Law Enforcement Guidelines & Subpoena Response Policy
About this policy
HomeQuest holds legally sensitive family records, so how we answer legal process is part of the product, not fine print. This page states what we respond to, what we tell you, what we can and cannot produce, and what it costs. It is a working draft pending review by counsel; the commitments below describe the drafted policy and the platform’s actual architecture.
§1. Formal service mandate
HomeQuest responds only to valid, compulsory legal process: grand-jury subpoenas, court-ordered civil or criminal subpoenas naming HomeQuest specifically, search warrants meeting the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement, and National Security Letters (overbroad NSLs will be challenged).
We decline, as a matter of policy: informal law-enforcement requests by phone, email, or letter; letters from attorneys representing adverse parties (direct requests through the user); requests without valid judicial authorization; and requests that do not specifically identify the account or data sought. All legal process must be served on our registered agent.
§2. Subscriber notification
On receipt of valid legal process we notify the affected subscriber at their registered email within one (1) business day, including a copy of the process received — so the subscriber or their attorney can file a Motion to Quash or Protective Order before anything is produced.
Exception: where a valid non-disclosure order (e.g. under 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b)) strictly prohibits notification, we comply with that order and will not confirm or deny the existence of the process until permitted.
§3. Zero-knowledge architecture — attorney workspace
Encryption keys for the attorney-workspace environment are derived locally on user devices and are never transmitted to, stored by, or accessible to HomeQuest. Compelled production of that data yields only encrypted ciphertext, which satisfies the production obligation (Apple v. FBI, C.D. Cal. 2016: a court order cannot mandate an impossibility).
This is not a policy choice — it is an architectural constraint HomeQuest cannot override even under court order. Parties seeking decrypted content must direct requests to the key holder.
§4. Scope limitation & data minimization
HomeQuest produces only the minimum data the applicable process requires; overbroad requests are challenged or narrowed before production. What we may be able to produce is metadata: account creation timestamp, registered email, login-event IP addresses (per standard log rotation), subscription and billing records, and encrypted-blob sizes / sync timestamps.
What we cannot produce: decrypted attorney-workspace contents, Legal Ledger entry contents (cryptographically sealed), attorney-client communications, and Grace AI coaching content. We reserve all available objections to overbroad, burdensome, or improperly served process.
§5. Civil retrieval fee schedule
For civil legal process, HomeQuest charges for research and record retrieval at $150 per hour, document production and delivery at actual cost, and preparation of certifications or declarations at $150 per hour — as authorized under 18 U.S.C. § 2706 and applicable state non-party cost-protection rules. Fees are due before production. Fee waivers are not available for civil subpoenas. Criminal subpoenas and valid law-enforcement process are not subject to retrieval fees.
§6. Attorney-workspace custody notice
For attorney-workspace data, HomeQuest operates as a confidential agent of the subscribing law firm — the data is legally equivalent to a digital lockbox inside the firm’s own offices. A subpoena duces tecum must go to the entity with possession, custody, or control of the readable record: that is the key-holding firm, not HomeQuest. We promptly notify the firm of any process that appears to seek its workspace data so it can assert its own privilege protections.
§7. Motion to Quash cooperation
On a timely-filed Motion to Quash or Protective Order, HomeQuest pauses production pending the court’s ruling, will provide a declaration describing its data architecture to support the motion if needed, and will not voluntarily produce data during a pending challenge absent a court order requiring immediate production. HomeQuest does not advise subscribers on whether to challenge process — consult your attorney.