Severance and release agreement template
Exits are the documents people most often reuse without reading. goHeather asks who is leaving, on what terms and where they work, builds the agreement around those answers, and explains every clause before it goes anywhere near the employee.
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- Timing questions asked, not assumed
- Every clause explained as you go
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What is a Severance and Release Agreement?
A payment, in exchange for closing the file
A severance agreement pays a departing employee something, and in exchange the employee agrees not to bring claims about the employment or how it ended. It is sometimes called a separation agreement, a release, or a settlement agreement — the names get used loosely.The exchange is the whole point of the document. The payment has to be something the person was not already going to receive, because the release is what the business is buying. Wages already earned and anything already owed sit outside that trade.It is also the employment document with the most moving parts around timing and wording, and the one where reusing an old file without checking causes the most trouble. That is why goHeather asks a set of questions before it builds anything.
What often goes wrong in a severance agreement
Patterns that come up again and again, and how goHeather handles them.
Reusing the last severance file
- The timing in the template is whatever it was for the last person, who was in a different situation
- The release has no exceptions because the original never had any
- Confidentiality and non-disparagement cover everything, drafted years ago and never revisited
- Severance and wages already owed are mixed into a single number
- The equity paragraph says something the plan documents do not
Building it with goHeather
- goHeather asks about the employee and the circumstances before it builds anything
- Carve-out language is in the draft rather than left out by default
- Confidentiality terms are flagged as an area that has moved, with alternatives shown
- What is already owed is separated from what is being offered
- Every clause is explained in plain English before the document goes out
From blank page to signed severance agreement
goHeather is not a template download. It is a contract builder that walks you through the document, powered by the latest AI models.
- Start
Start from scratch or from a template
Describe the deal in your own words, or pick a Severance and Release Agreement template and work from there. Either way goHeather builds the document with you rather than handing you a file to fill in.
- Answer
Answer questions as it drafts
goHeather asks who the parties are, what the deal covers and where you operate, and writes each clause around your answers as you go.
- Review
See every clause explained
Each clause comes with a plain-English summary of what it does, so you know what the document says before you send it.
- Negotiate
Check what comes back
Upload the other side’s edits and goHeather shows each change against the version you sent, flagged by risk.
- Sign
Send it for signature
Collect e-signatures and keep the executed copy, the key dates and the renewal terms in one place.
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Who needs a Severance and Release Agreement
Where this document usually shows up, and what else goHeather covers there.
- HR
Exits and reductions in force
Group exits carry extra questions that individual ones do not. goHeather asks whether this is one person or part of a wider program.
See contract AI for HR teams
- In-house legal
Reviewing a negotiated exit
Senior exits arrive with counsel on the other side. See what changed in their redline before you respond.
See contract AI for in-house counsel - Compare
Check the employee's redline
When the employee's attorney sends the agreement back, compare it with what you sent and see every change in one list.
Compare two versions of a document - Related
The agreement that started it
What the person signed at hire shapes what still applies after they leave. goHeather keeps both together.
See the employment contract template
Your contracts stay yours
A Severance and Release Agreement carries names, numbers and terms you would not want shared. goHeather protects every document you draft or upload with enterprise-grade controls, end-to-end encryption and trusted AI providers.
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Building a severance agreement with goHeather
goHeather is a technology company, not a law firm, and this page is not legal advice. It describes what our software does. Nothing here states the law or tells you what your contract needs — for that, talk to an attorney licensed where you operate.
The only reason to pay severance is to close the matter, which makes this the document where the details matter most and where reusing an old file is riskiest. The sections below cover what goHeather asks before it builds one, what it flags in a draft you upload, and how a group exit differs from a single one.
What goHeather covers in a Severance and Release Agreement
These are the parts of a Severance and Release Agreement goHeather asks you about while it builds one, and the parts it looks at when you upload one somebody else sent. It is a description of what the product does — not a checklist for your document, and not a view on what yours needs.
- Separation date and final pay. The last day, and confirmation of what is being paid regardless of whether the person signs. goHeather flags: final pay and severance blurred into one figure, which goHeather separates so the exchange is clear on the face of the document.
- The severance payment. What is being offered, how it is calculated and when it is paid. goHeather flags: an offer made up entirely of things the person was already going to get, which goHeather raises as a question for counsel.
- Release of claims. What the employee agrees not to pursue in exchange for the payment. goHeather flags: a release written with no exceptions at all, since some form of carve-out language appears in almost every agreement of this kind.
- Timing and signing windows. How long the employee has to consider the agreement, and whether there is a period to change their mind afterwards. goHeather flags: timing that does not match the answers you gave goHeather about the employee, with the alternative shown beside it.
