If someone owes you money or you paid for service, and they did not perform the promised work. You purchased something that doesn’t work or you disagree with an individual or a company, and informal efforts to resolve your dispute fail, the best solution is to write a demand letter. Drafting one might help persuade the other person to give you what you want.

A demand letter is an official letter with a written request sent to the recipient to demand payment, or action, or reach a settlement out of court.  Once the recipient receives such a letter, he also received a legal obligation. The person needs to resolve an issue such as acting on a contract they agreed upon.  The goal of a LOD is to resolve the issue without going to court to dispute it.

If you’ve already spoken to the person but you still haven’t come to a solution, then there’s no harm in sending a letter. You can browse through a vast library of CocoSign free downloadable demand letters templates that you can directly edit, print, sign, and use for any purpose as per your liking.

You may submit the letter in person or send it in the mail. But if the letter comes back to you unopened, then maybe your records are already outdated. For the demand letter to stand in court the recipient must have officially received it. 

Writing the Demand Letter Online

Prior to writing the letter, think about your relationship with the person who owes the money. Is it a friend, relative,contractor, or business? How important is it to keep a good personal relationship with them? Will you have any future interactions? By asking yourself these questions, you’ll be able to determine the letter’s tone.  While writing, remember to stick to the facts and display as little emotion as possible.

For preparations, in case the other party doesn’t respond to the demand letter, it’s crucial to keep a detailed record and copies of all your communications with the other person or company. Whenever you have a conversation with the other person, write down the date, time, their name, and the context of all your conversations about the problem. Keep a copy of all contracts, bills, invoices, correspondence, statements, and so on. 

In the following section, you’ll find specific tools that will help you in researching, editing, and more to help you write your content online.

  • CocoSign 

cocosign

While anyone can write a demand letter, we recommend getting your attorney involved for legal advice. You use the free demand letter template by CocoSign. It should give you more insight into how a demand letter looks and help you create an acceptable formal letter. There are 10+ different types of demand that might suit your needs.

How do I write and send a demand letter?

  • Type your letter. 
  • Concisely review the main facts. State detailed facts in the order they happened.
  • Be polite. Don’t attack the other party, it’ll reduce your chances of resolving the dispute.
  • Ask for exactly what you want. For example, I need you to refund my want $2,000 you borrowed.
  • Set a deadline and give the other party a specific date to respond to your letter. 
  • End the letter by stating you will promptly pursue legal remedies if the other party does not meet your demand.
  • Send your letter by regular and certified mail with a return receipt requested. 

  • Google Docs 

Google Docs should be your go-to word processor when typing your demand letter online. You can easily access the document on separate computers and all of your changes are automatically saved as you type. I have also found Google Docs one of the easiest programs to use to create PDF eBooks. There are a wide variety of templates to choose from.

  • Grammarly

Good grammar is key when writing official documents that you can present in court. You can use the Grammarly extension which makes suggestions when crafting the demand letter, whether in Google Docs, email, WordPress, etc. Even if you’re a professional editor, it is quite useful in quickly highlighting issues. You can then either accept the tool’s recommendations or choose otherwise.

The free version will catch glaring errors, and there’s a paid upgrade if you’re looking for more help on sentence structure and complex grammar issues.

  • WebFX Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test Tool

Demand letter content readability plays a huge role in ensuring you deliver the message in a concise and understandable manner. Approximately, 781 million people worldwide are affected by functional illiteracy, meaning that “a person can read or write, but at a level that is inadequate for ordinary needs. If you aren’t keen on your demand letter reading levels, the recipient might find your message unintentionally hard to grasp. Avoid legal jargon, instead, aim for a Grade 5 to 8 reading level style.

  • Thesaurus.com

If you are using online templates full of ambiguous words, the first thing to do is to edit and customize them to your liking.  That’s where Thesaurus comes in. It helps you find synonyms and related terms hence it’ll help your demand letter to be clear and topical relevant without repeating the same few words over and over. It makes the letter easy to understand, and richer once presented to the court. 

  • BuzzSumo

Before you consider writing a demand letter, first, you need to research and understand what it is all about and find out what’s out there. Who else has used a demand letter before? How effective is it? How can I write an effective demand letter and so on? BuzzSumo gives you a few searches each month with the free version.

It shows you which articles, legal documents, and other content were most shared over a specific period of time, based on your keyword term.

  • Cliche Finder

Cliche Finder helps you eliminate cliches from your demand letter so that your messages hit the right notes instead of sounding just like everyone else’s. The letter needs to communicate the need for urgency to act upon the demand or else legal actions will be taken.

Paste your text into the tool, click the Find Cliches button, then see a version of your text with any cliches highlighted in bold, red text. Make the edits in your original document, especially in places where you’re using a phrase that may need to be re-worded for originality or clarity.

  • Copyscape

In matters that can lead to legal procedures, it’s always crucial to keep the required document, authentic and original to avoid serious offenses. Your demand letter should be original and never published by anyone, for the recipient to take it seriously. When you copy and paste someone else demand letter template intentionally or inadvertently, it can lead to the recipient ignoring your demand. To keep your content as original as possible, use Copyscape.

Conclusion 

Creating a demand letter online doesn’t have to be a chore. Try out these writing tools and develop your own go-to arsenal of helpers to make your demand letter stronger and more effective. An effective demand letter shows the other party you’re serious about the matter at hand. In many cases, it causes them to give in to your demand.