Terms of service.

Welcome to MHSRIP, a digital memorial garden service operated by MHSRIP (Pty) Ltd, registered in the Republic of South Africa. By creating an account, signing in, or otherwise using our service, you ("you", "the user") agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms"). Please read them carefully. They are written to be readable, not lawyerly, but they are legally binding.

1. Definitions

• "Service" means the MHSRIP website, mobile experience, APIs, emails, and any related software or hardware that we operate.
• "Garden" means a Master Family Garden created by an Administrator, including all memorials, walls, photos, videos, voice notes, documents, tributes, and metadata associated with it.
• "Administrator" means the user who created a Garden, or any co-administrator they have nominated.
• "Visitor" means anyone accessing a Garden via an invite link, Garden Key, or public Visitors' Bench.
• "Petals" means the in-platform digital tokens used to purchase virtual tributes.
• "Charity" means a registered non-profit organisation nominated by the family for tribute disbursements.

2. Eligibility & your account

You must be 18 years of age or older to create an account. If you are under 18, you may participate in a Garden only with the supervision of a parent or legal guardian. You are responsible for the accuracy of your account information and for keeping access to your email inbox secure, since we use email-OTP for sign-in. One person, one account. Do not share your access credentials.

You agree to notify us promptly at memories@MHSRIP.com if you suspect any unauthorised use of your account.

3. Your content

You retain full ownership of every photo, story, message, voice note, video, and tribute you upload. By uploading, you grant MHSRIP a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, transmit, back up, transcode, and create thumbnails of that content solely for the purpose of operating and improving the service. This licence ends when you delete the content or close the account, except that backups may persist for up to 90 days for disaster-recovery purposes.

You represent and warrant that:

• You either own the content you upload or have the explicit permission of the rights holder.
• The content does not infringe any third-party copyright, trademark, privacy, or publicity right.
• If you upload content depicting another person (alive or deceased), you have the right to do so under applicable law.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Post illegal, hateful, threatening, defamatory, harassing, sexually explicit, or graphically violent content.
• Impersonate another person, falsely claim a death, or create a memorial without the consent of the immediate family.
• Upload content that infringes another person's intellectual property or privacy rights.
• Spam, scrape, automate access, reverse-engineer, or otherwise abuse the service.
• Interfere with other families' Gardens, attempt to bypass security, or exploit vulnerabilities.
• Use the service to send unsolicited commercial communications.
• Misrepresent yourself when leaving tributes or messages.

We may remove content, suspend, or terminate accounts that breach these rules. We try to act proportionately and we will always tell you why, except where notification would compromise an investigation or another user's safety.

5. Roles & permissions

Administrator — has full control of a Garden: editing memorials, approving visitor messages, generating invite links, removing content, nominating co-administrators, and choosing the charity that receives tribute disbursements.

Co-administrator — granted by the Administrator. Can do everything an Administrator can, except transfer or delete the Garden itself.

Invited Viewer — accesses a Garden via private invite link. Can post memories directly to the wall.

Visitor (public bench) — accesses a Garden via a Garden Key (email-OTP). Posts are queued for Administrator approval before appearing on the wall.

The Administrator is the legally responsible party for content posted to a Garden. We rely on the Administrator's moderation to keep the Garden appropriate. We may step in if content breaches our Acceptable Use rules above.

6. Subscriptions & payment

Some tiers are paid. Current pricing is shown on our pricing page in your local currency. We use IP-based geolocation to suggest the right currency; you can manually override the region at any time.

All payments are processed by Stripe. We never store your full card details. Subscriptions renew automatically on the anniversary of your activation date unless you cancel. You may cancel at any time from your account settings; the cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid period.

14-day preview: when you create a new Garden, you have 14 days to explore before activation is required. Invite-link generation is locked during preview. After 14 days, payment is requested.

Annual increases: capped at 3% per year. No increase will occur in the first 2 years from your activation date.

Refunds: at our discretion, but we lean generous. Grief is hard enough. Email memories@MHSRIP.com within 30 days of the charge to request a refund.

