Terms

Terms of use

Last updated: 31 October 2026

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern access to and use of the Banyan family-tree website and related services (the “Services”). By creating an account and checking the agreement box, or by using the Services, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy notice and Cookies notice.

This page is a product notice, not legal advice. Have counsel review these Terms before a public or commercial launch.

1. Who we are / ownership

Banyan (“Banyan”, “we”, “us”) is a private family-tree product owned and operated by S.J Consulting Group Asia. S.J Consulting Group Asia is the legal operator of this application.

Company site: https://sjconsultinggroup.com/en

2. The Services

Create or join private family trees by invite
Add people, relationships, countries, photos, and stories (on person cards and on the Stories page)
View the tree, list, map and reports; use zoom and layout options
Invite relatives with roles; leaders accept certain invites and manage access
Send short in-family notes (with optional emoji) to family leaders or living members — not to people marked deceased on the tree, and not a substitute for invite email
Optional family emblem, reunion page, family backup download (JSON), and GEDCOM download and import for leaders
A weekly family email, which you can turn off
Text size and high-contrast settings on every page
Adding Banyan to your phone’s home screen
Optional Google sign-in when the site operator has configured it

Features may change as we improve Banyan. Some tools may be labelled as early or limited.

3. Plans

A new account includes a 7-day trial
A yearly plan is US$25 and includes up to two family trees you lead
Families you join by invite do not count toward those two, and invited members are not charged
People on a tree who never sign in are not charged
You cannot start a third tree you lead on this plan
When the trial ends without a subscription, you can keep adding for 3 days more, then trees stay visible but a tree is look-only until one of its family leaders has an active plan. Nothing is deleted
We may give some people a free membership for one year or for life. It belongs to that one account, cannot be transferred to anyone else, and ends if the account is deleted. While it lasts there is nothing to pay and no billing details are needed
Payments are taken by Stripe. Banyan does not store your card number. When billing is turned on, Your profile can start or manage the yearly plan. Questions about payments: [email protected]
If yearly billing is not configured, the limit of two family trees still applies, but no tree becomes look-only

4. Accounts and sign-in

Provide accurate registration information and keep it updated
You may create an account and sign in with your phone number and a password, or, when enabled, with Google
You can also sign in with the email saved on your account, using the same password
“Stay signed in” keeps you signed in on that device for 30 days. Do not use it on a shared computer
You can delete your account at any time from Your profile. If you are the only leader of a family that others use, first make someone else a leader. If you have an active plan, cancel it first
The same phone number (with country code) belongs to one account
Keep your password private. You can change it in Your profile
You are responsible for activity under your account and for devices you leave signed in
You must be old enough to agree to these Terms in your place, or use Banyan with a parent or guardian
We may refuse, suspend or close accounts that violate these Terms or pose risk
Repeated failed or abusive sign-in, invite, or join attempts may be slowed or blocked by rate limits

5. Private trees and invites

Each tree is private. There is no public family directory
Only someone already on a tree can invite a new person, and the invite names that one family
A leader can limit an invite or a member to one branch, and can copy a branch into a new tree they lead. Leaders are responsible for only copying family details they are entitled to share
If the family allows it, a leader, an editor or the person who uploaded a photo can share that one photo outside Banyan with a link that ends after 14 days. You must only share photos you have the right to share, and that the people in them would be happy for others to see. A leader can stop any shared link, or turn sharing off for the family
A leader’s invite can admit someone at the role the leader chose. An invite from others waits for a leader
Roles: family leader, editor, contributor and viewer, with the permissions described in Help
The last leader should name another leader before leaving or being demoted
Invite links are secrets. Share them only with people your family intends to welcome; treat a link like a key until it expires
The best way to grow a family on Banyan is invite-first (text, WhatsApp, email, or Messenger) — not public posting of invite links
A GEDCOM import always creates a new family. Only import files you have the right to use, for example your own family’s tree

6. Family content and accuracy

You and your family are responsible for the accuracy and sensitivity of names, photos, stories and contact details you add
Do not add someone’s private contact details if they would not want them on the tree
Respect living relatives; use care with stories about hardship, conflict or minors
Person cards are not accounts. Linking “This is me” connects your sign-in to one card per tree
Removing a connection leaves the person card; deleting a person requires a clear confirmation

7. Acceptable use

You must not:

Use Banyan to harass, dox, or publish private family data outside the invited family
Scrape, bulk-export or republish another family’s tree without permission
Attempt unauthorised access to accounts, trees, uploads or admin tools
Upload unlawful, infringing or malicious files
Impersonate another person when signing in or accepting an invite
Interfere with security, rate limits, bot checks (Turnstile) or invite controls
Use bots, scrapers, or automated agents to harvest accounts, invites, family content, or personal data

8. Intellectual property and copyright

Banyan branding, software, help text and original product materials are owned by S.J Consulting Group Asia or its licensors. You may not copy the platform, reverse-engineer it, or reuse its branding without permission.

Names, photos, stories, voice notes and emblems your family adds remain with the people who have rights in that content. By uploading or entering content, you grant S.J Consulting Group Asia a licence to host, display and process it solely to operate Banyan for your family, including backups and support.

Generated emblems created in Banyan are provided for that family’s private use on the tree, reunion page and invite card, and are labelled as a family emblem when drawn by the app.

9. Security expectations

We apply technical and organisational measures described in the Privacy notice (Security), including private trees, hashed invite links, CSRF protection, HTTPS-oriented session cookies, security headers, rate limits, private media routes, and logging of certain admin support access. You still share responsibility: keep invite links private, use a trusted device, and sign out on shared computers. We do not promise that the Services will be free of interruption or that any system is perfectly secure.

10. Third-party services

Cloudflare (site traffic and the human check), Google sign-in, Stripe payments when a yearly plan is offered, map tiles, fonts, flag images, and email delivery (Amazon SES) are third-party services. Their terms apply to the step you use with them. Banyan is not responsible for outages or policy changes of those providers.

11. Disclaimers

The Services are provided “as is” and “as available”. Family histories may contain errors, gaps or disputed memories. Relationship labels and drafts are aids for the family, not legal proof of kinship, citizenship, inheritance or identity. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

12. Limitation of liability

To the extent allowed by applicable law, S.J Consulting Group Asia and Banyan are not liable for: disputes inside a family; inaccurate tree content entered by users; misuse of invite links; third-party outages; or indirect, incidental or consequential damages. Where liability cannot be excluded (for example fraud or wilful misconduct), it is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

13. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify S.J Consulting Group Asia and Banyan against claims arising from your content, your breach of these Terms, or your misuse of another person’s data, except to the extent caused by our wilful misconduct.

14. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate access for Terms violations, legal risk or operational reasons. You may stop using the Services at any time. Account or content deletion is subject to our Privacy notice and any legal retention needs. A member may leave a tree; their person card can remain if the family keeps it.

15. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, unless mandatory consumer rules in your place of residence require otherwise. Courts in Metro Manila shall have jurisdiction where Philippine law applies, unless mandatory rules require another forum.

16. Changes

We may update these Terms. Material changes will be indicated by the “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, additional notice. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

17. Contact

Operator: S.J Consulting Group Asia — sjconsultinggroup.com
Questions and legal: [email protected]
Payments and your plan: [email protected]
Privacy requests: [email protected]
Privacy: see our Privacy notice · Cookies: Cookies notice