Terms of Service
Last updated: May 7, 2026
Contents
1. Agreement to Terms
By accessing or using The Life Before Me website and services (the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you disagree with any part of these Terms, you may not access the Service.
Age Requirement: You must be at least 18 years old to use this Service. If you are under 18, you may only use the Service with the consent and supervision of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to be bound by these Terms.
Authority to Bind: If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that organization to these Terms.
These Terms incorporate our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, and protect your personal information.
We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the new Terms on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. Your continued use of the Service after such changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms.
2. Description of Service
The Life Before Me is a memory preservation platform designed to help families capture and preserve the stories, experiences, and wisdom of loved ones for future generations.
Core Features
- Curated story prompts designed to elicit meaningful memories
- Text, voice, video, and phone-based recording capabilities
- AI-guided phone conversations for hands-free storytelling
- Automatic transcription of audio, video, and phone recordings
- Optional narrative enhancement to polish stories into memoir-style prose
- Digital gallery for viewing and sharing stories
- PDF export of completed stories
- Printed hardcover book production (select plans)
We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, with or without notice. We will not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Service.
3. Account Registration
To use certain features of the Service, you must create an account. You may register using an email address, phone number, or third-party sign-in provider (e.g. Google, Apple). When you create an account, you agree to:
- Provide accurate, current, and complete information
- Maintain and promptly update your account information
- Maintain the security of your password and accept responsibility for all activities under your account
- Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account
Account Types
- Customer Account: Created by the person purchasing the service
- Storyteller Account: Created for the person who will be sharing their stories
You may not create more than one personal account. However, a Customer may manage accounts for multiple Storytellers. You may not transfer your account to another person without our written consent.
4. User Content and Ownership
Your Content Belongs to You
You retain full and complete ownership of all content you create or upload to the Service.
"User Content" includes all stories, responses, recordings (audio and video), photographs, and any other materials you or your family members submit to the Service.
- Your Property: Your stories, memories, voice recordings, and media remain your property at all times
- No Hidden Claims: The Life Before Me does not claim any ownership rights in your User Content
- No AI Training: Your content is never used to train artificial intelligence or machine learning models
- Voice Recordings: You retain full ownership of all voice recordings you create through the Service. We store them on your behalf to provide the Service, and you may request their deletion at any time.
- You Control Sharing: You decide who can view your content through our sharing features
- Export Anytime: You can download and export your content at any time
You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to all User Content you submit, and that your content does not violate the rights of any third party.
5. AI Processing and Voice Data Consent
Your Consent to AI Processing
By using the voice interview features of the Service, you consent to the recording, storage, and AI processing of your voice as described in this section and in our Privacy Policy (Section 3).
What AI Processing Involves
When you record a voice interview, the following processing occurs:
- Transcription: Your audio is sent to OpenAI's Whisper service, which converts your speech to text. The audio is processed in real time and is not retained by OpenAI after transcription.
- Voice Profiling: Our AI analyzes the transcribed text to capture your vocabulary, phrasing, and storytelling style. This "voice profile" helps ensure your memoir reads authentically in your own voice.
- Narrative Intelligence: Our system identifies themes, emotional arcs, and connections across your stories to structure and enrich the memoir.
- Memoir Generation: Multiple AI models work together to compose, structure, and polish your memoir chapters based on your transcripts and voice profile.
AI-Generated Content Disclaimer
Your memoir is created with AI assistance. While we work hard to preserve your authentic voice and the accuracy of your stories, the final memoir text is not a verbatim transcription. AI models interpret, organize, and enhance your words into polished narrative prose. This means the memoir may include rephrased sentences, reordered events for narrative flow, and stylistic enhancements. You always have the opportunity to review, edit, and approve the final text before printing through our Co-Author Studio.
Withdrawing Consent
You may withdraw your consent to voice data processing at any time by contacting us through the contact form below. If you withdraw consent, we will stop processing your voice recordings and delete them along with any derived voice profiles. Please note that withdrawing consent will prevent us from generating or updating your memoir using voice interview data, though any previously approved memoir content will remain available.
