grandfathering

To allow a subject to continue to function under an old rule, plan or policy, even after changes to that rule, plan or policy has been made. The change to the rule, plan or policy may include the abolishment of the rule, plan or policy itself.

DuJour Cellular is phasing out the ABC cell phone plan soon, but they're grandfathering members with existing ABC plan subscriptions. Grandfathered ABC plan subscribers can continue to use their old plans, but new subscriptions will not be allowed.

grandfathered in

To include a subject in some sort of plan or policy under old rules, terms and/or conditions, usually because new regulations may exclude said subject. After a rule change, new rules and regulations apply to new members (the new rules could in fact say "no new members"), unless the members were "grandfathered in" (e.g. old, existing subjects who became members before the rule change), in which case, the old rules still apply.

Learnthespanish.com began charging a fee of $5.00 per month starting in November of last year. Members who established accounts on their websites before then however, were grandfathered in, which means that they can continue to use their services for free.

62👍 2👎