Deadbolt Brotherhood Membership Terms

§1What this is

These Membership Terms (the “Terms”) govern your participation in the Deadbolt Brotherhood (the “Brotherhood”), a recurring-subscription group coaching program operated by Dr. Mathis Kennington, PLLC, a Texas professional limited liability company (“Coach,” “I,” “me,” or “my”).

By starting your Brotherhood membership — whether by clicking “Become a founder,” entering payment information, or otherwise initiating a paid subscription — you (“Member,” “you,” or “your”) agree to these Terms in full. If you do not agree, do not join.

These Terms are entered into in addition to my Website Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and AI Disclosure, each of which is incorporated by reference.

§2What the Brotherhood is, and what it is not

2.1   What the Brotherhood is

The Brotherhood is a recurring-subscription group coaching program for men working on their marriages. As a member you receive:

• One (1) weekly live group coaching call, currently scheduled Tuesday at 7:30 PM Central Time, each call running approximately sixty (60) minutes. Each call is recorded and posted to the member community.
• Thursday office hours (approximately one hour, time announced to members), during which I am present in the member community and respond to questions.
• Access to the member community (currently hosted in WhatsApp), where members hold one another to the code and where I post materials, replays, and prompts.
• Access to my proprietary methodology materials as taught in the calls — including the WAV Cycle, Three Pillars, Two Pillars of Safety, the Passion Stack, the Three Levels of Dialogue, SAC, and the Align–Disrupt–Rebuild framework. Materials are made available within the member community for personal reference during your membership.

2.2   What the Brotherhood is not

• The Brotherhood is not therapy, not medical care, not legal advice, and not financial advice. I hold a doctorate and have clinical training in marriage and family therapy. In the Brotherhood, I am not acting as a licensed therapist and we are not in a therapist–client relationship.
• The Brotherhood is not a private 1:1 coaching engagement. Group calls and office hours are the venue. If you want 1:1 coaching, that is a separate engagement under a separate agreement.
• The Brotherhood is not a substitute for a couple’s joint work. Your spouse is not a party to these Terms.
• The Brotherhood is not a guaranteed-outcome program. I make no representation or warranty about whether your marriage will improve, whether your spouse will respond, whether sex will return, whether you will reconcile, whether you will separate, or any other outcome. Coaching outcomes depend largely on your honesty, effort, and willingness to act on the work.

§3Billing, renewal, and cancellation

3.1   Recurring subscription

The Brotherhood is a monthly recurring subscription.

• Founders rate: $50 USD per month, applied with founder code, locked at $50/month for as long as your membership remains continuously active, including through general-public pricing increases.
• General rate (post-launch): $147 USD per month.
• Billing cadence: You are billed on the same day each month, automatically, to the payment method you provided at signup, until you cancel.
• Currency: US dollars.
• Payment processor: Stripe, Inc. and/or its successors. By providing payment information, you accept the payment processor’s own terms and privacy policy. I do not store your full card number; I store a tokenized reference and the last four digits.

3.2   Automatic renewal

Your membership renews automatically each month for so long as you remain a member, until either you cancel under §3.3 or I terminate the membership under §6.

By providing payment information you authorize Dr. Mathis Kennington, PLLC and its payment processor to charge your payment method on the recurring schedule above without requiring a separate authorization for each charge.

3.3   Cancellation by you

You may cancel your membership at any time, for any reason or no reason, by sending a written cancellation request to mathis@mathiskennington.com, with the subject line “Cancel Brotherhood,” at least 24 hours before your next scheduled renewal date.

When you cancel:

• Your access continues through the end of the current paid billing cycle. You may attend the remaining call(s) and use the community for the days you have already paid for.
• You are not charged again. Automatic renewal stops.
• No partial refunds are issued. The membership fee for the current cycle is fully earned at the start of the cycle (see §3.5).
• Your access to the community, replays, and materials ends at the end of the current paid cycle.

3.4   Failed payments

If your payment method fails to charge on a scheduled renewal date:

• I (or the payment processor) may automatically retry the charge for up to seven (7) calendar days.
• If charges continue to fail after the retry window, your membership is paused — meaning you lose access to calls, the community, and replays — until the balance is paid current.
• If the balance remains unpaid for fourteen (14) calendar days after the original renewal date, I may terminate your membership for cause under §6.2 with no refund owed.

3.5   No refunds

The membership fee for each billing cycle is fully earned at the start of that cycle. I do not issue refunds for any reason, including but not limited to: change of mind, change of circumstance, change in your marriage, reconciliation, separation, divorce, relocation, failure to attend calls, failure to use the community, belief that you did not get the outcome you wanted, belief that the work did not “work,” illness, or personal financial circumstances.