6. License Grant
By uploading User Content to the Service, you grant The Life Before Me, LLC a limited, non-exclusive license to:
- Store and process your content on our servers
- Display your content to you and those you authorize to view it
- Transcribe audio and video recordings to text
- Apply narrative enhancement when you request it
- Analyze the linguistic patterns and style of your stories to create a voice profile that helps preserve your authentic voice in the memoir
- Identify themes, emotional arcs, and narrative threads across your story sessions to structure the memoir
- Produce printed products (books) that you order
- Create backups for disaster recovery purposes
License Termination: This license terminates when you delete your content or close your account, except as required to fulfill pending orders or comply with legal obligations.
No Commercial Use: We will not sublicense your content to third parties for commercial purposes or use your content for advertising without your explicit consent.
7. Acceptable Use
You agree not to use the Service to:
- Upload, post, or transmit any content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable
- Impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity
- Upload content that you do not have the right to share, including content that infringes on intellectual property rights
- Transmit any malware, viruses, or other malicious code
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other accounts, or computer systems
- Interfere with or disrupt the Service or servers connected to the Service
- Use the Service for any commercial purpose without our express written consent
- Scrape, data-mine, or use automated means to access the Service
We reserve the right to remove any content that violates these Terms and to suspend or terminate accounts that engage in prohibited activities.
8. SMS and Phone Messaging
The Service offers phone number verification via SMS and voice call. By providing your phone number and requesting a verification code, you consent to receive a one-time SMS message or voice call containing your code.
What You Will Receive
- Verification codes: A single SMS or voice call each time you request a code to sign in or verify your account
- No marketing messages: We will never send promotional or marketing messages to your phone number
Message Frequency and Costs
- Message frequency varies based on your sign-in activity. Typically one message per sign-in attempt.
- Message and data rates may apply. Your carrier's standard messaging rates apply to any SMS you receive from us.
- We do not charge for SMS verification messages beyond your carrier's standard rates.
Opting Out
- You may opt out of SMS messages at any time by replying STOP to any message from us.
- For help, reply HELP to any message, or visit our contact form.
- If you opt out of SMS, you can still sign in using email, Google, or Apple.
Supported Carriers
SMS verification is available to most major US carriers. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
Your phone number is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. We do not sell or share your phone number with third parties for marketing purposes.
9. Pricing and Payment
Current Pricing
- One-Time Payments: All purchases are one-time payments, not subscriptions
- Payment Processing: Payments are securely processed by Stripe
- Price Changes: Prices are subject to change with reasonable notice; existing purchases are not affected
- Taxes: Applicable sales tax or VAT may be added based on your location
10. Refunds and Cancellation
Our Promise
If your hardcover arrives and you don't love it, we'll redo the whole book your way, free. Still not right? Full refund and you keep the digital gallery.
This promise applies to any Heirloom or Heirloom + Gift order where the storyteller has completed at least three voice sessions before the book was sent to print. We need the three sessions because that is the minimum content for a memoir worth reading; before that, the book has not yet had a fair chance to become what it is meant to be.
How the redo works
Within 30 days of delivery, contact us using the form below to start a redo. We will:
- Review the book with you, listen to what is not working, and agree on what to change. This is a real conversation, not a form.
- Send the recording surfaces back to your storyteller for additional sessions or revisions, at no charge.
- Reprint and reship the revised book at no charge.
How the refund works
If after the redo the book is still not right, we issue a full refund of your original purchase price. You keep the digital gallery, the recordings, and the PDF. We do not claw back the artifacts your family has already lived with.
What this promise does NOT cover
- Memoir-tier (digital-only) purchases. Memoir orders are covered by the standard 30-day satisfaction guarantee in the next subsection: full refund within 30 days of purchase, no questions asked.
- Orders where the storyteller did not complete at least three voice sessions before the book was sent to print.
- Damage in transit. Books damaged in shipping are replaced at no cost outside the redo process; just send a photo.
