or others' rights (including intellectual property, privacy, and publicity rights).

You grant us a limited license to host encrypted copies, process operational metadata, send transactional messages, and deliver materials according to your instructions and these Terms. That license ends when content is deleted from our systems, except for residual copies in short-lived backups or as needed for legal compliance.

You may not use HeirVault to:

• Store or distribute unlawful content, malware, or material that infringes others' rights
• Store or distribute child sexual abuse material, or content that exploits or endangers minors
• Harass, threaten, defame, or harm others
• Attempt to break encryption, bypass plan limits, scrape the service at scale, or disrupt infrastructure
• Probe, scan, or test vulnerability of the service except with our prior written consent (security researchers should email security@heirvault.io)
• Misrepresent your identity or the purpose of beneficiary or witness invitations in a deceptive way
• Send spam or unsolicited bulk messages through the service
• Use the service if you are prohibited from receiving U.S. services under applicable export control or sanctions laws

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or create security or legal risk for other users or for TrueWear, LLC. We may remove or disable access to content when we reasonably believe we are required to do so by law, even though we cannot read encrypted vault contents.

Paid plans are processed by Stripe unless we say otherwise. Prices, taxes, and renewal intervals are shown at checkout. By starting a paid plan you authorize recurring charges until you cancel.

Cancel renewal in Billing settings (or through the Stripe customer portal when offered). Access continues through the end of the paid period already purchased. Fees are generally non-refundable except where we remove material paid functionality without a suitable replacement, where required by law, or where we expressly offer a refund.

We may change pricing with reasonable notice for the next renewal. If you do not agree, cancel before the new rate applies.

HeirVault may offer a referral program that lets existing users invite others with a personal link or code. Unless we say otherwise in the product:

• When a referred friend creates an account through your referral attribution and later pays for Pro or Shield, and that friend's first paid Pro or Shield invoice succeeds, both you and that friend may each receive one free month of Pro as Stripe customer balance credit (equal to one month of Pro pricing at the time we apply the credit)
• Credits are account credits toward HeirVault charges. They are not cash, transferable payouts, or gift cards
• Self-referrals are not allowed. We may block credits when we detect abuse, including reuse of the same payment method fingerprint across accounts meant to game the program
• Invite emails you send through the product are rate limited
• Attribution may rely on a short-lived cookie or referral parameter when someone opens your link before signing up

We may change, suspend, or end the referral program at any time. Credits already applied to a Stripe customer balance remain subject to Stripe and ordinary billing rules. The public Referrals page and in-product Account → Referrals screens describe current mechanics; if they conflict with these Terms, these Terms control.

TrueWear, LLC and its licensors own HeirVault software, design, documentation, and branding. You may not copy, reverse engineer (except to the extent law forbids that restriction), resell, or frame the service without our permission.

If you send ideas, suggestions, or other feedback about HeirVault, you grant TrueWear, LLC a royalty-free, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual license to use, modify, and incorporate that feedback into the service without obligation or compensation to you. Feedback is not confidential unless we agree otherwise in writing.

HeirVault relies on providers for hosting, authentication, payments, email, bot protection, geo enrichment, optional analytics, and related functions. Their availability and terms can affect the service.

We are not responsible for third-party outages, delays, or failures outside our reasonable control, including events commonly called force majeure (natural disasters, war, terrorism, labor disputes, internet or power failures, government actions, or provider outages). We will work in good faith to restore core functions when we can.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, HeirVault (including while in public beta) is provided "as is" and "as available." We disclaim warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free, that beta defects will be fixed on any particular schedule, or that delivery will occur at a particular time or in a particular legal form.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers; in those places, the disclaimers apply to the fullest extent allowed.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, TrueWear, LLC and its officers, directors, employees, and agents are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, data, goodwill, or business interruption, even if advised of the possibility.

These limits apply to claims by you and, to the fullest extent permitted by law, by your beneficiaries, witnesses, heirs, successors, personal representatives, and estate arising out of or relating to HeirVault, portal access, or delivery under your settings.

Our total liability for any claim arising out of or relating to HeirVault or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) USD $100 or (b) the fees you paid to TrueWear, LLC for HeirVault in the twelve months before the claim.

These limits do not apply where liability cannot be limited under applicable law (for example certain consumer rights, or liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence where such exclusion is forbidden).

You will defend and indemnify TrueWear, LLC against claims, damages, and reasonable costs (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your content, your beneficiary or witness designations, your misuse of portal links, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of others' rights, except to the extent caused by our willful misconduct.

