Build a plain-language birth doula agreement, put your own logo on it, and print two copies to sign. It asks you to decide the things most templates decide for you.
Print two copies so you and your client each keep a signed one. Nothing here is saved when you close the tab.
Most doula contract templates arrive with the numbers already filled in. Thirty-six weeks for on-call, thirty-six weeks for the balance, a non-refundable deposit at a third of the fee. Those are reasonable numbers. The problem is that they are somebody else's reasonable numbers, and a contract is the one document where inherited defaults cost real money.
On-call is the part of the fee that is hardest to see, because it is time you are not spending rather than time you are. From the week you go on call you are declining travel, declining evening work, and keeping a bag packed. If you carry three clients with due dates within a fortnight of each other, an early on-call start means you are holding overlapping windows for weeks. The capacity calculator shows where those windows collide.
Setting the balance at a week of pregnancy rather than a calendar date means the payment schedule follows the pregnancy, which is why it is worth doing even though it takes a moment longer to write. The order of the two dates is the part worth thinking about. If the balance falls due before you go on call, the account is settled before you start holding the window. If it falls due after, you are on call for a birth you have not been paid for, which is a position worth entering deliberately rather than by accident. Later is less financial pressure on a family in the last weeks and more exposure for you. There is no answer right for every practice, which is why the tool leaves both numbers to you.
The decision that matters is made long before an invoice is late. By the time a balance is overdue you are choosing from the options your contract left you, which is why the question of whether you would attend an unpaid birth belongs in the agreement rather than in your head. We wrote about what to do when a client does not pay in more detail.
It is a plain-language starting point, not legal advice, and it has not been reviewed for the laws where you practice. Contract, refund and liability rules vary by state and country. Have a local attorney read it before you rely on it, particularly the payment, cancellation and liability sections.
This tool assumes you already know your fee. If you do not, the rate calculator works out a three-tier structure from your location and experience, and how much should a doula charge covers the reasoning.
Knowing whether it still fits a year from now takes real numbers. DoulaFlow's Insights dashboard tracks what your births cost you in time, so you know when to raise it. There is more on what doulas charge and how to position your rate, and on when the money should actually be collected.
Start Free Trial