Most contract disputes are not about bad faith. They are about two people who read the same sentence differently and never found out until it mattered. Four clauses account for most of it.
- Scope: what counts as a change, and who decides.
- Payment: when the clock starts, and what triggers an invoice.
- Intellectual property: what transfers, and when — on delivery or on payment.
- Termination: notice on both sides, and what happens to work in progress.
None of this needs a lawyer to read, though a contract of any size deserves one. What it needs is for both people to answer the four questions out loud, before signing, and notice if their answers differ.
