FreeQDRO

Terms of Service

Version 2026-09-21 - effective 2026-09-21

These terms are an agreement between you and FreeQDRO (“FreeQDRO,” “we,” “us”) and cover freeqdro.com and every tool, document, and figure it produces. You accept these terms by checking the acceptance box when you create an account, and by agreeing to any updated version when we ask after you sign in. Your account records the version you accepted and when. If you use the public parts of the site without an account, these terms govern that use as well. If you use FreeQDRO on behalf of a firm, you confirm you are authorized to bind it, and “you” includes the firm. If you do not agree, do not use the site.

1. What FreeQDRO is, and is not

FreeQDRO provides QDRO drafting and review tools for attorneys and the parties they assist. The guides, the case library, and the plan pages are open to everyone; the tools require a free account. We are not a law firm, we do not practice law, and we do not provide legal advice. Using the site, or contacting us through it, creates no attorney-client relationship. The tools give general information and assemble documents from the elections you make; they cannot tell you what is right for a particular case. Legal judgment stays with the filing attorney or, for a party without counsel, with that party. Nothing on the site predicts how a court will rule.

2. Your account

The tools require a free account with a confirmed email address. You must be at least 18 and able to enter a binding contract to create one. Give us a working email, keep your password and recovery key to yourself, and tell us through the contact form if you believe your account has been used without your permission. You are responsible for activity under your account. One account is for one person. If you forget your password, section 3 explains the two ways back in and what each one keeps.

3. Saved matters and the encrypted vault - and what we cannot do for you

Matters you save are encrypted in your browser with a key derived from your password. We store only ciphertext, a verification of your password, the public salt used to derive your keys, your data key wrapped under your password and again under your recovery key, and a one-way verifier that lets us confirm a recovery-key reset without being able to read anything. We cannot read your matters, and we cannot recover them. If you forget your password, the recovery key shown once when your vault was created (or reissued from your account page) is the only way back in that keeps your matters. The email reset proves you own the address and gets you back into the account, but it cannot decrypt anything: choosing it deletes every saved matter, and you must acknowledge that before it runs. If you lose both your password and your recovery key, your saved matters are permanently unrecoverable, and no request to us can change that. You accept this as a condition of saving matters. The vault is a convenience, not your file: keep your own copy of anything you cannot afford to lose, including the documents you download. Deleting a matter or your account is immediate and permanent; we cannot undo it. Changing your password, or resetting it with your recovery key, keeps your data; either action signs out your other devices. Section 11 applies to any loss of matters.

4. Generated documents

The Preparer assembles orders and pleadings from fixed clause language grounded in the cited primary sources, using the elections you make at each fork. The output carries no review banner because it is generated for the attorney of record or the filing party to review and file. That makes review your job: you are solely responsible for the accuracy, suitability, filing, and service of every document, and for any pre-approval a plan or retirement system requires. Pre-approval by the plan or retirement system before entry is recommended where it is offered. A generated document is not approved by any court, agency, or plan administrator until that body approves it, and you must not represent otherwise. If you are not represented, having a licensed attorney review a document before you file it is strongly recommended.

5. Review findings are flags, not conclusions

The Scrutinizer identifies elements it could not detect and elections the authorities expect to be express. A finding is a prompt for judgment, not a determination that an order is invalid, and a clean report is not a determination that an order is valid. The deeper review layer sends the document text once to our server and to an AI model run by a third-party provider to produce additional findings, as the Privacy Policy describes; you may skip it for any document. Do not upload material subject to a sealing or protective order that forbids processing by a third-party service.

6. Calculators and figures

The calculators apply the statutes, published rate tables, and case law they cite, and every report carries the engine version and rate-table date used. Statutory rates change twice a year; where a rate has not yet been published we say so. Where the law leaves a method open, the tools present the choice and cite it rather than deciding for you. You must verify every figure against the governing statutes, the published rate tables, and the underlying orders and records before relying on it or filing it.

7. Acceptable use

Use the site lawfully and for its intended purpose. Do not probe, disrupt, or overload the site. Do not scrape the case library or other content at volume. Do not use another person’s account. Do not misrepresent a generated document or review report as approved or endorsed by any court, agency, plan administrator, or by us. Do not use the site to build a competing dataset or service from our content. The open-source calculation and review libraries are released separately under the Apache License 2.0 and may be used under its terms.