- Confidentiality of the agreement. Whether the employee may discuss the terms, and with whom. goHeather flags: confidentiality written broadly enough to cover anything the person might say, an area that has changed a good deal recently.
- Non-disparagement. An agreement about negative statements, ideally running both ways. goHeather flags: a clause binding the individual while leaving the organization free to say what it likes, so you can decide whether that is what you intended.
- Benefits and continuing coverage. When health coverage ends, what happens to equity, and what the employee needs to do next. goHeather flags: terms about equity that do not match the plan documents, which goHeather raises because the two often contradict each other.
- Continuing obligations and references. Which earlier agreements carry on, and what the employer will say if someone calls for a reference. goHeather flags: a reference commitment with no named contact and no agreed wording, which tends not to survive contact with reality.
- Return of property and cooperation. Returning devices and credentials, and any agreement to help with a handover afterwards. goHeather flags: an open-ended duty to assist with no time limit and no expenses, which goHeather flags as something the other side usually pushes back on.
The questions that come before any drafting
goHeather will not build a severance agreement from a name and a number, because too much of the document depends on circumstances. It asks who is leaving and where they work. It asks their age, because the timing it builds in changes depending on the answer. It asks whether this is one person or part of a wider reduction, because group exits carry questions individual ones do not.
Then the commercial side: what is being offered, how it was calculated, what the person is owed regardless, whether health coverage is being subsidised, and what happens to any equity.
Only then does it write. Each clause appears with a plain-English summary, and where an answer you gave changes something in the document, it says so. If you then upload an old agreement to compare, it will flag the places where the old file and your answers disagree.
- Who is leaving, where they work, and their age
- Whether this is an individual exit or part of a group
- What is being offered, and what is owed regardless
- Benefits, coverage and anything outstanding on equity
- Whether there is an existing dispute in the background
Keeping the trade visible on the face of the document
A severance agreement is an exchange, and the exchange only makes sense if it is clear what is being given that the person would not otherwise get. Wages already earned, accrued time off where it is payable, expenses and anything already vested are not part of the trade.
Reused templates tend to blur this, rolling everything into one figure so nobody can see what is actually being offered. goHeather separates them, stating plainly what will be paid regardless of whether the person signs and describing the severance itself as the additional amount.
That clarity helps in two directions. It makes the document easier for the employee to understand, which makes it easier to get signed, and it makes the structure of the deal obvious to whoever reviews it afterwards.
The part of these agreements that has changed most
Confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in exit agreements look quite different now from how they looked a decade ago, and the direction of travel has been consistent: narrower. Clauses written in older templates routinely cover more ground than businesses now put in front of departing employees.
goHeather treats this as an area to flag rather than one to decide. When you upload an agreement with a clause covering anything the person might ever say, it points that out, shows a version with the exceptions that commonly appear now, and notes that this is a topic worth raising with counsel.
It also asks whether there is a dispute in the background, because the answer affects how these clauses are usually approached. Where there is, goHeather says plainly that the document should be reviewed by an employment attorney before it is sent.
Why goHeather asks whether anyone else is leaving
A reduction affecting several people is not the same exercise as a single negotiated exit, and the difference shows up in the paperwork. There are additional questions about how people were selected and what has to go alongside the offer, and the timing typically looks different from an individual departure.
goHeather asks the question early, because the answer changes what it builds and what it asks you next. If you tell it this is part of a wider program, it will prompt for the information a group exit needs rather than producing an individual agreement with the wrong shape.
Group exits are also the clearest case for professional advice. The cost of getting the process wrong across twenty people is twenty times the cost of getting it wrong once, and goHeather will say so rather than implying the document is all you need.
Why goHeather asks so many questions before building this one
Severance agreements have more moving parts than almost any other employment document, and more of those parts depend on facts about the individual and the place. Timing, the wording of the release, what can and cannot be made confidential, and what has to be said alongside the offer all shift depending on who is leaving, where they work and whether they are the only one. The ground has also moved noticeably in recent years, particularly around what a departing employee can be asked to keep quiet about. goHeather asks the questions up front — who, where, why, one person or several — and builds to those answers, flagging anything in a document you upload that looks out of step with them. It does not tell you whether a release will do what you want it to. That is a question for an employment attorney licensed where the person works, and severance is the document where it is most worth asking.
Before you go. goHeather is a technology company, not a law firm. We do not provide legal advice, legal opinions, or any view on whether a contract or a clause will hold up. Everything above describes what our software does when you build or upload a document. Rules differ from state to state and change over time, and what is right for your business depends on facts we do not have. Have an attorney licensed where you operate review anything that matters.
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severance agreement template questions
What people ask before they build a Severance and Release Agreement.
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