MGL1985
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Georgia
I'm currently dealing with a former client who continues to tell me that she is unable to pay me for my services, and this is what I'm looking for legal advice on. It is a very complicated situation, and it starts by me trusting my client/friend and not immediately drawing up a contract. I understand that this was very poor business on my end, and I should not have been trusting as I was - and I understand that many courts and lawyers won't even consider the case because I do not have this explicit contract/agreement of work and payment. Before stating anymore of my case, I wanted to clear that up and that I'm fully aware of this crucial mistake on my part.
I am an independent contractor, and have previously worked with this client without issue of payment - she always paid me on time and in the full amount. Since the time I have worked with her, I have continued to build my online marketing business, and during our initial meeting, she told me of her plans to expand her brand and encompass several industries instead of just one. She proposed partnering with me for one of these industries (in my off-time, I do additional creative work for extra money), and she's wanted me as her Personal Assistant for many years, and this time I did give in while also remaining a marketing consultant. I performed a variety of tasks, including business development, product development, design, web development and strategy, and assistant duties.
To date, I have only received a fraction of the money owed to me, and have text messages from this client saying, "You're mine, I just need to know how much I owe you." Thinking we were friends in addition to business partners/clients, I added an addendum to my original invoice (sent Dec. 30, 2015) stating that I would waive 50% of the money owed to close the past debt and move forward with our business relationship because I had not tracked my hours. I realize now this was another mistake.
After initially receiving my invoice and my decision to continue our business partnership as marketing consultant/business owner, my client was incredibly receptive to my new terms. Two weeks later, I received a very different response - one that was cold and dismissive. I was told that she wasn't going to use the website I spent hours creating, and that she agreed with not partnering with me while also adding the amount of money I would've received from that partnership (everything with her has been very much a "promise to pay" situation, despite her receiving several loans over the past months). When I tried to log into the site, I found that I had been locked out and it has already been changed, though her web host should have records of the work and amount of time I was logged in - I'll need these records if I'm forced to take legal action.
With all of that background (there's lots more, but I don't want to flood too much), I'm curious how to proceed. She received my initial invoice more than a month ago now, and in her response 2 weeks after, she said, "On your invoice, I can't pay you right now. I don't have any word on funding or broker accounts, and I don't know when I'll be able to pay you, but I can't right now as funds are tight and I'm closing one of my stores." Any and all advice welcome - I've drafted an updated invoice with a Net 10 Days, terms for interest charges (25% of total invoice amount until a certain date, then 50% added after that - I've had one person tell me this is standard practice and another person tell me its extortion, so I'd like to know about that too), and terms for repayment of any legal fees. Should I send this with a signature required via mail and then via email? It has also been recommended that I file a UCC against her to possibly recover some of the money owed, though she's very much in debt (from what she's told me) from several other firms.
Though I don't have a signed contract with this client, she has said in many different forms that she knows she owes me money and has taken responsibility for that. I'm curious how to proceed with her. Any and all advice is welcomed in how I can recover the money owed.
Thank you!
I am an independent contractor, and have previously worked with this client without issue of payment - she always paid me on time and in the full amount. Since the time I have worked with her, I have continued to build my online marketing business, and during our initial meeting, she told me of her plans to expand her brand and encompass several industries instead of just one. She proposed partnering with me for one of these industries (in my off-time, I do additional creative work for extra money), and she's wanted me as her Personal Assistant for many years, and this time I did give in while also remaining a marketing consultant. I performed a variety of tasks, including business development, product development, design, web development and strategy, and assistant duties.
To date, I have only received a fraction of the money owed to me, and have text messages from this client saying, "You're mine, I just need to know how much I owe you." Thinking we were friends in addition to business partners/clients, I added an addendum to my original invoice (sent Dec. 30, 2015) stating that I would waive 50% of the money owed to close the past debt and move forward with our business relationship because I had not tracked my hours. I realize now this was another mistake.
After initially receiving my invoice and my decision to continue our business partnership as marketing consultant/business owner, my client was incredibly receptive to my new terms. Two weeks later, I received a very different response - one that was cold and dismissive. I was told that she wasn't going to use the website I spent hours creating, and that she agreed with not partnering with me while also adding the amount of money I would've received from that partnership (everything with her has been very much a "promise to pay" situation, despite her receiving several loans over the past months). When I tried to log into the site, I found that I had been locked out and it has already been changed, though her web host should have records of the work and amount of time I was logged in - I'll need these records if I'm forced to take legal action.
With all of that background (there's lots more, but I don't want to flood too much), I'm curious how to proceed. She received my initial invoice more than a month ago now, and in her response 2 weeks after, she said, "On your invoice, I can't pay you right now. I don't have any word on funding or broker accounts, and I don't know when I'll be able to pay you, but I can't right now as funds are tight and I'm closing one of my stores." Any and all advice welcome - I've drafted an updated invoice with a Net 10 Days, terms for interest charges (25% of total invoice amount until a certain date, then 50% added after that - I've had one person tell me this is standard practice and another person tell me its extortion, so I'd like to know about that too), and terms for repayment of any legal fees. Should I send this with a signature required via mail and then via email? It has also been recommended that I file a UCC against her to possibly recover some of the money owed, though she's very much in debt (from what she's told me) from several other firms.
Though I don't have a signed contract with this client, she has said in many different forms that she knows she owes me money and has taken responsibility for that. I'm curious how to proceed with her. Any and all advice is welcomed in how I can recover the money owed.
Thank you!
