What if a client cancels my project halfway through — do I still get paid?
The short answer
Whether you get paid when a client cancels a project mid-way depends almost entirely on what your agreement says. If it includes a kill-fee clause, the clause defines the amount and trigger. If it includes a milestone schedule, payments already due may still be owed for completed milestones. If the contract is silent on cancellation, you are typically in a position of billing for what you've demonstrably completed — which is harder to define and collect without a contractual reference point. Scan your agreement to see what it says about cancellation, kill fees, and payment for work in progress.
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What cancellation and kill-fee clauses cover
A kill-fee clause specifies what the client owes if they cancel — typically a percentage of the total fee, sometimes scaled to project progress. A milestone-payment structure means any milestone already completed and invoiced may still be owed regardless of cancellation. When neither exists, what you can claim for partial work is less defined and depends on what you can document as completed.
Contracts that lack a kill-fee clause but do have a broad IP-assignment clause can create an asymmetric situation: the client has the work product delivered so far but has no contractual obligation to pay for the cancelled remainder. The assignment clause and the payment clause are worth reading together.
Why people worry
Mid-project cancellations are common enough that freelancers routinely report them as one of the most stressful situations in their work. The financial hit is compounded when the cancelled project was large, held a slot that blocked other work, or required upfront costs. The worry is: I spent weeks on this — am I owed anything?
What to look for in your agreement
- A kill-fee clause — the trigger, the amount, and the payment timeline after cancellation.
- A milestone-payment schedule — what milestones have already been invoiced and are due regardless of cancellation.
- Whether work delivered before cancellation is covered by the kill fee or billed separately.
- Any IP-assignment clause that governs who owns work in progress at the time of cancellation.
- Notice requirements — how much advance notice the client must give before cancelling.
Questions to ask before signing
- Ask the client to confirm that a kill fee is included and what it covers for mid-project cancellation.
- Ask the other party to clarify what happens to completed milestones if the project is cancelled after they're delivered.
- Confirm whether work-in-progress deliverables are billable at the time of cancellation.
- Consider having the agreement reviewed if it allows termination without a kill fee and involves a large or long-running project.
Why scan instead of guess
The general rule tells you the baseline. Your agreement tells you what you’re actually being asked to sign — and the wording is what binds. Dang reads the document and flags the clauses worth reviewing, in plain English.
The deterministic engine scores and decides what’s risky. The AI only enriches the plain-English wording — AI extracts, code decides, never the other way around.
Your original file is deleted promptly after processing — we keep only the report you can read. No account needed for a one-time scan. Free preview first; full report $6.99, one-time.
Common questions
If I've already invoiced for completed milestones, are those still owed after cancellation?
Generally, invoiced and completed milestones that are already due under the agreement are still owed — cancellation doesn't typically void amounts already earned. Whether that's clear in your contract is worth checking.
What if the contract has no kill fee and the client just stops responding?
Without a kill fee clause, your position for the cancelled remainder depends on what you can document as completed and what the agreement says about payment for work delivered. This is the scenario where having milestone payments and a kill fee in the original agreement would have helped most.
No account required · File deleted after analysis · Not legal advice. Dang reports contract findings in plain English — general information, not legal advice about your situation. For consequential decisions, consult a licensed attorney in your state.