A retainer agreement is a contract in which a client pays a specialist in advance to be available for ongoing or future work. It sets out the services, the fees, and how either side can end it. This FormsPal retainer agreement template is a fillable PDF with lines for each point. Complete it online or print it and fill it in by hand.
Last Updated: October 2026. This guide is reviewed and updated regularly to reflect current law. If you notice an error or outdated information, please contact us.
Retainers are non-refundable deposits in return for service in the future. The service provider can be an attorney, an accountant, or other professional. These are payment agreements between you and your client.
Your client pays you every month in exchange for your services within a specific time frame. You may receive the fee in advance or at the end of the month after the completion of the work. In the legal field, a professional has gained popularity as clients are likely to hire attorney services more than anything else.
A retainer agreement is a work-for-hire contract between a company or an individual and a client. It can be something between a permanent employment contract and a one-off contract. In this agreement, the client will pay you for the services you provide in the future within the time mentioned in it.
Retainer agreements are secure as your customer will pay in advance for the work you promise to deliver later. If you are a freelancer, this will work as income security.
Retainer agreements come in two common forms. The first pays you for the hours you work. The second pays you to stay available. Pick the one that matches how you and the other side plan to work together:
The legal field is the one to use retainer agreements most widely. When people require legal services, they pay a retainer fee to the legal counsel who guides them and makes themselves available when in need. This is called an advance payment for a monthly recurring work to the legal counsel.
Apart from retaining legal counsel, this retainer agreement is also used by consultancy firms to provide services to their client. If both the client and consultancy share a professional relationship for an extended period, and the client predicts that they will need the consultant’s expertise soon, access to a retainer agreement will be provided.
A retainer agreement is also required by freelancers to provide themselves with a secured and stable source of income and ongoing cash flow. It is an excellent way for them to secure their service of expertise.
This setup gives you steady work and a closer bond with the other side. It can also mean lower rates and a heavier workload. Here is a quick summary before the details.
Security of payment. No matter how large your business is, it’s always safe to get your payments secured and not suffer the lack like other businesses do. The scale of business does not decide upon the guarantee of payment. Expenses that your business suffers do not come to an end during your awaiting payments. Therefore this agreement ensures smooth payment sailing.
Trusted client. The only thing upon which the whole retainer agreement is based is trust. This is a massive advantage because the clients to enter into such agreements will be those with whom professional relationships have already been entrusted. Once the client enters into such an agreement, the client’s probability of sticking with you for a while becomes high. The clients also place trust in you and believe that your work is dependable, and they are also willing to secure your services with them in the future.
Preferable by clients. Not all clients prefer retainers, but most do as they can easily place their trust in them. Retainers give a sense of security to their client.
Less pay. The client will expect some discount as they will be retaining your services for a prolonged period. Now, if you look at the bigger picture at the end of the delivery, money is likely to be balanced out.
Different levels of work. As a retainer, you can get hit by a lot of work once the client gets back to you with one big project and other services. Therefore, when setting a retainer agreement with your party, it is essential to write that you won’t be available for 40 hours straight for a week. Scope of services, an extension of the deadline, and other expectations need not be kept for an assumption.
Scheduling issues. Deadlines can make your blood pressure go high. The workload is also another drawback if you do not include it in a retainer agreement. Therefore terms and conditions related to the delivery of service need to be crystal clear so that you do not keep extending your delivery dates and making the clients unhappy.
Dependency problems. It is impressive that you have a set of clients that you can depend upon. But overly relying upon those clients and not balancing retainer and non-retainer is a risk you do not want to fall into.
A retainer agreement has two parties. One agrees to provide a set number of hours of work each month, and the other pays a fee in advance. Extra hours are paid at the rates set in the agreement. Follow these steps to set it up:
The scope of work says what you get each month. A clearly written scope prevents misunderstandings and makes the hours easier to track for your business. Use specific words that anyone could understand.
The template has lines for the services and for what the scope leaves out. You fill them in on page 1. Review the term and the scope of work together before you sign.
A clear agreement answers who the parties are, what the work is, how much the fee is, and how either side ends the arrangement. A retainer agreement of a professional or service provider must cover the following:
The retainer agreement template must be obtained from a trusted website or an individual with the relevant authority. Follow these steps to complete the FormsPal template. They go in the same order as the form, from page 1 to page 6, and each step names the part of the form it covers.
The screenshots under each step show the FormsPal Retainer Agreement template filled with sample entries in blue, so you can see where each answer goes. The names, addresses, dates and amounts are examples only.
These answers cover the questions people ask most often about the FormsPal form. Each one points to the part of the PDF it describes, so you can check it against the form as you fill it in.
Yes. Click Create My Document to fill it in online, or download the PDF and complete it by hand. You can also use the FormsPal PDF editor or a free reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader to fill in the downloaded PDF on your screen.
The template has blanks for these items:
The Retainer section has three blanks. Enter the fee amount, the day of the invoice, and the number of days to pay each one. The lines under the payments heading say how and where to send the money.
The template gives two boxes in Section 7, one for a noncompetition covenant and one saying it does not apply. Tick only the box that matches what you both agree. Section 12 works the same way for proof of insurance.
Each party signs on its own signature line, prints a name, and adds a date. The form has no separate witness or notary block. Keep a signed copy for each party.
Yes. Section 16, Additional Terms and Conditions, has lines for any extra terms you both agree on, such as reporting dates or response times. Leave the lines blank if you have none.
General information, not legal or tax advice.