7. The Petals wallet & tributes

Petals are digital tokens used inside the platform to place virtual tributes (candles, flowers, incense, baskets). Petals are not a currency, are not redeemable for cash, and have no value outside the platform. They cannot be transferred between users.

When you purchase Petals, the funds are split internally: a portion supports the family's nominated charity, a portion supports platform operations, and a portion supports the Garden caretaker. The exact split is set by the platform and may change with notice.

Your wallet balance is capped at the equivalent of R3 000 per user, in line with stored-value regulations in South Africa. Paid Petals expire 24 months after purchase. Promotional or bonus Petals (such as the welcome gift) never expire but are also non-refundable.

Real (physical) tributes — bouquets, hampers, gifts — are sold by partner suppliers via the marketplace and are subject to the supplier's own terms, including delivery, returns, and refunds. We facilitate the order and the optional charity add-on.

8. Charity disbursements

Charity portions of paid tributes are aggregated and disbursed monthly to the charities you nominated, less standard payment-processing fees. We publish a transparency ledger showing aggregate disbursement totals per charity. We never custody charity funds for longer than the disbursement cycle.

9. The Bereavement Support Buddy (BSB)

The Bereavement Support Buddy is an AI-powered conversational companion offered as part of the Garden experience. The BSB is not a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, counsellor, or medical professional. It cannot diagnose, prescribe, or recommend medication or treatment. It is intended to offer gentle conversation, encouragement, and supportive presence only. If you are experiencing a mental-health emergency, please contact a qualified medical professional or your local emergency services immediately.

10. Privacy & data protection

Your privacy is governed by our Privacy Policy. In summary: we collect what we need to run the service, we never sell your data, and you can export or delete it at any time. We comply with the South African Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and apply equivalent care for users in jurisdictions with stronger laws (such as GDPR).

11. Garden continuity (when an Administrator passes)

An MHSRIP Garden is built to outlive its creator. When an Administrator passes away, control transfers to the nominated co-administrators in the order set by the Administrator. If no co-administrator has been nominated, family members may petition us with proof of relationship and proof of death; we will assess and, where appropriate, transfer control. The Garden remains active during transition.

12. Intellectual property

The MHSRIP brand, name, logo, design, code, copy, and audio/visual assets we create are owned by MHSRIP (Pty) Ltd and protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the service or our intellectual property without our written permission.

13. Availability & backups

We aim for high availability and we keep daily backups. We do not guarantee zero downtime. If you upload something irreplaceable (the only digital copy of a photograph, for example), please keep your own copy too. Our backups are not a substitute for your own personal archive.

14. Termination

You may close your account at any time from your account settings. On account closure, your Gardens remain accessible to nominated co-administrators (if any) and we offer a 30-day grace period during which you may reverse the closure. After 30 days, content is permanently deleted, subject to legal retention requirements.

We may suspend or terminate your account, with notice where reasonable, for material breach of these Terms, illegal activity, prolonged non-payment, or where required by law or court order.

15. Disclaimers & limitation of liability

The service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, MHSRIP is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of data, loss of profits, or loss of goodwill. Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising from these Terms or your use of the service is limited to the fees you have paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law (including any non-excludable consumer-protection rights).

16. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold MHSRIP, its officers, employees, and agents harmless from any claim, loss, or demand arising from your breach of these Terms or from your content, except to the extent caused by our negligence or wilful misconduct.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms occasionally. For material changes, we will notify you by email at least 30 days before they take effect. The "Last updated" date at the bottom of this page reflects the most recent revision. Continued use after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.

18. Governing law & dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Any dispute will first be addressed by good-faith discussion between you and us. If unresolved after 30 days, the dispute will be settled in the South African courts of competent jurisdiction. Nothing in this clause prevents you from raising a complaint with the Information Regulator (POPIA) or any equivalent supervisory authority in your jurisdiction.

19. Contact & legal notices

Questions about these Terms, requests for refunds, content takedowns, or any other matter:

• Email: memories@MHSRIP.com
• Privacy & data requests: privacy@MHSRIP.com
• Postal: MHSRIP (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa

Last updated: April 2026.