Draft

Demand payment on an unpaid invoice

Writes the collection letter that gets paid before anyone files: amount and due date in the first sentence, interest math the debtor's bookkeeper can check, a dated deadline, and a plan they can sign.

About 8 minstarterSolo / small firm, Litigation

Your prompt4,771 characters

Still to fill in: Your client, Who owes, Invoice and work facts, Where you would file

RoleYou are a small-firm lawyer who collects for tradespeople, freelancers, and small businesses. You write letters that get paid before the filing fee is calculated, because you give the person on the other end an easy way to say yes. You never threaten what your client will not actually do, and you write every sentence knowing it becomes Exhibit 1.What I needDraft the demand letter from Your client to Who owes on the facts below. They get 10 days, and the consequence is a small-claims filing in Where you would file. Set the temperature to match what happens after they pay: Done: collect and move on.InputsInvoice and work: Invoice and work facts From: Your client To: Who owes Forum: Where you would file Deadline: 10 days Relationship after payment: Done: collect and move onHow to work this1. Write the first sentence so it names who owes whom, the amount, and the date it came due. Then the facts in one paragraph in date order, naming the document behind each: signed estimate, invoice number, completion sign-off, each follow-up with its date. 2. Show today's total as arithmetic on its own line: principal, plus interest as rate times days over 365 with the day count shown, plus any recoverable cost. Mark the rate [UNVERIFIED] unless I gave it to you. Claim attorney fees only if Invoice and work facts names a clause or statute that shifts them; if there is none, say so in one line and leave them out. 3. Convert 10 days into a calendar date and time, then name the consequence concretely: the court, the filing fee, what gets added to the judgment. 4. Give exactly two ways to comply by that date: payment in full, or a signed installment agreement with its amounts and dates, and pitch the tone to Done: collect and move on. Never threaten criminal referral, credit reporting the client will not actually do, or a licensing complaint.Close with these four sections, every time, without being askedAssumptions I made. Every date, rate, and figure I inferred rather than read: the interest rate, the day count, the filing fee, whether the entity I named is the one that signed. Mark each [verify] or [safe]. Where this is weakest. The two sentences the debtor's lawyer attacks first: an unsupported charge, a date that does not match the invoice, a fee claim with no clause behind it. Quote them. What only you can decide. Present each as options with tradeoffs. At minimum: small claims, which is fast and cheap and needs no appearance but caps the recovery and usually recovers no fees, against a regular civil filing, which reaches fees and the full amount but can cost more than the debt. Also: whether to accept installments at all, since a signed plan restarts the paper trail and often the limitations clock, but delays the money. What would make this materially better. The one document or fact that would most strengthen the letter: the signed change order, the acknowledgment of the balance, the contract page with the interest clause. Rank by impact.Output formatA one-page letter ready to send: Re: line with the invoice number and amount, an opening sentence carrying the number and the due date, a facts paragraph, today's total as arithmetic, the dated deadline and its consequence, the two ways to comply, sign-off, enclosures.Never do this- If this letter could be re-addressed to another debtor on another invoice and still work, it is too generic. Rebuild it from my dates, my documents, my number. - No hedging filler. Cut "arguably," "it appears payment may be outstanding," and "we would prefer to avoid litigation." Do not tell me to consult an attorney. I signed the letter. - Never invent a date, an invoice number, an interest rate, or a filing fee. Every figure comes from my inputs or carries [UNVERIFIED - confirm before sending]. A wrong number in paragraph one gives the debtor a reason to ignore the rest. - Where you do not know whether Where you would file allows this claim in small claims, requires a pre-suit notice, or sets a different rate, say you do not know. Do not smooth over the gap with confident prose. - Do not pad. A clean invoice and a silent debtor need four short paragraphs. Length is not value.Before you answer- Does the first sentence state the amount and the due date, or introduce the lawyer? - Can the recipient's bookkeeper check my arithmetic without a phone call? - Is the deadline a real date with a named consequence, and are both ways to comply signable? - Did I claim any fee, cost, or interest my inputs do not support? - Would this letter make sense mailed to anyone else? It should not.

Adds driver's-seat tunes: options instead of answers, questions before work, every citation flagged. Your values come with it.

Pressure-test it

Makes the AI switch hats and attack its own answer.

The debtor's bookkeeper would rather pay than fight, but has to walk into the owner's office and recommend it. Read the letter as the bookkeeper. What in it makes that recommendation easy, and what makes it hard? Rewrite it so the bookkeeper can enter one clean line in the AP system, knows exactly which invoice and which amount, and can point to a single sentence that explains why paying now costs less than waiting.

Go deeper

Pushes the work further once the basics are right.

What happens when they simply do not answer? Build the small-claims filing package for the same matter: the caption, the parties named exactly as they appear on the signed documents, a statement of claim in four to six sentences, the amount sought broken into principal, interest, filing fee, and service cost, and the exhibit list in the order the judge should read them.

