What Is a Kill Fee?

Why it matters

Project work is planned around being seen through: you turn down other work, schedule weeks, and front-load effort. A contract that lets the client terminate for convenience with nothing owed turns a cancellation into your loss alone. A kill fee shares that risk — and because it's negotiated before anyone is upset, it usually costs little to ask for.

What to watch for

• No kill fee at all next to a termination-for-convenience right — the most common version of the problem is absence.
• "Payment for work completed" only, with no share of the remaining fee — it covers your past hours but not the schedule you cleared.
• Vague measures of "work completed" with no milestones to point to.
• Kill fees that only run one way — if you must exit for a legitimate reason, the clause is silent.

A realistic example

An illustrator books six weeks for a campaign and declines two other projects. In week three, the client's budget is cut and the project is cancelled with the contract's three-day notice. Without a kill fee, the contract owes her only the milestone already invoiced — the two declined projects, and the empty three weeks, are her problem.

What to ask for

1. A kill-fee sentence: "If the Client terminates other than for the Contractor's breach, the Client will pay for all work completed plus a percentage of the remaining fee" — and put the actual number in the contract.
2. Milestone definitions so "work completed" is measurable, not arguable.
3. Pair it with notice: a kill fee plus a 14-day notice period covers both money and planning.

Related terms: termination for convenience · net 30 · scope of work

Related guide: How to get paid as a freelancer

Not legal advice. This is an educational definition of a common contract term. Details vary by jurisdiction — this page explains common U.S. usage. For high-stakes agreements, have a lawyer review the final version.