The only exception is set out in §6.1: if I terminate your membership without cause, I will refund the pro-rated portion of the current cycle’s fee for the unused days remaining in the cycle.

3.6   Chargebacks

If you initiate a chargeback against any Brotherhood charge without first contacting me at mathis@mathiskennington.com and giving me thirty (30) days to address your concern, you agree that: (a) the chargeback is a material breach of these Terms; (b) I am entitled to terminate your membership for cause under §6.2 with no refund owed; and (c) I may recover from you the chargeback fee imposed by the payment processor, plus my actual administrative costs.

Talk to me first.

3.7   Founders rate

The “founders rate” of $50 USD per month is offered to a limited number of members during a defined founders window. The founders rate is locked at $50/month for so long as your membership remains continuously active. If you cancel and later rejoin, you rejoin at the then-current public price (currently $147/month).

3.8   Price changes

I may change the price of new Brotherhood memberships at any time. Price changes apply to new members and to existing members whose founders rate is no longer locked under §3.7. I will give you at least thirty (30) days’ written notice before any price change applies to your existing membership. If you do not want to accept the new price, you may cancel under §3.3 before the new price takes effect.

§4The Code

By becoming a Brotherhood member, you agree to live by — and to be held to — the five-line code that defines the Brotherhood:

The code is the standard by which conduct in the Brotherhood is evaluated by me. Repeated or material conduct that violates the code may result in removal under §6.2.

§5Member conduct

5.1   Confidentiality among members

What is shared in calls and in the member community is intended to stay there. You agree not to identify, screenshot, record, repost, or share any other member’s identity, story, or messages outside the Brotherhood, except in genuinely anonymized, non-identifying form for your own reflection or for use with your therapist, attorney, or spouse.

You also agree not to share my call recordings, replays, written materials, or methodology materials outside the Brotherhood. Personal-use access only.

5.2   No abuse, no contempt

You agree not to harass, threaten, demean, or attack any other member, me, or my staff. You agree not to engage in racism, misogyny, homophobia, or any form of identity-based contempt. Contemptuous, abusive, or threatening conduct toward any member, me, your spouse, or your children (including credible threats reported in calls) may result in immediate removal under §6.2 and, where appropriate, referral to authorities under §8.

5.3   No solicitation

You agree not to use the Brotherhood — calls, community, or member contacts — to solicit other members for any business, program, MLM, religious organization, political movement, or other affiliation.

5.4   No legal proxy

I am a coach, not a forensic expert. You agree that you will not: (a) call me as a witness — fact, expert, character, or any kind — in any divorce, custody, child support, protective order, or other family law proceeding; (b) subpoena me, my notes, my recordings, my communications, or any materials related to your Brotherhood membership in any such proceeding; or (c) use anything I have said in calls or in the community as evidence in any family law proceeding involving you.

If you cause me to be drawn into any such proceeding in breach of this section, you agree to reimburse my actual costs (legal fees, my professional time calculated at $500 per hour, travel, and waiting time), recoverable through the dispute resolution process in §9.

§6Termination

6.1   I may terminate without cause

I may terminate your Brotherhood membership at any time, with or without cause, by written notice (email to the address on file is sufficient). If I terminate without cause mid-cycle, I will refund the pro-rated portion of the current cycle’s fee for the unused days remaining in that cycle.

6.2   I may terminate for cause — no refund

I may terminate your membership immediately, with no refund, for any of the following: violation of the Code (§4); violation of member conduct rules (§5); material dishonesty in your application, intake, or conduct in calls; initiation of a chargeback against any Brotherhood charge without first contacting me (§3.6); payment default beyond the §3.4 cure period; or conduct that I judge, in good faith, makes your continued participation incompatible with the safety or function of the Brotherhood.

6.3   What survives termination

The following survive any termination or cancellation: §5.1 (confidentiality), §5.4 (no legal proxy), §7 (IP), §9 (dispute resolution), §10 (limitation of liability), and §11 (general).

§7Intellectual property

The frameworks, methodologies, written materials, call recordings, replays, worksheets, and slide decks I share in the Brotherhood (including the WAV Cycle, the Three Pillars, the Two Pillars of Safety, the Passion Stack, the Three Levels of Dialogue, SAC, and Align–Disrupt–Rebuild) are my intellectual property.

You are granted a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use these materials for your own private, personal benefit during your active membership only. When your membership ends — by cancellation or termination — your license ends.

You may not: (a) reproduce, distribute, publish, or sell my materials; (b) teach my materials as your own or under your own brand; (c) use my materials, recordings, or any output of the Brotherhood to train any artificial intelligence or machine learning system; or (d) license my materials to any third party.