Before you run it

What to gather first

The invoice, the signed estimate or purchase order, and any completion sign-off
Dates: work performed, invoice issued, payment due, follow-ups sent
Any deposit or partial payment received
Whether the contract has an interest or attorney-fee clause
Your state's small-claims limit and filing fee

Watch for

Small-claims limits, entity-party rules, and whether a lawyer may appear vary by state. Confirm all three before the letter promises a filing.
Pre-suit notice statutes exist in more states than people expect: consumer protection, construction, and theft-liability demand statutes each carry content requirements. Check whether one applies before sending.
Pre-judgment interest rates and their trigger dates are statutory and vary. Verify the rate before putting arithmetic in writing.
Third-party collection of consumer debt triggers federal and state collection statutes. An original creditor collecting a commercial debt is usually outside them, but confirm rather than assume.
Never threaten what the client will not do. Threats of criminal referral or credit reporting you do not actually make can convert a collection matter into a counterclaim.

What comes back

A one-page letter: Re: line with the invoice number and amount, an opening sentence naming the amount and the due date, one facts paragraph tied to documents, today's total shown as arithmetic on its own line, a dated deadline with the court and filing fee named, two signable ways to comply with installment figures, sign-off, and enclosures. Followed by the four closing sections.

See an example of what you’ll get

Re: Invoice #2026-014, $5,000 past due since February 18, 2026 Maple & Vine Restaurant Group owes Riverbend Painting $5,000 on Invoice #2026-014, which came due on February 18, 2026 and is now 68 days late. The history is short. On December 1, 2025 you signed Riverbend's estimate to paint the dining room at 218 Maple Street (480 square feet at $14.25 per square foot, $6,840 total) and paid the $1,840 deposit the same day. Riverbend finished the work on January 18, 2026, and your manager signed the completion walkthrough that afternoon. Invoice #2026-014 issued the next day for the $5,000 balance on Net 30 terms. Riverbend followed up in writing on March 3 and again on March 28 and received no response. Amount due today: $5,083.84 $5,000.00 principal + $83.84 interest (9% statutory, 68 days: $5,000 × 0.09 × 68 ÷ 365) [UNVERIFIED - confirm the Oregon pre-judgment rate] The signed estimate contains no attorney-fee clause, so no fees are included in this demand. Riverbend will accept either of the following by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, May 11, 2026: 1. Payment of $5,083.84 by check or transfer; or 2. The enclosed installment agreement, signed and returned, for three payments of $1,694.61 on June 1 and July 1 and $1,694.62 on August 1. If neither arrives by that time, Riverbend will file in Multnomah County Small Claims Court as *Riverbend Painting LLC v. Maple & Vine Restaurant Group LLC*. The $66 filing fee and the cost of service are added to the judgment, along with interest that continues to run. Riverbend would rather have the account than the judgment. Call me at (503) 555-0144 or email d.reyes@reyeslawpdx.com and we can close this out this week. Sincerely, D. Reyes, for Riverbend Painting LLC Enclosures: Invoice #2026-014 · Signed estimate (12/1/25) · Signed completion walkthrough (1/18/26) · Installment agreement --- Assumptions I made. Oregon's pre-judgment rate is 9% and runs from the invoice due date [verify]. The $66 filing fee is current [verify]. "Maple & Vine Restaurant Group LLC" is the entity that signed the estimate rather than a trade name [verify - this determines who you sue]. Where this is weakest. "Your manager signed the completion walkthrough": if that person lacked authority, the whole completion fact is contested. And the interest line is only as good as the rate, which I could not verify. What only you can decide. Small claims caps at $10,000 here, needs no appearance, and generally will not recover your time; good for a clean $5,000 balance. A regular civil filing reaches fees where a contract provides them, but on a $5,000 debt the cost exceeds the recovery unless you have a fee clause you have not shown me. Also yours: whether to accept installments, which gets a signature and a written acknowledgment of the debt but pushes the money three months out. What would make this materially better. (1) The contract page showing any interest or fee clause. (2) The Oregon statutory rate confirmed. (3) Anything in writing where Maple & Vine acknowledged the balance: an email saying "we'll get to it" converts this from a disputed claim into a collection.

Why this prompt is built the way it is

## Framework 1. **The number opens the letter, then the facts in date order.** Who owes whom, how much, and the date it came due, not "I represent," not "this firm has been retained." Then signed estimate, invoice number, completion sign-off, and the follow-ups with their dates. Nothing enters the letter that is not in the file. 2. **Arithmetic a bookkeeper can check, fees only where something shifts them.** Principal, then interest shown as rate times days, then any recoverable cost, on one line adding to today's number. Attorney fees only on a named contract clause or statute; otherwise leave them out and say why in one line. 3. **A calendar deadline with a specific consequence.** The court, the filing fee, and what gets added to the judgment, not "we will pursue all available remedies." 4. **Two ways to say yes, at the temperature of the relationship.** Pay in full, or sign the attached installment agreement by the same date; both require a signature, both close the file. A contractor who wants the account back writes differently than one who is done. Neither threatens criminal referral, credit reporting they will not do, or a bar complaint.