Contracts module guide

This Contracts module guide covers how Lextree tracks a contractual relationship — its parties, the documents that make it up, the obligations it creates, and the dates that follow from all three. (It tracks the relationship and its compliance dates, not redlining or negotiation.) A policy referenced as a defined term inside an agreement connects to the Policies module.

The Contracts List and Parties

The Contracts List

Open Contracts from the left navigation to see every contract you can access, with its classification, key dates, and status. Filter with the row beneath the headers, and select rows to Export. Every contract needs a name distinct from any single document’s title — typically what the deal is for plus an abbreviated party, such as “Florida Facilities Landscaping — ABC Landscape.”

Contract Parties

A Contract Party is any organization or person named in the agreement, including one of your own entities, recorded with its party role under the contract — buyer, service provider, licensor, guarantor, and similar designations. A contract can name several parties, and the same record shape applies no matter which entity in the relationship a given party is.

Contract Documents and Key Dates

The Contract Document Register

Each contract keeps a chronological Contract Document register: the original agreement, amendments, statements of work, notices, and terminations, each its own row recorded by document type and effective date. Exhibits and schedules attach to the row they support rather than filing as rows of their own, and the files themselves attach via Attachments.

How Contract Dates Are Set

A contract’s effective and expiration dates aren’t typed directly onto the contract — they’re set by the register. The document that established the contract’s start, ordinarily the original agreement, sets the effective date, and any document that sets or moves the end date, such as an amendment or extension, sets the expiration date; the contract reflects whichever document most recently set it. See contract date definitions for how this expiration date, a contract’s separate notice deadline, and its termination date each drive a different decision.

Tracking Contract Obligations

Each contract also keeps a register of Contract Obligations — the duties, rights, and restrictions extracted from the signed agreement. Every obligation records its nature (a duty a party must perform, a right a party may exercise, or a restriction a party must not do without consent), its obligor, a next due or deadline date, and its own status: Satisfied, Breached, Cured, Exercised, Lapsed, Waived, or Expired. Add an event on an obligation’s next-due date to keep a renewal or notice window from passing quietly. A dispute over a contract’s terms links back to it from the Matters module, so the agreement and the litigation over it stay connected.

Creating and Reviewing a Contract

Creating a Contract

Creating or editing contracts requires Editor access to the Contracts module.

1. From the Contracts list, click New.
2. Enter the contract’s unique name, classification, and category.
3. Click Save, then open the record to add parties, the original agreement document, obligations, and renewal reminders.

Contract Workflow Templates

Two workflow templates ship with Contracts. New Contract Intake, launched from the contract list, creates the contract and then directs you to add its parties and its original agreement document. Contract Renewal Decision is suggested 120 days before an in-force contract’s expiration date, so the renewal call gets made with time to act on it. (Workflow templates are available on Business and Enterprise plans.)

Who Can Access Contracts

• Viewing requires access to the Contracts module.
• Creating or editing requires Editor access.

On Enterprise plans, access group scoping limits the list to contracts within your assigned access groups.