Author:
Jan Vega
Yes. Every virtual assistant arrangement needs a written contract, even a small one. The clauses that matter most: scope of work, payment terms, confidentiality, intellectual property ownership, data handling, and how the relationship ends. Skip the IP clause and a freelance VA can end up legally owning the SOPs, templates, and content they created for you. If you hire through a managed provider like Delegate, most of this sits in the provider’s service agreement, which is worth reading as carefully as any contract you’d write yourself.
Here’s a scenario that happens more than founders expect. You hire a freelance VA. Over six months, they build your SOP library, design your social templates, and write half your email sequences. Then they leave.
Who owns all of that?
Without a written assignment, possibly them. Under US copyright law, work a contractor creates generally belongs to the contractor unless ownership is transferred in a signed writing. “Work made for hire” only covers a contractor’s work in a narrow set of categories, and only when a written agreement says so. For most VA work, you need an explicit assignment clause.
That’s one clause. A missing confidentiality clause, a vague scope, or no termination terms each create their own version of the same problem. A contract is how you decide these things before they turn into arguments.
Yes, even for a short project. The contract should fit the work: a one-week data cleanup needs a page, while an ongoing role with access to your finances needs something more thorough. Signing electronically is fine. E-signatures are legally valid in the US, and a signed PDF is far better than a verbal agreement.
This article explains what a VA contract typically covers. It isn’t legal advice. Have an attorney review your contract, especially if your VA handles sensitive data or works in another country.
1. Parties and working relationship
Name both parties and describe the relationship: independent contractor, employee, or a service arrangement through a provider. Be accurate. Calling someone a contractor in the contract doesn’t make them one if you control their hours and methods like an employee. What decides it is how the relationship actually works.
2. Scope of work
List the actual tasks, the tools involved, and what “done” looks like. Vague scope (“general admin support”) causes most day-to-day friction, because neither side knows what’s included. Spell out what’s outside the scope too, and how new work gets added.
3. Hours, availability, and communication
Cover expected working hours or weekly hour caps, time zone overlap, response times, and the main communication channel. For offshore VAs covering your overnight hours, write down which hours they’re expected to be reachable.
4. Compensation and payment terms
State the rate (hourly, monthly, or per project), how and when invoices are sent, the payment method, the currency, and any rules for overtime or extra hours. For offshore hires, note who covers transfer fees. Paying a worker in another country has its own steps, and fair pay for a Filipino VA is worth settling before you sign.
5. Confidentiality
Define what counts as confidential (client lists, financial data, internal processes, anything marked private), how it can be used, and that the obligation continues after the relationship ends. Many businesses use a separate NDA. Folding it into the main contract works too.
6. Intellectual property ownership
This is the clause founders most often skip. Include a written assignment stating that everything the VA creates for your business belongs to you: documents, SOPs, designs, code, content, and data. Without it, as the scenario above shows, ownership may stay with the contractor.
7. Data protection and access
Spell out how the VA may access your systems, how credentials are shared, what data they can touch, and what happens to that access when the work ends. Credentials should route through a password manager with scoped permissions, and the contract can require it.
If your VA handles personal data of people in the EU, GDPR requires a written contract with specific data-processing terms. Other privacy laws, such as California’s, can add their own requirements depending on the data involved.
8. Term and termination
Say how long the agreement runs, how much notice either side must give to end it, and what happens at the end: return of files, handover of work in progress, transfer of account ownership, and removal of access. A clean exit protects you far more than a long notice period.
9. Non-solicitation and non-compete
A non-solicitation clause stops the VA from poaching your clients or staff. A non-compete, which blocks them from working for competitors, is much harder to enforce, and some states, including California, void most non-competes outright. For offshore VAs, enforcement gets even more complicated. A tight confidentiality clause usually protects you better than a broad non-compete.
10. Governing law and dispute resolution
Pick which jurisdiction’s law governs the contract and how disputes get resolved: court, mediation, or arbitration. With an offshore VA, the worker’s own country’s laws may still apply to parts of the relationship, whatever the contract says. An attorney familiar with cross-border work is worth consulting here.
Clause |
What it prevents |
Red flag if it's missing |
|---|---|---|
Scope of work
|
Constant "is that included?" disputes
|
Tasks drift with no agreed boundary
|
Payment terms
|
Late or disputed invoices
|
No due dates, currency, or fee rules
|
Confidentiality
|
Leaks of client or business data
|
Nothing survives the end of the relationship
|
IP ownership
|
Losing rights to work you paid for
|
No written assignment
|
Data and access
|
Former VAs keeping access to your systems
|
No offboarding or credential rules
|
Termination
|
Messy exits and lost files
|
No notice period or handover terms
|
Governing law
|
Unclear rules when a dispute happens
|
Especially risky with offshore hires
|
Most of the clauses above stay the same. A few need extra attention:
With a managed provider, there are usually two contracts: yours with the provider, and the provider’s own agreement with the assistant. You sign the first one, so read it closely. Check:
Hiring a VA yourself means you write and enforce all 10 clauses. A provider carries much of that, which is one of the bigger differences between managed and freelance hiring.
Using a free template without editing it. A generic template won’t mention your tools, your data, or how your business works.
Leaving out IP. It feels like a formality until someone leaves with your SOP library.
Promising what the relationship isn’t. A contract calling someone a contractor won’t hold up if you manage them like an employee.
Writing the contract and never updating it. When the role grows, update the scope. A contract describing a job from a year ago doesn’t protect you today.
Skipping the exit plan. Most contract problems show up at the end of a relationship. Decide the handover steps on day one.
Yes. Even a short project deserves a written agreement covering scope, payment, confidentiality, ownership of the work, and how it ends.
The core clauses are scope of work, hours and communication, payment terms, confidentiality, intellectual property ownership, data protection and access, termination terms, non-solicitation, and governing law.
With an employee, generally you. With an independent contractor, the contractor may own it unless your contract includes a written assignment of rights. Put that assignment in writing.
No. An NDA covers confidentiality, but it doesn’t settle scope, payment, IP ownership, or termination. Use it alongside a full agreement, or fold the confidentiality terms into one contract.
In principle, yes. In practice, cross-border enforcement is slow and costly. Clear terms, good access controls, and a solid offboarding process protect you more reliably than litigation.
You’ll sign the provider’s service agreement rather than writing one with the assistant. Read it for replacement terms, notice periods, confidentiality, IP, and data handling.
A good contract protects you from a bad situation. It won’t turn the wrong person into the right one.
Delegate handles both halves. Assistants are vetted through paid work simulations before you meet them, and Delegate handles their pay and benefits, so you aren’t writing and enforcing a contractor agreement with someone overseas. You sign one service agreement: month to month, 30 days’ notice to end it, and free replacement for as long as you’re a client. Pricing starts at $13 an hour.
Book a strategy call and ask us to walk you through the agreement line by line before you sign anything.