- Printing errors on our end. Misprints are replaced at no cost outside the redo process.
- Refund requests filed more than 30 days after delivery.
Memoir (digital-only) Satisfaction Guarantee
For Memoir-tier purchases (digital only, no printed book), we offer a full refund within 30 days of purchase, no questions asked. Contact us using the form below.
EU/UK Consumer Rights
If you are located in the European Union or United Kingdom, you have a statutory 14-day cooling-off period during which you may cancel for any reason. If you request immediate access to digital content, you acknowledge that you waive your right of withdrawal once the content is accessed. The 30-day digital guarantee and the Heirloom redo promise above are offered in addition to these statutory rights and do not replace them.
11. Intellectual Property
The Service and its original content (excluding User Content), features, and functionality are owned by The Life Before Me, LLC and are protected by international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property laws.
What We Own
- The website design, layout, and user interface
- Our branding, logos, and trademarks
- The question prompts and storytelling frameworks
- Our proprietary narrative enhancement technology
- All software and code powering the Service
"The Life Before Me" and our logo are trademarks. You may not use our trademarks without our prior written permission.
You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of our Service or included software, nor may you reverse engineer or attempt to extract the source code of that software.
12. Disclaimers
Service Provided "As Is"
The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
- We do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free service
- We do not guarantee specific outcomes from using the Service
- Technical issues, delays, or interruptions may occur
- Third-party services we integrate with have their own terms and conditions
Content Disclaimer
- We do not verify the accuracy of User Content
- Automated transcription may contain errors
- Narrative enhancement is AI-assisted and may not perfectly capture intended meaning
- Users are responsible for reviewing and approving their content before printing
13. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, The Life Before Me, LLC shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from:
- Your access to or use of or inability to access or use the Service
- Any conduct or content of any third party on the Service
- Any content obtained from the Service
- Unauthorized access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content
Maximum Liability: Our total liability to you for any claims arising from or related to the Service shall not exceed the amount you paid to us in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim.
We acknowledge the emotional significance of the content entrusted to us. While we implement robust safeguards, we encourage you to maintain personal backups of content that is irreplaceable.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.
14. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless The Life Before Me, LLC and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, arising out of or in any way connected with:
- Your User Content
- Your violation of these Terms
- Your violation of any third-party rights, including intellectual property rights
- Your misuse of the Service
15. Termination
Termination by You
- You may cancel your account at any time
- You may request deletion of your data as described in our Privacy Policy
- We recommend downloading your content before requesting deletion
Termination by Us
- We may suspend or terminate your account for violation of these Terms
- We may terminate inactive Free accounts after extended periods of inactivity (with notice)
- We will provide reasonable opportunity to download your content before termination, except in cases of egregious violations
Effect of Termination
- Our license to your content terminates
- Your data will be handled according to our retention policy
- Paid products (printed books already ordered) will still be fulfilled
- Provisions that by their nature should survive termination will survive
16. Dispute Resolution
Informal Resolution First
Before filing a claim, you agree to try to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us. We will try to resolve the dispute within 30 days.
Governing Law
These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any legal action or proceeding shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Delaware.
International Users
If you are located outside the United States, you may have additional rights under your local consumer protection laws. Nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer. EU and UK users retain all mandatory consumer protection rights.
Class Action Waiver
You agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated, or representative action. If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration, you waive any right to a jury trial.
17. General Provisions
- Entire Agreement: These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and The Life Before Me, LLC regarding the Service.
- Severability: If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
- Waiver: Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of those rights.
- Assignment: We may assign our rights and obligations under these Terms. You may not assign your rights or obligations without our written consent.
- Force Majeure: We will not be liable for any failure or delay in performance due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, riots, embargoes, acts of civil or military authorities, fire, floods, accidents, or strikes.
- Notices: We may send you notices via email or through the Service. You may send notices to us via the contact form below.
- Headings: The section headings in these Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.
18. Contact Us
If you have any questions about these Terms, please reach out using the form below:
We typically respond within 1-2 business days.