§8Safety carve-outs

Confidentiality within the Brotherhood has limits. I reserve the right — and in some cases the legal duty — to break it in the following situations:

• Imminent harm to self or others. If you express a credible plan or intent to harm yourself or another person, I may contact emergency services, a designated emergency contact, your spouse, or other appropriate parties.
• Active domestic violence. If I learn of ongoing physical violence, sexual coercion, or credible threats against your spouse, children, or others in your household, I may refer to appropriate authorities and end your membership.
• Suspected child abuse or neglect (Texas Family Code §261.101). Texas law makes any person who has cause to believe a child has been or may be abused or neglected a mandatory reporter. This duty is non-waivable.

§9Dispute resolution

9.1   Talk to me first

If you have a complaint about anything in your Brotherhood membership, raise it with me directly first — in writing, to mathis@mathiskennington.com — and give me thirty (30) days to address it.

9.2   Binding arbitration

Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms, your membership, or our relationship — whether sounding in contract, tort, statute, or otherwise — that is not resolved under §9.1 within thirty (30) days shall be resolved by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules. The arbitration shall be conducted in Travis County, Texas, before a single arbitrator. The arbitrator’s award is final and enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction.

9.3   Class action waiver

You and I each waive any right to participate in a class, collective, or representative action against the other. All disputes shall be resolved on an individual basis.

9.4   Jury trial waiver

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you and I each waive the right to a jury trial in any proceeding arising out of or relating to these Terms.

9.5   Carve-out for injunctive relief

Either of us may seek emergency or injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction in Travis County, Texas, solely to enforce §5.1 (confidentiality), §5.4 (no legal proxy), or §7 (intellectual property).

§10Limitation of liability

You acknowledge that coaching outcomes depend on many factors outside my control, including your effort, your spouse’s choices, third-party conduct, and circumstance. I make no warranty of any kind, express or implied, about results.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, my total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms — whether in contract, tort, statute, or otherwise — is limited to the total membership fees you have actually paid me in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to liability. I am not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, including damages for lost profits, lost relationships, divorce-related losses, emotional distress, or loss of opportunity, regardless of whether I have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Dr. Mathis Kennington, PLLC and its members, agents, and contractors from any claim brought by your spouse, family member, or other third party arising out of statements you have made about our work or actions you have taken in reliance on our work.

§11General provisions

11.1   Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.

11.2   Entire agreement

These Terms — together with the Website Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and AI Disclosure incorporated by reference — are the entire agreement between us concerning the Brotherhood. They supersede any prior promises, proposals, marketing statements, calls, or discussions. No oral statement modifies these Terms.

11.3   Amendment

I may amend these Terms from time to time. I will give you at least thirty (30) days’ written notice of any material amendment. If you do not want to accept the amended Terms, you may cancel under §3.3 before they take effect. Your continued membership after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

11.4   Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect.

11.5   Waiver

A failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of the right to enforce it later. No waiver is effective unless in writing.

11.6   Assignment

You may not assign your membership. I may assign these Terms to a successor entity in connection with a sale or restructuring of my practice, with notice to you.

11.7   Electronic acceptance

These Terms may be accepted electronically. Click-to-accept, payment, or any other electronic indication of agreement has the same legal effect as an ink signature under the federal E-Sign Act and the Texas Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.

11.8   Notices

Formal notices to me must be sent to mathis@mathiskennington.com. Notices to you may be sent to the email address on file. Casual WhatsApp messages do not constitute formal notice.

11.9   Force majeure

Neither of us is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond reasonable control (natural disaster, war, pandemic, government action, infrastructure failure). I will reschedule affected calls in good faith.

Acknowledgment

By starting your Brotherhood membership, you acknowledge and agree that:

1. You have read these Terms and had a reasonable opportunity to ask questions and to consult independent legal counsel of your choosing before joining.
2. You understand the Brotherhood is coaching, not therapy, not medical care, and not legal advice.
3. You understand the Brotherhood is a recurring monthly subscription that auto-renews until canceled.
4. You understand membership fees are non-refundable except as expressly stated in §6.1.
5. You understand and accept the Code (§4) and the consequences of violating it.
6. You understand and accept the binding arbitration, class action waiver, and jury trial waiver in §9.
7. You understand and accept the no-legal-proxy provision in §5.4 and the fee-shifting it carries.
8. You understand that I make no guarantee about the outcome of your marriage or any other outcome.
9. You are 18 years of age or older and have the legal authority to enter into these Terms.
10. You are joining voluntarily, free of duress, and with the financial means to honor the recurring payment obligation.