Practical outlineService contract template

Freelance contract template for France: an outline to adapt.

Bring the project’s decisions into a working document. Copy the outline, complete the fields and have the points that depend on your situation adapted before use.

Prepare the outline

A template becomes useful when its sections reflect the project’s decisions. The outline below helps bring them into one copyable text: parties, work, price, review, handoff and specific points to examine.

The freelance contract guide explains decisions to plan and their legal context. This page helps prepare the document bringing them together, for a relationship between businesses in France.

The copied text keeps its preparation note and bracketed fields. Complete them, have sensitive questions addressed and check the whole document before presenting a final version to the client.

Three steps for using the outline.

Gather decisions and reference versions.
Copy the text and complete relevant sections.
Have sensitive points adapted, review and keep the accepted version.

01 · Gather the decisions

Prepare the information before completing the outline.

Before completing a template, gather the decisions describing the project: parties, expected result, deliverables, price and schedule. If information is missing, identify the question and who can answer it. You can then fill the document from an actual agreement, with the material needed to review it together before the work starts.

A person reaches for a binder beside a laptop.

Describe an identifiable service

Write the result in one sentence, then list what you will produce with quantities and formats. Add exclusions, client resources and important dependencies. This preparation lets you discuss an offer both parties understand, rather than leaving a broad heading such as “support” to carry every expectation about the service.

Identify people and documents

Check the parties’ business identities and who can accept on the client’s behalf. Gather proposals, appendices and exchanges that changed the need. Identify the selected versions. If two documents conflict, clarify the point before incorporating them into the outline, so the eventual wording describes one consistent project.

02 · Copy the working document

Copy a complete outline, then personalise it.

The outline below brings the sections into one text you can copy. Replace bracketed fields with the project’s decisions and remove instructions no longer needed after adaptation. Questions about rights, responsibilities or ending the project remain identified for examination before you present a final version to the client for their review and acceptance.

A person writes in a notebook in front of a laptop.

A preparation basis for B2B services in France

Preparation outline — complete and have reviewed

PREPARATION OUTLINE — B2B SERVICES IN FRANCE

Working document to complete, adapt and have reviewed before use. Sensitive sections are questions to address, not legal clauses already drafted.
Project: [project name]
Reference and version: [reference, version and date]

1. PARTIES AND CONTACTS
Provider: [name or legal name, status, relevant business identifier, address and authorised representative].
Business client: [name or legal name, status, relevant identifier, address and authorised representative].
Project contacts: [people, roles and agreed channel].

2. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
Expected result: [objective and selected service].
Deliverables: [contents, quantity, format and expected state for each].
Included source files: [list or explicit decision].
Exclusions and options: [items not included and options to confirm].
Reference documents: [appendices, versions and references to check together].

3. SCHEDULE AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Starting condition: [event and agreed date or period].
Stages, presentations and handoff: [results and dates].
Client contributions: [text, files, access, owner and dates].
Dependencies and schedule changes: [blocking items and how a revised arrangement will be agreed].

4. PRICE AND PAYMENT
Price and currency: [amount, relevant VAT treatment and total].
Separate fees or external purchases: [contents, payer and expected prior agreement].
Payment schedule: [agreed amounts, events and deadlines].
Payment method and references: [the process actually chosen].
Invoicing and late-payment terms: [arrangements and provisions to have checked for the circumstances].

5. REVIEW AND REVISIONS
Review material: [preview, version and agreed criteria].
Client contact: [person consolidating comments].
Included feedback: [adjustments, definition of a round, chosen number and deadlines].
Mismatch with the agreed result: [review arrangements separate from added requests].
Missing response: [follow-up and clarification of next steps, without automatic approval provided by this outline].

6. CHANGES
Added request: [restated need and comparison with scope].
Decision to confirm: [addition, replacement or postponement, price, schedule and contributions].
Acceptance reference: [person, date and document or exchange kept before the added work is carried out].

7. HANDOFF AND USES
Final material: [exports, sources, documentation and versions].
Handoff conditions and channel: [verified event and planned access].
External services: [owner, recipients and permissions to arrange in each service].
Uses and rights: [relevant works and rights to define separately, uses, media, territory, duration, remuneration and any exclusivity; wording to have adapted].
Third-party resources: [licences and purchasing responsibilities to check].

8. ENDING THE PROJECT AND POINTS TO ADAPT
Postponement or early end: [terms to examine; completed work, expenses, delivered material and amounts payable or refundable].
Specific terms: [confidentiality, personal data, subcontracting, responsibilities or another relevant issue to have examined].
Disagreement and dispute resolution: [suitable arrangements to have checked, without imposing a universal clause].

9. ACCEPTANCE AND FINAL VERSION
Documents provided: [list and versions].
Open points to resolve before acceptance: [list].
Chosen acceptance method: [to define for the circumstances].
Authorised people and date: [to complete].
Accepted version and later changes: [references and storage location].

