Contract/Policy: 2 week deposit wording

[MarinaVanessa]

So I've been updating my policies and contract ... again ... and I need help with wording. I've decided that all full and part time clients will pay a full FT 2 weeks deposit. The way I have it right now says that every client gives a deposit equivalent to 2 weeks worth of care so FT clients pays $330 and part time clients pay a deposit worth whatever two weeks of care comes out to be at the time that they sign up.

So far it's worked out that my FT have only ever decreased their hours and moved to PT and when they leave I put their deposit towards their last 2 weeks of care and give them a refund for whatever is left.

Recently my PT client has moved to FT care and might/might not be moving and even though I doubt she'd have an issue paying for the part that isn't covered by her 2 week deposit I don't want to keep myself exposed if another client isn't as agreeable. I also don't want to hassle with refunding/asking for more money each time a client increases or decreases their hours since sometimes clients change their hours 2 or more times a year.

The problem I'm having is feeling comfortable with saying that the 2 week deposit is nonrefundable yet that's not really true if they're PT clients since they will get back whatever excess portion of the 2 week deposit that isn't covered on their contract. Make sense?

So how do I word it so it's not super confusing? EDIT: and that will hold up in court in case someone wants to point out that it's "nonrefundable but not really" type of thing.

[daycare]

I do it the same as you for FT and PT

then I say should you increase your hours from PT to FT you will need to increase your deposit.

I also quit giving a credit towards the last two weeks. My parents pay monthly and I just hold it until the very last day.

if they are all up to date on their fees, then on their exit day I refund the money.

is this what you mean?>

[Blackcat31]

So I've been updating my policies and contract ... again ... and I need help with wording. I've decided that all full and part time clients will pay a full FT 2 weeks deposit. The way I have it right now says that every client gives a deposit equivalent to 2 weeks worth of care so FT clients pays $330 and part time clients pay a deposit worth whatever two weeks of care comes out to be at the time that they sign up.

So far it's worked out that my FT have only ever decreased their hours and moved to PT and when they leave I put their deposit towards their last 2 weeks of care and give them a refund for whatever is left.

Recently my PT client has moved to FT care and might/might not be moving and even though I doubt she'd have an issue paying for the part that isn't covered by her 2 week deposit I don't want to keep myself exposed if another client isn't as agreeable. I also don't want to hassle with refunding/asking for more money each time a client increases or decreases their hours since sometimes clients change their hours 2 or more times a year.

The problem I'm having is feeling comfortable with saying that the 2 week deposit is nonrefundable yet that's not really true if they're PT clients since they will get back whatever excess portion of the 2 week deposit that isn't covered on their contract. Make sense?

So how do I word it so it's not super confusing? EDIT: and that will hold up in court in case someone wants to point out that it
s "nonrefundable but not really" type of thing.

"All families will be required to pay a NON-refundable deposit of $330.

Families that are enrolled on a part time basis will have the remaining portion of the fee returned to them AFTER the funds are applied to the final two weeks of care."

[MarinaVanessa]

I do it the same as you for FT and PT

then I say should you increase your hours from PT to FT you will need to increase your deposit.

I also quit giving a credit towards the last two weeks. My parents pay monthly and I just hold it until the very last day.

if they are all up to date on their fees, then on their exit day I refund the money.

is this what you mean?>

Yes that's what I mean ... I just got tired of having to refund money each time a FT client went down to PT and having to ask for more money when they moved from PT to FT, same for PT families that increased or decreased their hours, changed to earlier pick up times etc. I seriously had several families go back and forth like this twice a year ... factor that by 4 families and I was refunding/charging every other month, it just became a hassle for me so I just never refunded or asked for more money until they put in their 2 weeks notice but then I had issues with having to pull out their contracts to show them the amount of deposit they paid me. Having everyone pay the same amount solves that issue.

My clients pay weekly and I prefer that than monthly but they can pay as much in advance as they want but it's optional. So far none of my clients have ever wanted to pay monthly, sometimes 2 weeks in advance but not much more than that.

[MarinaVanessa]

"All families will be required to pay a NON-refundable deposit of $330.

Families that are enrolled on a part time basis will have the remaining portion of the fee returned to them AFTER the funds are applied to the final two weeks of care."

See ... I was making the wording too complicated. Thank you for simplifying it for me. That's perfect. I think I'm making things too complicated by worrying about the "non-refundable" wording and refunding PT clients for the unused portion.