Vent: That $50 flat fee contract template I bought turned out to be garbage

I needed a simple independent contractor agreement for a small web dev job I picked up in Austin, so I grabbed a cheap one off a legal forms site instead of paying a real lawyer. Turns out it completely missed the state specific requirements for Texas, and my client almost walked when they realized the liability clause was a mess. Has anyone else been burned by those generic templates, or do you know a better way to handle small freelance contracts without spending a fortune?

3 comments

3 Comments

anna71715d ago

Those generic sites charge you extra to even download the PDF.

ryan_hart3815d ago

Those generic sites charge you extra" - that's exactly what happened to my friend Mike last spring. He used one of those cheap template sites for a lease agreement on his rental property in Austin. He paid the $29 fee to download it, then it hit him with another $15 just to unlock the PDF so he could even print it without watermarks. Ended up using a local legal clinic for $75 and got something actually solid.

zarag1715d ago

Man I actually have to disagree - I've used $50 templates from Rocket Lawyer for three contracts here in Texas and they worked FINE. The issue might be that you picked a random site instead of one that actually updates for state laws.