8. Pricing

Every tool is free today. We may introduce paid features in the future. If we do, we will say so plainly in advance, and we will not charge you for anything without your express agreement at the time.

9. Ownership

Documents and reports you generate are yours. The site, its design, its text, its case summaries, and its organization are ours or our licensors’. Official statutory, regulatory, and model-order language belongs to the public. The calculation and review libraries are released open source under the Apache License 2.0, which governs any use of that code. If you send us suggestions, we may use them without obligation to you.

10. Disclaimer of warranties

We work to reflect the current law of the jurisdictions the tools cover and cite our sources, and the calculation and review logic is open source and peer-reviewable. Even so, the site, the tools, and every figure, document, and finding they produce are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranty of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory. To the maximum extent permitted by law we disclaim all warranties, including the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and accuracy, and any warranty that a result is correct, current, complete, or suitable for your purpose. Laws and published rate tables change, and errors are possible.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will FreeQDRO, its operators, contributors, or licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any lost profits, lost data, or lost or unrecoverable matters, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or relating to the site or its output is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us to use the site in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred dollars ($100). For users of the free tools, that means $100. These limits apply to all theories of liability, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise. They do not apply to liability for fraud or willful misconduct, or to any other liability that cannot be limited by law.

12. Your responsibility to others

You are responsible for the information you enter, the documents you file, and the figures you present. If a third party brings a claim against us that arises from your filings, your use of the site in breach of these terms, or your violation of law, you agree to defend us against that claim and to cover the resulting losses and reasonable costs, including attorney fees. That obligation applies only to the extent the claim arises from your conduct, and not to the extent it results from our breach of these terms or our own misconduct. We will tell you promptly about the claim and cooperate with the defense at your expense. You may not settle a claim in a way that admits fault on our part or imposes obligations on us without our written consent.

13. Some limits may not apply to you

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of certain damages. To that extent, the exclusions and limitations above may not apply to you, and nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot be limited under applicable law; in that case our liability is limited to the smallest amount the applicable law allows. The disclaimers and limitations in these terms apply to the fullest extent permitted and survive any termination of your account or your use of the site.

14. Ending your account

You may delete any matter at any time, and your entire account, from your account page; deleting the account removes your stored ciphertext and your account record. We may suspend or close an account that violates these terms or threatens the security or reliability of the site, and we will tell you why unless the law prevents it. If we ever discontinue the service we will give reasonable notice so you can save copies of your work. Sections 3 through 7 and 9 through 17 survive closure.

15. Governing law and venue

These terms and any dispute arising out of them or the site are governed by the laws of the State of Nevada, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The state and federal courts located in Clark County, Nevada have exclusive jurisdiction, and you consent to venue there. Nothing in this section limits either party’s right to seek an injunction to protect the security of the site or the confidentiality of data.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. Every change bumps the version shown at the top of this page and is described in the version history below. If a change affects your rights or obligations we will ask you to agree to it the next time you sign in, and your account records the version you accepted; if it is clerical (typos, contact details, section numbering) we will not. A change never applies to a dispute that arose before its effective date.

17. Contact and general terms

Questions about these terms go through the contact form. We send notices to the email address on your account, and you agree to receive them electronically. We may assign these terms to any person or entity that takes over operation of the site, and we will post the change on the About page; you may not assign your account. Our not enforcing a term is not a waiver of it. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the site.

Version history

2026-09-21 - Encrypted client matters and the recovery key: new section 3 on saved matters and the encrypted vault (we cannot read or recover them; the recovery key is the only way back that keeps your matters; the email reset deletes saved matters behind an acknowledgement; a lost password plus a lost recovery key is permanently unrecoverable), the account stores encrypted matters rather than plaintext and the former no-case-data clause is replaced, account and password-reset language updated, self-service account and matter deletion, lost or unrecoverable matters added to the limitation of liability, sections renumbered.
2026-09-18 - Terms of Service replace the Terms of Use: attorney-first framing, accounts and email verification, generated documents and review findings, acceptable use, pricing, ownership, warranty and liability terms, account closure, Nevada governing law and venue, and acceptance recorded at signup.
2026-08-24 - Terms of Use, first version: tools not advice, no warranty, limitation of liability.