Browse the archive

For an employee in Northern Ireland with parental responsibility for a child under 18 and at least one year's service: a notice taking unpaid parental leave, giving the child, the dates and the number of weeks. The default rules allow 18 weeks for each child, up to four weeks a year, in whole weeks, with at least 21 days' notice. The employer can postpone the leave for up to six months, but not refuse it. nidirect explains parental leave free. Hand it in and email it.

For an employee in Northern Ireland whose flexible working application has been turned down: a written, dated notice of appeal setting out your grounds — a reason outside the business grounds the law allows, wrong facts, no real discussion — and any alternative you would accept. The appeal goes in within 14 days of the decision; the employer must then hold an appeal meeting within 14 days and decide within 14 days after it. Hand it in and email it.

For a client and a self-employed consultant or freelancer in England and Wales, working on their own account or through their own limited company. The agreement covers the services, fees and invoices, expenses, the right to send a substitute, who owns the work, confidentiality, liability, ending the contract and the off-payroll working rules (IR35) for medium and large clients. Its wording does not decide employment or tax status, which follows how the work is actually done, so each party should take advice if the status is unclear.

For anyone in the UK who wants a copy of the personal data an organisation holds about them: an employer or former employer, a bank, a council, a landlord, a phone company or a parking operator. A request under Article 15 of the UK GDPR: it asks for all your data, or the parts you name, and the information about how it is used, and reminds the organisation that it has one month and may not charge. Sent by email to the data protection officer. The ICO publishes a free template too.

For an employee in England, Wales or Scotland who has been dismissed, warned or demoted after a disciplinary process: a letter appealing within your employer's time limit, setting out your grounds and what you ask for, and requesting an appeal hearing before a manager not involved in the decision, with a companion, as the Acas Code expects. If you have been dismissed, it asks for the reasons in writing. Hand it in and email it.

For finding out what a company, administration or association based in France knows about you. The CNIL publishes a free model letter; this letter, in French, follows the same right and goes further: confirmation of processing, a copy of the data, purposes, recipients, retention period, source and automated decisions (article 15 of the GDPR), an answer within one month (article 12), first copy free. It announces a complaint to the CNIL if there is no reply. Send it by post or through the channel named in the privacy policy.

Used where an original document has been lost, stolen or destroyed — a diploma, a certificate, an employer's letter. The particulars of the lost document and the reason for the loss are stated.

A free service contract under § 4(4) of the Austrian General Social Insurance Act (ASVG) for people who provide services to a client over a period without being bound to working hours, a place of work or instructions. It contains every particular of the written statement (Dienstzettel) required by § 1164a ABGB, so no separate statement is needed: start and term, an optional probation month, the notice periods of four and six weeks in force since 1 January 2026, the work, pay with due date and method, the social insurance carrier, the severance fund and any applicable collective agreement. In German.

For a business engaging another for a continuing service in Spain (cleaning, maintenance, IT support, marketing, consulting): a Spanish contract with scope, term and renewal, the price in words and figures, invoicing and the payment term within the 60-day limit of Spain's Law 3/2004, late-payment interest, confidentiality, personal data, termination for breach and the attempt to negotiate before going to court (Organic Law 1/2025). Signed in two copies. In Spanish.

For declaring in writing, on your own responsibility, a fact about yourself when an administration, employer, school, bank or landlord in France asks for it: family situation, lack of income, residence, a lost document, the accuracy of information. In French under French law, the statement identifies the declarant, sets out the facts, names the recipient if you wish and recalls the penalties for a false statement (article 441-7 of the French Criminal Code). For evidence in court, use the witness statement instead.

For two private persons, or a private person and a business, who want to end a dispute in France without going to court: damage, poor work, a disputed sum, a quarrel between neighbours. The agreement, in French under French law, describes the dispute, each party's reciprocal concessions and the waiver of any action on the same matter (articles 2044 and 2052 of the French Civil Code). A standard form: it does not suit a dispute between employer and employee, or a divorce. Two originals, signed by both parties.

A model holographic will and instructions for copying it out in your own hand. A printed or typed text is not a will: a holographic will is valid only if written entirely, dated and signed in its author's hand (article 970 of the French Civil Code), and a will made by two people in one document is void (article 968). The instructions cover the heirs' reserved shares, the authentic will made before a notary, and the option of lodging the will with a notary, who registers it in the central register of last wishes (FCDDV). In French.

For a self-employed person or business whose invoices another business in Spain will not pay: a Spanish demand for the principal, the late-payment interest and the 40 euros per invoice of Spain's Law 3/2004, with the invitation to negotiate within thirty days that Organic Law 1/2025 requires before a court claim, including the payment-order procedure (monitorio). Sent by burofax with certified content and acknowledgement of receipt, proving what was sent and when. In Spanish.

