Guides
Most documents fail on the last page, not on the clauses.
The commercial terms usually get attention because that is what people argue about while drafting. The parts that decide whether the document works — who the parties actually are, whether the schedules are attached, whether the execution block matches what the regime asks for — get filled in at the end, quickly, by whoever is nearest.
This is general information to help you prepare, not legal advice. Requirements differ by jurisdiction and change; where a document matters, take advice where it will be used.
Before you draft
Four questions that change everything downstream
Answering these after the draft exists means rewriting it. Answering them first takes ten minutes.
What is this document, really?
Is it a contract, or a deed? A licence, or an assignment? A letter of intent nobody intends to be binding, or a binding agreement with a soft name? The category decides the formalities, the witnesses and whether it can be signed electronically at all — and it is the first thing the engine asks you.
Who are the parties, legally?
Not the brand, not the group, not the person you have been emailing. The legal entity, with its registration number, and the individual who has authority to bind it. Getting this wrong produces a document that binds nobody you wanted bound.
Which law governs, and where does it perform?
These are two questions, not one. The governing law is a choice you make; where the agreement performs and where the parties are decides which formalities apply regardless of that choice — stamp duty follows the instrument and the place, not the clause you wrote.
What has to happen before anyone signs?
Board approval, a shareholder consent, a licence, a stamp bought and the agreement printed on it. Anything in this list that happens after signing is a problem discovered late — which is why a stamp declared as owed before sending holds the door in Rutba until it is on the paper.
Anatomy
The parts of an agreement, and what each is for
Not every document needs all of these, and a short agreement should stay short. But knowing what each part does is how you tell a missing section from a deliberate omission.
Title and date
What it is and when it takes effect. If the effective date differs from the signing date, say so here rather than leaving a reader to infer it from the pads.
Parties
Each party as a legal person: registered name, number, address, and the short name used for it throughout. Define it once and never vary it.
Recitals
The background — why the parties are here. Not operative: recitals explain, they do not oblige. Do not hide an obligation in one.
Definitions
The terms the agreement leans on, defined once. A defined term used before it is defined, or defined twice, is where ambiguity gets in.
Operative clauses
What each party must do. Obligations in the active voice with a named actor — "the Supplier shall", not "it is agreed that arrangements will be made".
Boilerplate
Notices, assignment, entire agreement, variation, governing law, forum. Dull until the day one of them decides the dispute.
Execution block
Where the document is actually executed. One block per party, capacity and date on the page, witness blocks where the document needs them.
Schedules
The specification, the price list, the service levels, the plan. Numbered, titled, referenced from the body, and attached — an unattached schedule is a hole in the agreement.
Annexures and exhibits
Documents produced elsewhere that the agreement adopts. Say what happens if one conflicts with the body, because eventually one will.
The last page
The execution block, done properly
This is the part that is typed in a hurry and the part that decides whether the document is executed. It is worth having a house version you reuse.
What each block needs
EXECUTED by ACME TRADING LIMITED (company number 01234567) acting by a director: Signature ______________________________ Name ______________________________ Capacity Director Date ______________________________ In the presence of: Witness signature ______________________ Witness name ______________________ Witness address ______________________ Occupation ______________________
The witness block belongs only where the document needs a witness — a deed almost always, an ordinary commercial contract almost never. Leaving an unused witness block on a contract is not fatal, but it invites the question of why nobody completed it.
What Rutba does with this When you place a signature pad, it is captioned with that party’s name and the capacity they are signing in, so the executed copy reads like the block above rather than like a floating image. Fields can be placed by clicking on the page or resolved from anchor text in the document, which means a house template with Signature ____ in the same place every time needs placing once.
Checklist
Before you send it
Print it, keep it beside the drafting, or steal it into your own house process. Nothing here is specific to Rutba.
The parties
- Every party named as it legally is — registered name, company number, registered office. Trading names identify a business, not a legal person.
- The right entity: the operating company, not the holding company, unless you mean the holding company.
- Individuals with their full legal name and an address, so they can be identified and served.
- Someone with authority signing for each party, in a stated capacity.
The substance
- What each side must do, by when, and what happens if they do not.
- Price, payment terms and what triggers an invoice — the second most litigated clause after termination.
- The term: when it starts, how long it runs, how it renews, and how either side gets out.
- Governing law and the forum for a dispute. Two parties in different countries with no clause have an argument about where to argue.
- Liability and its limits, stated as figures or formulas rather than adjectives.
The document itself
- One version, final, with track changes accepted and comments removed. A comment left in an executed PDF is a negotiation position in the permanent record.
- Pages numbered "page X of Y", so a missing page is visible.
- Every schedule numbered, titled, referenced from the body, and actually attached.
- Defined terms defined once and used consistently — no term defined twice with different meanings.
- No square brackets, no highlighted placeholders, no "[DATE]", no "TBC".
The execution block
- One block per party, with the party named above the line and the signatory named below it.
- A line for the capacity, and one for the date.
- A witness block under each signature that needs a witness — name, address, signature.
- If it is a deed, wording on its face that says so, and an attestation clause that matches the regime.
- No floating signature page: the execution block on the same page as the end of the operative text, or clearly continuous with it.
Before it goes out
- The category chosen honestly, so the jurisdiction check judges what the document actually is.
- Any stamp duty that must be paid before signing, paid — some regimes need the agreement printed on the stamp paper.
- The signing order set where order matters: principal before witness, junior before counter-signing officer.
- The effective date decided, and stated in the document rather than left to the signature dates.
- Where the executed original will live, and who is responsible for it.
Questions
Preparation questions
Can I draft the document in Rutba, or do I need to bring my own?
Either, and there is a third route: answer the questions in the drafting wizard and have the document composed for the jurisdiction it is for, arriving with its parties and signature blocks already placed. Otherwise upload a PDF, pick one out of Drive, or draft it in the shared word processor — negotiating with tracked changes, every version retained — then lock it and print it straight into the envelope. Whichever route, the bytes are pinned by hash the moment they enter and are never rewritten afterwards.
What if the document changes after I have sent it?
Send a revision. The new version lands beside its predecessor rather than replacing it, and the revision voids exactly the signatures it invalidates and re-runs those ceremonies — so nobody is ever recorded as having signed a document they did not see. The old version stays in the record, because pretending it never existed is the thing evidence is supposed to prevent.
Do I have to place the signature fields myself?
No. Rutba can place a captioned pad for each party in one click, or you can click exactly where you want them on the page, or resolve them from anchor text in the document. A house template with the same execution block every time is placed once and reused.
Can I reuse a document I send often?
Yes — save an envelope as a template and its documents, party slots, fields and defaults come back next time. Using a template copies the bytes into the new envelope, so every agreement still keeps its own pinned, immutable document set rather than signing whatever the template says today. There is also a small library of ready starters to add to your own templates on the first day — a mutual NDA, a freelance engagement, an acknowledgement, an offer of employment, a services agreement — each a starting point to read and adjust, never a document to send unread.
Will Rutba write the document for me?
Not yet. Guided forms that build a document from your answers — the common agreements, with the inputs each one actually needs — are planned. Today the drafting is yours, in the shared word processor or in whatever you already use.
Is this legal advice?
This is general information to help you prepare, not legal advice. Requirements differ by jurisdiction and change; where a document matters, take advice where it will be used.
Prepared properly, sent once, recorded permanently
Pay as you go per envelope, or one flat subscription for the organization. No seat counts, no charge to signers, no charge to verify.