You may stop using HeirVault and delete your account in Settings, subject to the Privacy Policy. We may suspend or terminate access if you breach these Terms, if required by law, or if we discontinue the service.

If we discontinue HeirVault entirely, we will provide reasonable notice when practicable and, for paid periods not yet used, a refund of prepaid fees for the unused portion. We do not hold an escrow of your vault keys. If the service ends and you have not exported and decrypted your materials while you still control your keys, encrypted blobs we hosted may become inaccessible. Export your data while you can; we cannot reconstruct plaintext from ciphertext after you lose keys or after systems that store your wraps are gone.

On termination, your license to use the service ends. Provisions that by nature should survive (including ownership, feedback license, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnity, dispute resolution, class-action waiver, and governing law) survive.

You may not use HeirVault if you are prohibited from receiving U.S. services under applicable export control or sanctions laws. You represent that you are not located in a comprehensively sanctioned jurisdiction and are not a denied or restricted party under applicable lists.

Governing law

Delaware law governs these Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or HeirVault, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, except where consumer law in your place of residence requires otherwise for non-waivable rights.

Informal resolution

Before starting a formal proceeding, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by emailing support@heirvault.io with a short description of the issue and the relief you seek, and allowing 30 days for a response. We will attempt the same if we have a dispute with you.

Binding individual arbitration

If informal resolution does not resolve the dispute, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or HeirVault will be resolved by binding individual arbitration, except for the carve-outs below. Arbitration will be administered by a recognized U.S. arbitration provider under its consumer or commercial rules as applicable. The arbitration may be conducted by video, phone, or in writing. The arbitrator may award the same individual relief a court could award to you personally.

You and TrueWear, LLC agree that arbitration will be on an individual basis only.

Class and collective action waiver

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you and TrueWear, LLC waive any right to participate in a class, collective, consolidated, or representative action, whether in arbitration or court. Claims may be brought only in your or our individual capacity.

Arbitration opt-out

You may opt out of the binding arbitration and class-action waiver provisions in this section by emailing support@heirvault.io within 30 days of first accepting these Terms. Your notice must include the email address for your HeirVault account and a clear statement that you opt out of arbitration. If you opt out, the informal resolution process still applies where practicable, and disputes proceed in the venue described below for non-arbitrable claims. Opting out does not affect other Terms.

Carve-outs

Either party may bring an individual action in small claims court if the claim qualifies. Either party may seek temporary injunctive or equitable relief in court to protect intellectual property, account security, or confidential information pending arbitration. If a court finds the class-action waiver unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) may proceed in court, and the remainder of this dispute section still applies.

Jury trial waiver

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you and TrueWear, LLC waive any right to a jury trial for claims subject to arbitration or, where arbitration does not apply, for claims brought in court.

Venue for non-arbitrable claims

Where a claim is not subject to arbitration (including if you timely opt out), exclusive venue lies in the state or federal courts located in Delaware, except where consumer law in your place of residence requires otherwise.

If any part of this dispute section is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect to the maximum extent permitted by law.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice through the service or by email. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree, stop using the service and delete your account.

Entire agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, are the entire agreement between you and TrueWear, LLC about HeirVault and supersede prior or contemporaneous communications on the same subject. If other product pages conflict with these Terms, these Terms control unless we expressly say otherwise in writing.

Severability and waiver

If a provision is found unenforceable, it will be modified to the minimum extent needed, and the rest of these Terms remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. Any waiver must be in writing to be effective.

Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your account without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, or sale of assets, or to an affiliate. These Terms bind permitted successors and assigns.

Electronic communications

You consent to receive agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications from us electronically (including by email or in-product notices). Electronic communications satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing, to the extent permitted by law.

This includes transactional messages needed to operate your account and workflows you configure (for example one-time codes, check-in reminders, claim notices, security alerts, and billing notices). You generally cannot opt out of transactional messages while your account or an active delivery workflow requires them.

When you create an account, you are also enrolled in optional product newsletter emails (updates and tips). You may opt out of those optional emails anytime in Account settings or via unsubscribe links when provided. Opting out of the newsletter does not stop transactional messages.

Relationship of the parties

You and TrueWear, LLC are independent parties. These Terms do not create a partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship.

TrueWear, LLC Account and general questions: support@heirvault.io Security vulnerability reports: security@heirvault.io