Terms and Conditions

1. Who provides DARCi

DARCi is provided by illuminote, Inc., a California corporation ("illuminote," "we," "us"). These Terms govern your use of the DARCi website and mobile application, including the services available through illuminotary.com.

Please read these Terms before creating an account, submitting a document or buying a membership. Agreeing to these Terms does not by itself authorize a payment, sign a legal document or perform a notarial act. Those actions require their separate confirmations in the applicable workflow. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the service.

2. What the service does

DARCi provides supported document questionnaires and PDF generation, review and electronic-signature workflows, uploaded-document notarization requests, coordination with approved notaries, and access to completed documents and their verification information. Available workflows include supported trust packages, powers of attorney and uploaded-document requests.

Availability depends on the document, jurisdiction, account role and features actually offered in the service. A workflow being available in one jurisdiction does not mean it is offered or appropriate everywhere. The current notary workflow is in-person electronic notarization, not remote online notarization. Future services, professional or business products, automatic trust monitoring and changes to legal authority are not included unless expressly offered under applicable terms.

3. Accounts and your responsibilities

You must be at least eighteen and able to enter into these Terms. Give accurate information, keep your verified email address and phone number current, and protect your devices and login codes. Do not share verification codes or use another person's account, identity, signature or notary credentials.

Email and phone verification establish control of that contact method. They do not replace the identity checks required for a notarial act or establish your authority to act for another person. Tell support promptly if you suspect account misuse or need help recovering access.

4. Legal documents and independent judgment

DARCi is a technology service, not a law firm, and does not provide legal, tax, investment or estate-planning advice. Using a questionnaire does not create an attorney-client relationship. You are responsible for selecting an appropriate workflow, supplying accurate information and reviewing every document before approving or signing it. Obtain independent professional advice when needed.

A generated PDF, uploaded file, electronic signature, completed status or hash does not by itself establish legal validity, authority, capacity or acceptance by a court, bank, recorder or other recipient. Document-specific execution, witnessing and notarization requirements still apply. A later legal change is not automatically reflected in a previously completed document.

5. Electronic signatures and document review

When you choose to sign electronically, you authorize the signature only through the confirmation steps presented for that document. Review the exact document and your information first. Do not approve something you do not understand or know to be inaccurate. Do not apply a signature or seal for someone else.

For an uploaded document, the workflow may add a separate signature addendum or notarial page. Review the complete resulting package, not only the original upload. Saving a signature image does not authorize its use on every future document. Completed evidence is not silently rewritten when a profile or saved signature later changes; contact support about an error in a completed package.

6. In-person notaries

Members may request an available approved notary for the document's supported jurisdiction. A request is not a guarantee of acceptance, an appointment or completion. The signer and notary must be physically together for the offered in-person session and satisfy the applicable legal requirements.

The notary is responsible for their commission, permitted acts, identity checks, required consent, signature/seal use, notarial certificate and legally required records. A notary may decline an improper request. Platform approval does not expand a notary's legal powers or certify the legal contents of a document. Notary fees are separate from DARCi membership and must be agreed with the notary. Do not assume the member subscription includes them.

7. Membership prices and document allowances

Member plans have the following standard prices in US dollars, before applicable taxes. The checkout identifies the plan, amount, cadence and any applicable tax before you authorize payment.

Annual billing is one annual payment, not twelve monthly installments. Starter and Plus allowances reset monthly even when you pay annually; unused allowance does not roll over. An annual plan does not make its full year's allowance available at once. The account shows the applicable allowance and payment dates.

One accepted Trust package, standalone power of attorney or uploaded-document notarization workflow uses one allowance unit. Drafts, regeneration or retries of the same accepted workflow, extra PDFs within its package, signatures, notary steps and downloads do not use another unit. Unlimited has no hidden monthly numerical quota, but disclosed file, processing, security and abuse-prevention limits still apply. Notaries and invited signers do not need member plans merely to act in those roles.

8. Renewal, changes, cancellation and payment problems

Membership renews automatically at the selected monthly or annual cadence unless you cancel renewal. Before buying, review and separately authorize the recurring amount and frequency shown at checkout. Manage renewal through the account's billing controls and hosted billing portal. If you cannot access those controls, contact support for assistance; do not send payment-card details by email.

Canceling renewal stops future renewal charges and leaves membership active through the paid-through date. Annual members retain their monthly allowance periods during the paid year. Cancellation is not itself a refund request or a deletion of your account or documents.

Same-cadence upgrades take effect after the required payment, with the applicable proration and existing monthly usage preserved. Downgrades and monthly-to-annual or annual-to-monthly changes take effect at the current paid-through date, as shown before confirmation. Do not assume a plan change resets usage.

New generation requires an eligible membership and available allowance. Failed or unresolved payment can prevent new work and delay release as described below. An apparent checkout success or return to the app does not itself confirm a payment. Contact support about duplicate charges, billing errors or a refund request. Cancellation does not automatically refund a prior charge; requests are reviewed individually, subject to applicable mandatory rights. Nothing in these Terms removes rights to a remedy or to dispute a charge provided by law.

