A: A contract is an agreement between parties on how they are going to conduct business with each other. What is written in the contract is crucial to being able to determine what the agreement of the parties truly is. Contracts are all about the words on the page and what they say exactly. A well-drafted contract will make the responsibilities of both parties very clear. A notice provision in a contract typically will say how much time a party has to give notice to the other party before the contract is terminated. This is different than what a term provision will say. For example, sometimes contracts will have language that says a contract cannot be terminated before the expiration of a certain time period. In that case, if one party terminates the agreement, full payment of the contract is still required to be made even if the service is not rendered. Other times, the term set forth in the agreement (e.g. 15 months) serves as a guarantee of price and other terms in the agreement. For example, "Contractor agrees to perform cleaning services to the Buyer for 15 months, at $XXX per month. At the end of the term, this contract will auto renew and will continue month to month until terminated by either party." Proration is a term that is used to describe when a partial payment can be made. If the contract does not allow for proration and instead gives a monthly payment, then the full monthly payment would be due. Contracts are all about what is written specifically in the contract. If terms are missing there can be interpretation of what the parties actually meant.