My client sent their own contract

Sometimes a client hands you their own paperwork instead of a HelloNoa contract. That is completely normal, freelancers work under all kinds of paper. This is general guidance, not legal advice: a checklist to read any contract against, plus where HelloNoa can and cannot help.

What to check before you sign

Every contract is different, but four things are worth a close read wherever the paper came from:

• Payment terms. When you get paid, in how many stages, and what happens if a payment is late. Vague wording here, "payment as agreed" and nothing more, is a common source of chased invoices later.
• IP ownership. When ownership of the work you produce actually passes to the client: on full payment, or the moment you deliver it. Read this one carefully, some contracts transfer ownership before you have been paid in full.
• Liability cap. Whether there is a cap on what you could owe if something goes wrong, and how it compares to the size of the project. An uncapped liability clause is worth a second look.
• Kill fee. What you are entitled to if the client cancels partway through. Without one, work you have already done on a cancelled project can go unpaid.

Where HelloNoa's clause explainer fits

The clause explainer, the plain-English notes you see while building a contract, only covers HelloNoa's own contract templates. It reads and explains clauses in a document you build here. It cannot read or explain a contract someone else wrote, that is a boundary we cannot move, since we would be interpreting a document we have never seen.

When to bring in a lawyer

Most contracts are straightforward. If anything reads unusual, one-sided, or genuinely unclear, especially the four items above, a short read from a qualified lawyer before you sign is worth it. This article gives you the questions to ask, not the answers for your specific contract, and it is not a substitute for that advice.