9. Accepted work and final packages

A notary can continue an already accepted request after the member's membership lapses. A newly completed final package that has not been released may remain held until eligible membership is restored. The service identifies the hold; reactivation does not require changing existing signatures or regenerating the completed package. Packages already released remain accessible to authorized users, subject to account security and lawful restrictions. Contact support if a hold affects an urgent need or you believe it is incorrect.

A completion or verification label describes the recorded workflow state. It is not a court judgment, a guarantee of legal effectiveness or confirmation that a third party has accepted the document.

10. Hashes and public verification

DARCi records a SHA-256 hash of the exact final PDF bytes. Comparing another file's SHA-256 value with that recorded value can show whether the files are byte-for-byte identical. A different value means the bytes differ; it does not identify the change, prove fraud or decide which version is legally effective. Printing, scanning, re-saving or changing PDF metadata may change the hash even if the pages appear the same. Use the original downloaded file for comparison.

Hash-only verification is not blockchain anchoring, an external-ledger record, an independent timestamp certification or a guarantee about the accuracy of the document's contents or a signer's legal authority.

Released final documents can be previewed through their public verification link or IDN without signing in. Anyone who obtains that link or identifier may view and save the exposed final PDFs and information printed in them. Do not treat a public verification link as confidential or assume a browser preview prevents downloading. Drafts, held packages and protected identity records are not included in that public preview. Share documents only with the rights and consents needed for their contents and intended exposure.

11. Your content, account deletion and retention

You retain your rights in material you submit. You give us permission to process, store, generate, display, share as authorized by the workflow, verify and back up that material to provide and secure the service. Submit only content you are entitled to use and disclose. These Terms do not transfer ownership of your documents to illuminote.

Use the account-deletion control to request deletion of your account, or contact support if you cannot access it. Cancel paid renewal separately through billing controls; deleting an account is not a substitute for checking subscription cancellation. Account deletion does not revoke a legal document, invalidate another person's lawful copy or necessarily erase records that must be retained for legal obligations, notarial records, fraud prevention, disputes or a legal hold.

Uploaded documents and protected evidence are not automatically purged on a promised thirty-day or five-year schedule. Retention and deletion requests are reviewed against applicable obligations and rights. We do not promise indefinite hosting or archival availability. Keep your own lawful copies of released documents; ask support about access or deletion needs. The Privacy Policy explains personal-information handling and must be read together with these Terms.

12. Service communications and providers

We use providers for hosting/storage, authentication, payment processing, email, SMS, address search and push delivery. Provider failures, connectivity and device settings can affect availability or delivery. Email, SMS and push messages can arrive late or fail; check the app for current workflow status rather than relying on a notification as proof of completion or a legal deadline.

Login codes are verification messages, not marketing consent. Message/data rates may apply; follow the SMS instructions for STOP or HELP. Choosing email instead does not remove identity checks needed for a notarial act. Optional notification permissions can be managed in device settings.

13. Acceptable use and access restrictions

Do not forge signatures or identity information, misuse a notary commission, submit unlawful material, access another person's documents without permission, bypass payment or access controls, distribute malware or disrupt the service. Do not use automated activity to evade disclosed limits or security controls.

We may restrict or suspend access to protect users, preserve evidence, investigate misuse or comply with law. Access restrictions do not authorize us to alter signed evidence or remove your mandatory legal rights. Contact support if you believe a restriction is an error.

14. Availability and service changes

We use safeguards and backups but cannot guarantee uninterrupted service, notification delivery or recovery within a fixed period. Internal recovery objectives are not customer service-level guarantees. Keep lawful copies and allow time for review, execution and third-party acceptance requirements.

We may maintain or change the service. Material changes to these Terms or paid services require the notice and any consent required by applicable law; posting a new page alone does not retroactively authorize a charge or rewrite completed documents. The published version and effective date identify the applicable text.

15. Responsibility and liability

Each user is responsible for their own submissions and actions. illuminote remains responsible for its own conduct; use of third-party providers does not remove obligations imposed by law.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, each party's aggregate liability arising from these Terms is limited to the fees paid or owed by the user under these Terms during the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim. To that same extent, neither party is liable to the other for lost profits or indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary or punitive damages. These limits do not exclude liability or remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded, and they do not limit claims users may have against each other under law.

16. Disputes and applicable law

Contact support to try to resolve a concern. These Terms are governed by California law, except where mandatory law requires otherwise. Subject to those mandatory rights and any jurisdiction that cannot lawfully be excluded, disputes between you and illuminote are to be brought in the California state courts in Santa Clara County. These Terms do not require arbitration or waive a right that cannot lawfully be waived.

17. Contact

Service, billing and account assistance: support@illuminote.io. Security concerns or incident reports: incidentreports@illuminote.io. Do not email verification codes, payment-card information or sensitive identity documents unless an authorized secure process specifically requires them.

Legal notices: illuminote, Inc., 1275 4th St., #135, Santa Rosa, CA 95404.