- Is this legal advice?
- No. This tool fills a standard freelance services agreement template with the names, project, payment, and governing-law state you type. It is not a substitute for a lawyer reviewing the actual relationship. If the project matters — meaningful dollar amount, named-brand client, ongoing relationship, or IP that ends up in shipped product — pay an attorney to read what you generate before either party signs. The template is a starting point, not the final document.
- What's the difference between work-for-hire and a license?
- Work-for-hire means the client owns the deliverables outright the moment you're paid. Under US copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 101), commissioned work doesn't automatically qualify as work-for-hire — it must be explicitly stated in writing and fall into one of nine statutory categories (translations, contributions to collective works, supplementary works, compilations, instructional texts, tests, answer materials, atlases, audiovisual works). The template uses a belt-and-suspenders approach: it declares work-for-hire AND, in case the law doesn't recognize it as such, irrevocably assigns ownership upon final payment. A license keeps ownership with you (the freelancer) and grants the client perpetual rights to use the deliverables. Designers and developers often prefer the license model because it lets them reuse code, reuse design components, and keep portfolio rights cleaner. Most commissioned creative work is work-for-hire; pick license when reuse matters to you.
- Hourly, flat fee, or milestones — which should I pick?
- Flat fee fits projects with a clearly defined scope: a logo design, a 5-page website, a feature spec. Both sides know the total upfront, which limits arguments later. Hourly fits ongoing work where the scope is fluid: a CTO advisory role, a marketing-strategy engagement, a designer on retainer. Milestones fit longer projects ($5,000+ or over a month): they tie payments to delivery so neither party is over-exposed. A common milestone split is 30% on signing, 40% on a major checkpoint (design approval, beta launch), and 30% on final delivery. The template handles all three structures in the Compensation clause; the wording adjusts automatically.
- How many revisions should I include?
- Two is the common default for design and content work — generous enough to feel fair, tight enough to prevent scope creep. One revision is on the short end (fine for tiny projects). Three or more is unusual; if you're including more than three, consider whether the scope is actually pinned down. The template defines a revision round as "a single, consolidated set of feedback," which prevents the death-by-a-thousand-cuts pattern where a client sends ten separate "just one more thing" emails. Any additional revisions beyond the included number get billed hourly or via a written change order.
- What state should I pick for governing law?
- Delaware is the most common default — it has the deepest body of contract case law in the US, and most lawyers are comfortable interpreting Delaware contracts. New York and California are also common choices. The practical advice: pick the state where the freelancer is based, or where you'd want to sue if the agreement is breached. The state choice does NOT have to match where either party operates; parties routinely agree to be governed by the law of a state where neither is located. If both parties have lawyers, this is usually negotiated.
- Will this contract hold up in court?
- A freelance services agreement is enforceable when both parties signed it knowingly, the obligations are clear, the consideration (payment in exchange for services) is real, and it doesn't violate public policy. The template here uses the standard ten-section scaffold courts see all the time. What usually gets contracts thrown out is a specific drafting problem — vague scope ("do branding" with no deliverables list), missing IP language, unenforceable non-compete clauses, or one-sided indemnification. The template keeps language balanced and standard. None of that is a substitute for a lawyer reading your specific situation.
- Does this work for international clients?
- The template assumes both parties have a US presence and uses US state law for governing law. If one party is outside the US, you'll likely need a different jurisdiction clause (often London or Singapore arbitration), specific currency and tax language, and a lawyer who knows international contracts. Use this template only if both parties have a US presence — otherwise, treat the generated document as a starting draft for an attorney, not as something to sign as-is.
- Can both parties sign electronically?
- Yes. Under the US ESIGN Act (federal) and UETA (adopted in most states), electronic signatures are legally equivalent to wet signatures for almost all commercial contracts including freelance agreements. The generated document includes "may be executed in counterparts, including by electronic signature" in clause 10 to make this explicit. Tools like DocuSign, HelloSign, or even pasting an image of your signature into the PDF are all acceptable. The witness clause near the end leaves blank lines for signature, printed name, and date.
- Am I really an independent contractor under this agreement?
- The clause says yes — but a label in a contract isn't dispositive. The IRS and most state labor boards use a multi-factor test (behavioral control, financial control, type of relationship) to determine whether someone is actually an employee or a contractor. The contract is one data point; how the relationship actually plays out matters more. If the client controls when and where you work, supplies your equipment, integrates you into their team meetings, and pays you on a fixed schedule like an employee, a labor regulator may reclassify you regardless of what the contract says. To stay safely on the contractor side: maintain multiple clients, use your own equipment, set your own hours, and invoice for completed work rather than logged time. The contract handles the paperwork; the relationship has to back it up.
- Does this replace LawDepot, Rocket Lawyer, or Bonsai?
- Those are subscription products that wrap similar templates in account systems, document-management dashboards, and (on the higher tiers) lawyer review. If you need a draft you'll hand to your own attorney or use for a casual project between trusted parties, this generator gets you to the same place for free. If you need stored versions, e-signature workflows, invoicing built into the contract platform, and an attorney-on-call, the paid services do more. The text quality of this generated document is comparable to a standard LawDepot or Rocket Lawyer free-tier template — the same boilerplate language is in everyone's templates.
- Is my data stored anywhere?
- No. Everything lives in your browser tab. The form is auto-saved to your browser's localStorage so a refresh doesn't lose your work, but nothing is uploaded, logged, or sent to a server. Close the tab and the draft is gone. The PDF is generated entirely in the browser via jsPDF — your project details, party names, and addresses never leave your machine.
