Here’s a scenario that happens constantly: you land a freelance gig, you put in real hours — maybe weeks — and then the client just… pulls the plug. Project cancelled. They’ve changed direction, ran out of budget, whatever. And if your contract doesn’t have a kill fee clause in it, you could walk away with little or nothing to show for all that time. (Depending on your state and the specifics, you may have some legal options even without one — but protecting yourself upfront is always easier than fighting for payment later.)
A kill fee (sometimes called an early termination fee) is a pre-agreed amount the client pays you if they cancel the project after it’s already started. It’s not a penalty for bad behavior — it’s just a fair acknowledgment that your time has value, even if the project doesn’t finish. Freelancers Union describes it as a way to make sure both sides have a plan in place before things go sideways.
The kill fee should cover what you’ve already done — and ideally a little extra on top. The Interaction Design Foundation recommends adding a week or two of buffer on top of your completed work for bigger contracts, so you have breathing room to find a replacement gig before the income gap hits.
This applies to every type of freelance work — design, writing, coding, video editing, all of it. Medical writers use kill fee clauses for exactly the same reason: to make sure they get paid for time spent even when a client pulls out mid-project.
So before you start any paid project, make sure your contract has three things: a deposit upfront, clear payment terms, and a kill fee clause. Getting a deposit is especially important — it means even if everything falls apart on day one, you’re not starting from zero. No contract? Write one, even a simple one. There are free templates online. It’s not about distrust — it’s just how the professional world works.