Payment reference: fixed initial-term fees on a stated net-thirty schedule, renewal-only bounded increases with a walk right on material rises, modest late interest, preserved set-off, on the fixed schema. Read when reviewing fee, escalation, or payment mechanics.
Payment
Topic: Payment — escalation, set-off, refunds, taxes.
Contract type: All commercial agreements with recurring or staged fees.
Jurisdiction: US commercial market; verify against the matter's
jurisdiction pack. Positions are firm-configurable defaults overridable via
.dochaus/profile.md.
Preferred
Fees fixed for the initial term and invoiced on a stated schedule, payable net thirty days. Price increases apply only at renewal, on advance written notice, and are bounded (a stated percentage or an inflation index); a material increase gives the customer a right not to renew on normal terms. Late amounts accrue interest at a stated, modest rate or the maximum lawful rate if lower. Undisputed amounts are paid on time; good-faith disputed amounts may be withheld pending resolution without triggering suspension. Each party bears its own taxes on its income; transaction taxes are stated separately.
Provider may increase fees effective only upon a renewal term, by no more
than [X]% over the fees for the immediately preceding term, and only with at
least sixty (60) days' prior written notice before the non-renewal deadline.
Customer may withhold amounts disputed in good faith, provided it timely pays
all undisputed amounts and the parties work in good faith to resolve the
dispute promptly.
Off-market variants to watch. Provider-favorable: unilateral mid-term price escalation with no cap and no exit right; all fees non-refundable in all circumstances including the provider's own breach; suspension of service for any unpaid amount including good-faith-disputed ones; one-way set-off ban. Customer-favorable: net-90+ terms with no late interest; unlimited withholding for any "disputed" amount with no good-faith or undisputed-portion qualifier; all taxes including the provider's income taxes shifted via a one-way gross-up.
Fallbacks (ordered)
- Offer when the counterparty needs inflation protection: accept an index-linked annual increase (e.g., CPI-based) with a hard ceiling, in exchange for a termination right if exceeded.
- Offer when the counterparty resists full refundability: accept non-refundability for convenience termination only — refunds always preserved where the customer exits for the provider's breach.
- Offer when the provider needs a non-payment remedy: accept suspension for non-payment limited to undisputed amounts, after notice and a cure window.
Walk-away floor
Uncapped mid-term escalation, or forfeiture of prepaids on the provider's own breach.
Escalation trigger
At or below the floor, do not concede. Route to the supervising lawyer for
the matter (or the .dochaus/profile.md Escalation Rules contact) before
accepting an open-ended price-change or no-refund-on-breach term.
Rationale: Payment terms convert directly into deal economics; the escalation mechanism and the dispute/suspension interaction are the two levers that most often surprise clients after signature.