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Time to hire a lawyer? Here are 4 signs
When enforcing a freelance contract gets real
You’ve put in hours of work to craft a great written piece for a new client. Maybe you’ve put in weeks or months of toil. You happily submit your invoice for payment, confident that you’ll be paid for a job well done. Then you sit by the window and wait … and wait … and wait. A month goes by. Two months. Then three.
What happened? And what can you do to get the client to pay up?
I’ve been fortunate in my freelancing career to have had mostly good experiences with my clients. Rarely have I had to chase any of them down for payment, and I’ve never had to take a client to court. (Knock on wood.) There are a couple of reasons why it’s an infrequent occurrence for me, and I’ll tell you about them at the end of the article.
But other professional writers have had an awful time with some of their clients. Not just nonpayment, but deeper problems like theft of intellectual property, being accused of libel, slander or plagiarism, or being a target of defamation.
A quick disclaimer: I’m not an attorney. I’m a freelance writer. Use the information below as a resource when considering all of your options with a client, but know that it does not take the place of a legal consultation with a qualified attorney.
