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Privacy Notice

Last updated September 21, 2026

This Privacy Notice explains how Melissa Reeves Genealogy, operated by Melissa Reeves, collects, uses, and protects information submitted for genealogy research, photo preservation, and family-history design services.

1. Information collected

The service may collect your name, email address, telephone number, preferred contact method, selected service, research questions, family relationships, names, dates, locations, family stories, records, online tree platform and links, invited-access information, photographs, sample-image links, captions, image metadata, file and physical-item details, restoration or color preferences, print size, quantity, finish and delivery preferences, print and book design preferences, correspondence, safety-screening confirmations, and information about DNA testing or DNA matches. A shipping address may be collected separately after a print project is accepted. The intake form does not request payment card information, account passwords, raw DNA files, Social Security numbers, government identification, or medical information.

Information is collected directly from you through the request form, project communications, documents or links you choose to provide, invited access to third-party genealogy platforms, and records located during an accepted research project. Website hosting and security providers may also process standard technical information, such as an IP address, browser or device type, request time, and pages requested, to deliver and protect the website.

2. How information is used

Information is used to evaluate requests, communicate with you, prepare a project scope, perform research, restore or colorize digital images, scan and organize collections, create books or keepsakes, document sources and findings, deliver results, process and verify payments, prevent fraud, resolve disputes, maintain business and tax records, protect safety and legal rights, and comply with applicable law. Contact information submitted for a project is not added to a marketing or newsletter list unless you separately request that communication.

3. DNA information

DNA-related information is treated as sensitive. Do not send raw DNA files or passwords through the intake form. When DNA review is necessary, the preferred method is limited viewer or collaborator access through the testing company. Access will be used only for the accepted research purpose and should be revoked when the project ends. You represent that you have authority to share the DNA-match information involved. DNA findings may reveal unexpected biological relationships, and you are responsible for deciding whether and how to share those findings with other people.

4. Online tree access

The Researcher will not request your account password. If work in an online family tree is accepted, access should be provided through the platform’s official guest, viewer, contributor, editor, or collaborator invitation feature. You remain responsible for your account, subscription, sharing settings, and revoking access when the project ends.

5. AI-assisted processing

Artificial intelligence tools may be used to organize minimized research notes, compare timelines, suggest search terms, summarize working notes, identify records for further review, or assist with image cleanup and restoration. AI output is not treated as genealogical proof or as a guaranteed reconstruction of missing visual detail. Passwords, raw DNA files, Social Security numbers, payment information, and unnecessary information about living people are not entered into AI tools. Material research findings and final edited images are reviewed by the Researcher.

6. Sharing and sale of information

Personal information is not sold, rented, traded, or used for targeted advertising. Information may be shared only as reasonably necessary with research databases, archives, record providers, technology, hosting, email and storage providers, PayPal, Cash App, printing companies, shipping carriers, professional advisers, or government and legal authorities. For an approved outside-lab order, the print-ready image, order specifications, recipient name, and shipping address may be provided to Mpix or another printer disclosed in the accepted quote. Information may also be disclosed when required by law, valid legal process, or a good-faith need to protect a person, prevent fraud, enforce an agreement, or defend legal rights.

When you submit the request form, a plain-text copy of the information you entered is sent to the business owner using Resend and Gmail. Business email sent to research@melissareevesgenealogy.com is forwarded to the owner’s Gmail inbox through Cloudflare Email Routing. A database copy of each request is also kept in the owner-only administrative inbox so the request is not lost if an email problem occurs.

7. Payment services

No payment is collected with the request form. If a request is reviewed and accepted, a private payment-page link may be sent separately by email. The page uses a secure, randomly generated link token and the saved project status to confirm that the request is approved for payment. Payments are accepted only through PayPal or Cash App, which process payment information under their own terms and privacy policies. This website does not collect or store your payment card or bank account number.

8. Website technology

The public website does not currently use advertising cookies or behavioral analytics installed by Melissa Reeves Genealogy. Hosting, security, payment, and linked third-party services may use essential cookies, logs, or similar technology under their own privacy policies. Melissa Reeves Genealogy does not control those third-party technologies.

9. Data security

Reasonable administrative and technical measures are used to protect submitted information, including access restrictions for the owner administrative area. Genealogy communications are not protected by attorney-client, medical, or other legal privilege. No website, email account, database, or internet transmission can be guaranteed completely secure. You should share only information reasonably necessary for the research request and use official account-sharing features instead of sending passwords. If a qualifying security incident requires notice under applicable law, notice will be provided as required.

10. Retention

Intake, project, communication, payment, research, source-image, working-file, and final-deliverable records may be retained for as long as reasonably needed to provide the service, maintain research continuity and source citations, allow reasonable delivery or replacement access, meet tax or legal obligations, resolve disputes, and protect legal rights. Information that is no longer reasonably needed may be deleted or de-identified. You may request deletion as described below, although some records may need to be retained.

11. Living people and minors

Clients must have appropriate authority to provide information or photographs of living people and should not submit nonpublic contact, location, financial, medical, or identification information that is unnecessary for the project. Photographs can reveal faces, homes, documents, location clues, and other personal details, so share only what is needed and use a private sharing link. The service is offered to adults and is not intended to collect requests directly from children under 18. If information or an image of a minor is relevant to a lawful project, provide it only when you are authorized to do so.

12. Delivered reports and client sharing

Research reports, family trees, books, posters, original scans, restored or colorized photographs, archive indexes, record images, and project emails may contain sensitive information. After delivery, you are responsible for storing those materials securely and deciding who may receive them. To the extent permitted by law, Melissa Reeves Genealogy is not responsible for later disclosure, posting, or misuse by a client or another person who receives the materials from the client when that disclosure was not caused by Melissa Reeves Genealogy.

13. Your privacy choices

Subject to applicable law, you may request access to, a copy of, correction of, or deletion of information you submitted, withdraw permission for future use, or revoke DNA-platform access. Reasonable identity verification may be required before a privacy request is completed. Some records may need to be retained for completed services, accounting, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, source documentation, or legal compliance. Withdrawing access may prevent completion of the research.

A request applies only to information reasonably under the control of Melissa Reeves Genealogy. It cannot remove public records or copies independently held by genealogy platforms, testing companies, email providers, payment providers, archives, or other third parties.

14. Third-party links and services

This website or an accepted project may use or link to Resend, Gmail, LinkedIn, record databases, DNA testing companies, PayPal, Cash App, Mpix or another disclosed printing company, shipping carriers, hosting providers, or other third-party services. Their privacy, retention, security, availability, production, shipping, and data-processing practices are controlled by them, not by Melissa Reeves Genealogy.

15. Changes to this notice

This notice may be updated when services, technology, or legal requirements change. The revised notice will be posted on this page with a new “last updated” date. Material changes apply going forward unless applicable law requires otherwise.

16. Questions or requests

Privacy questions or requests may be sent to research@melissareevesgenealogy.com or through the contact method used for your project. Please do not place sensitive family, DNA, or photograph information in a public social-media message.

Use of the service is also governed by the Terms of Service.