The terms, in plain words

Alte Heym is run by Leo Katz, a private individual based in Israel. These terms cover the free tree check and the paid research. Last updated: October 5, 2026.

The free tree check

• You upload a family tree file; we show a report on this site. It costs nothing and needs no account.
• Upload only a tree that is yours or that you have the right to share.
• The report is an estimate made from catalogs of surviving records. It says where records are likely to be — it is not a promise that a particular record exists or names your family.

The first dossier — $499

• One payment of $499. No subscription, nothing is charged later.
• After payment you send us your tree file, and we confirm the start date within one business day. We take trees in small batches, so the start may be a few days away.
• Seven days after the start date you receive the dossier: your direct lines traced as far as the online records go, a card for every ancestor we find, images of the original records with their archive references, biographies written from the sources, a PDF book of the search, a private family-tree site and questions for your relatives.
• Everything we find is yours as soon as it is found. We hold nothing back.

The deep search — $747 for 90 days

• Offered only after a dossier has been delivered. One payment of $747 covers 90 days. There is no automatic renewal.
• It covers side lines, monthly checks of newly digitized books and indexes for the surnames in your tree, your family’s answers written into the tree, a monthly “what’s new” and a new edition of the book each quarter.

The guarantee and refunds

If the dossier holds fewer than 10 documents, we refund the full $499 without being asked, and you keep everything we found. What counts as a document, how the count is made and how the money is returned is set out on the Guarantee and refunds page, which is part of these terms.

What we don’t do

• Online sources only. We don’t write to archives, order copies or visit reading rooms for you. When a record exists but isn’t online, we name the archive and the reference so you can order it yourself.
• No promised ancestors. Books were lost, and people were recorded under other names. We promise the search and the guarantee above — not a particular person, generation or number of records.
• Research, not certification. Each conclusion comes with its sources and a level of confidence. A dossier is not a certified document and not legal advice; for citizenship, inheritance or court matters, order certified copies from the archive that holds the original.

The copies of records

We sell the search, not the scans. The images in your dossier are copies we found for your personal and family use, each with a link or reference to where the original is held. The originals belong to the archives and collections that keep them; if you want to publish an image, check the terms of its holder first.

Your tree and your data

Your tree stays yours. You allow us to use it only to do the work you ordered. We don’t publish it, add it to public trees or pass it to anyone except the services we need to run the work. The details are in the Privacy page.

Payment

Payments are taken by our payment partner lava.top (LAVALANE LTD, Cyprus) — by card, PayPal or Apple Pay. We never see or store your card details. Prices are in US dollars; your bank may add its own conversion fee.

Responsibility

We do the research carefully and tell you plainly when a result is empty. If something goes wrong on our side, our responsibility is limited to the amount you paid us for the service in question.

Changes and contact

If these terms change, the new version appears on this page with a new date; an order is governed by the terms in force when it was paid. Questions: leo@alteheym.com. A person answers.