Turn instructions into decisions

The button copies only the outline, including its fields and preparation note. Review it in your usual document, complete the information and have open questions addressed. Filling fields does not replace discussion with the client or legal adaptation of sensitive sections. Keep a working copy until those decisions have been resolved.

03 · Arrange the price

Describe the price and payment process actually chosen.

The document should let the client find the amount, currency, relevant taxes and separate fees. Connect deadlines with agreed events and explain the starting condition. If an external purchase is needed, identify who orders and pays for it, so the budget presented remains understandable to each party before they make a commitment.

A person holds a folder at a desk with documents and a calculator.

Enter amounts and events

For a fixed fee, check that the total matches scope and any options are separate. For time-based work, adapt the calculation and tracking of periods. Invoicing fields need to match your obligations and the client’s purchasing process, without inventing a default amount or deadline. Confirm any reference the client needs for processing.

Adapt the outline to Dealokr’s fixed-price process

In Dealokr, the client pays 100% before production through Stripe Connect. You then share a preview and handle the agreed revisions. You request the transfer under the project’s conditions; confirmation opens access to hosted final files. The bank payout is separate. Describe that order before acceptance so the client understands the stages.

04 · Prepare review

Connect deliverables, feedback and final handoff.

Scope becomes easier to use when it also explains how work will be examined. Describe the review material, relevant version and points to check. Identify who collects comments, and distinguish files shown during this phase from material actually included in the final handoff and how the client is expected to use it.

Two people examine printed pages at a table.

Make feedback understandable

Complete rounds, deadlines and adjustments according to the project. Plan how to clarify a missing response and examine a mismatch with the agreed result. A revision limit does not, by itself, make every correction chargeable; applicable commitments and remedies still need consideration. The wording should leave those issues distinguishable from a new request.

Confirm changes and access

For an added need, have the result, any price, dates and acceptance clarified before producing that part. Describe exports, sources and documentation provided. For Figma, a code repository or another external service, identify access to check with that provider: hosted file handoff and those permissions are separate matters.

05 · Examine specific issues

Adapt the terms that depend on your situation.

Some sections need more than a filled field: copyright, confidentiality, data, responsibilities or project interruption. Identify those relevant to your work and explain the actual need to the person reviewing the document. You can obtain wording suited to the project and parties, rather than retaining a general formula whose effect you do not understand.

A person writes with a pen in a notebook on a wooden table.

Define uses of creative work

Where copyright assignment is needed, French law requires each assigned right to be specified separately and exploitation defined, including its extent, purpose, place and duration. Moral rights remain attached to the author and cannot be assigned. Keep this section for tailored wording, identifying third-party resources and licences too, rather than assuming one phrase covers every use.

Prepare responsibility and early-end questions

Describe relevant access, sensitive information or subcontractors and the interruption scenario to examine. Treatment of completed work, expenses and any amounts depends on the agreement and circumstances. The outline leaves those issues for suitable wording. It sets no automatic 100% cancellation charge, universal liability limit or exclusive court clause.

06 · Review and accept

Check the complete version before acceptance.

Before presenting the document to the client, review all sections and appendices as one set. Check that fields are complete, choices understood and sensitive points examined. The version being accepted should identify parties, work, price and next steps, without relying on instructions still left in brackets or an assumption that nobody has discussed.

Four people look through an open folder while talking together.

Check consistency and open points

Under French law, contract formation rests on offer and acceptance; validity requires, among other things, consent, capacity and lawful, sufficiently certain content. A completed text does not check those conditions on its own. Have important issues reviewed and do not present a signature as a guarantee making every clause impossible to challenge.

Keep the accepted reference

Provide the documents and have agreement concern an identifiable version. Keep later agreed changes with it: article 1193 governs contractual change by mutual consent or on grounds authorised by law. In Dealokr, terms and signature accompany the project’s stages. Use wording already adapted to the work when preparing that shared basis.

Prepare decisions before completing the text, then check their consistency across the document. A well-used outline makes questions visible and helps build a reference suited to the project. Keep the accepted version and agreed changes with the project record.

Back to preparation

Sources and verification

French Civil Code — articles 1103, 1113 and 1128: commitments, formation and validity
French Civil Code — article 1193: changing a contract
French Civil Code — article 1217: remedies for non-performance
French Intellectual Property Code — article L131-3: scope of assigned rights
French Intellectual Property Code — article L121-1: moral rights
Dealokr — Terms, signature, preview and hosted final-file handoff

This preparation outline concerns services between businesses in France. Complete it, adapt it and have it reviewed before use. It is not a universal ready-to-sign contract or individual legal advice, and its French legal principles should not be assumed to apply elsewhere.