An agency agreement is a set of promises made by a business. Before a family signs, it helps to confirm that the business named in the agreement is the business that holds the registration and carries the insurance, and that the person signing can bind it. This guide covers the paperwork questions that come before the terms are read line by line.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Read the names line by line

Compare the legal name on the agreement with the name on the state business registration and the name printed on the agency letterhead. If the agreement uses a trade name, ask for the legal name behind it. Check the street address and the main phone line on each document. A mismatch is not automatically a problem, but it is a question to put in writing before anything is signed.

Confirm who signs for the agency

Ask who has authority to sign for the business, and get the answer in writing. The signer should appear as an owner, officer, or manager in the registration or in the agency's own records. A sales representative who signs without that authority is a point to raise. Ask for a complete copy of the signed agreement, not a summary.

Find out which document controls

Agreements often attach a service schedule, a house rules page, a privacy notice, and a care plan. Ask which document controls if two of them disagree. Ask whether each attachment is listed by title in the agreement and whether each one is in the packet the family receives. A listed attachment that is missing from the packet is a gap to close before signing.

Check how changes are made

Ask how the agreement can be changed. Changes should be in writing and signed by a person with the same authority as the original signer. Ask whether a phone conversation can change anything in the agreement, and who keeps the master copy. Ask how the family receives the updated copy so the household is never working from an older version.

Checklist before signing

Confirm that the legal name matches across the agreement, the registration, and the letterhead. Confirm the signer can show authority to bind the business. Confirm every attachment is listed and in hand. Confirm the order of precedence is written down. Confirm changes must be written and signed. Confirm the family holds a complete signed copy.

What this guide does not do

This guide does not explain the legal meaning of any clause. A family that wants a second reading of an agreement can ask a licensed attorney. For how the desk builds its comparisons before any agreement is read, see How We Rate: Methodology. Health questions go to the family's doctor.