Five Things You Must Mention in a Contract
Contracts are drafted to protect us from possible frauds and disputes. They should be written carefully and must fulfil all legal requirements without any loopholes.
There are now numerous platforms that maintain contracts for you online so that you don’t have to deal with the legal aspects of running your business such as Upwork or Fiverr. When I started working as an SEO analyst on Upwork.com, I would accept offers shared by clients online, and feel at ease about the fact that the digital contract was fair and protected both parties.
If you need a custom contract or a non-digital one, this doesn’t mean you need to hire a lawyer to write contracts for you. You can use contract templates from the internet and edit them. However, make sure you mention the following things in every contract.
Describe All Involved Parties
Before you start the main body of the agreement, write names and describe the parties involved in this contract. You may not always write their names in each clause and use a name like ‘party A’ and ‘party B’ to avoid writing causing confusion.
Rights and Obligations of Each Party
The contract should mention the duties and authorities of each party in the main body. It is the most important part where the main purpose of the agreement is defined. You should write exactly what you expect from the other person and what duties you need to perform. Try to be fair when writing this part and don’t put too many obligations on the other party or you might lose a potential client.
Complete Payment Details
The contract must mention who is going to pay who and at what time. If there are more than one payment, you should write the complete schedule. There would also be some conditions that must be fulfilled before you can get paid. For example, you might have mentioned that it is your obligation to provide work that meets certain standards of quality and that also before a deadline. The other party would be obligated to pay if you have upheld your end of the bargain.
Termination of Contract
No contract is going to last a lifetime. Most professional contracts usually end with completion of the project. You should also mention other cases in which the contract will be terminated. The termination might also be triggered with a few conditions. For example, you may be liable to pay a penalty if the unexpected end was caused by your fault.
Confidentiality Agreement
Each contract must have the clause of confidentiality. You would have shared many business details, plans, ideas, and intellectual property with the other party. These are your assets that shouldn’t be shared with any other person. You would have also shared prices of your service or products that could cause an issue if you are outsourcing the work.