For an employer in Spain that needs a temporary contract for an occasional, unforeseeable rise in activity or for an occasional, foreseeable and short situation. It makes the employer describe the cause, the specific circumstances and their link with the term precisely, as art. 15 of the Spanish Workers' Statute has required since the 2021 labour reform: without that cause the contract is open-ended. It sets the term (up to six months, or a year if a sector agreement extends it), trial period, hours, pay and the final payment of twelve days per year. Signed before work starts. In Spanish.

The application to the PVA, SVS or BVAEB to determine your insurance periods bindingly, by formal decision (Bescheid), under § 247 of Austria's General Social Insurance Act (ASVG), or § 117a GSVG for those insured with the SVS — the way to settle missing periods such as child-raising, military or civilian service or employment before claiming a pension, rather than relying on the non-binding account statement. With insurance number, date of birth, former surnames and the periods at issue; proof is enclosed. The decision can be challenged at the Labour and Social Court. In German.

The partnership agreement for a German civil-law partnership (Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts, GbR) under the law in force since 1 January 2024 (§§ 705 ff. of the German Civil Code, BGB, as reformed by the MoPeG), for two or three freelancers, self-employed people or a small team: name and seat, whether the GbR is entered in the partnership register as an eGbR, purpose, contributions and shares, management and representation, resolutions, profit and loss, notice, leaving, a partner's death, settlement and dissolution. No notary is needed for the agreement itself. In German.

For a business or self-employed person in Spain ending a services or supply contract with another business: a Spanish letter giving notice of termination, choosing the ground (the right to terminate or withdraw that the contract gives, or the other party's breach under art. 1124 of the Spanish Civil Code), setting the effective date and asking for materials back and the final invoice. Sent by burofax with certified content and acknowledgement of receipt. In Spanish.

For an individual, self-employed person or business with a dispute of up to 2,000 euros in Spain who wants to settle it without a trial: the Spanish confidential binding offer of art. 17 of Organic Law 1/2025, stating the dispute, the amount and the terms, with an acceptance at the foot. If the other side accepts it expressly, it binds the offeror; if it refuses or stays silent for a month, the pre-court requirement is met. Sent by burofax. In Spanish.

For ending a dispute in Italy between private persons or with a business – a contested debt, damage, poor work – by mutual concessions, including a settlement for less than the full debt (saldo e stralcio). The contract, in Italian under Italian law, describes the dispute, what each party concedes, any sum and how it is paid, and the waiver of every other claim on that dispute (articles 1965 ff. of the Italian Civil Code). It is not for employment disputes. Both parties sign two copies.

The letter to Austria's tax office, the Finanzamt Österreich, revoking a waiver of the VAT exemption for small businesses under § 6 Abs 3 of the Austrian VAT Act (UStG 1994) — for a landlord or self-employed person whose turnover is back under €55,000, for example. The waiver binds for at least five calendar years; it can be revoked only from the start of a calendar year, by 31 January of that year at the latest. With the tax number, the years and the turnover. Send it by post, fax or through FinanzOnline: an e-mail is no submission at all (§§ 85, 86a BAO). In German.

The written telework agreement required in Austria since 1 January 2025 by § 2h of the Employment Contract Law Adaptation Act (AVRAG), in German — Austria's home-office agreement under the new law: places and extent of telework, working time and availability, who provides the digital equipment and what cost allowance is paid, data protection, accident insurance under § 175 ASVG, and ending it for an important reason on one month's notice to the end of a month. It supplements an existing contract of employment.

For two private individuals in Spain with a dispute over money or a contract (a debt, damage, a sale, building work) who settle it without a lawsuit, each giving something up (article 1809 of the Spanish Civil Code). It is a form with fields: the matter, what each side gives or does and by when, the payment and the account, and the waiver of further claims on that matter. It records that the agreement was reached in a negotiation under Organic Law 1/2025 and that either side may have it made into a notarial deed. Not for employment or family matters. Signed in two copies. In Spanish.

The service contract between a German GmbH or UG (haftungsbeschränkt) and its managing director (Geschäftsführer), separate from the appointment by shareholders' resolution. It covers duties and transactions needing the shareholders' consent, start and place of work, salary and variable pay, sick pay, holiday, a non-compete during the contract, confidentiality, termination and garden leave after removal from office. It records the director's shareholding and says when the director is insured as an employee: without shares always; a shareholder-director is self-employed only with a majority or a blocking minority over all company business. In German.

Spain's tax agency offers a free invoicing application (VERI*FACTU) on its website; you do not need DocMuse for this. For a self-employed person or business in Spain invoicing without software who must correct an invoice: the Spanish corrective invoice of art. 15 of Royal Decree 1619/2012, in its own series, naming the invoice corrected, the reason and the amounts by difference or by replacement; VAT, IGIC in the Canary Islands or IPSI. In Spanish.