An Assignment is a document that transfers the rights and benefits of an entire contract or part of a contract from one party to another.

For example, an IT firm accepts a contract to provide computer repair and maintenance services to a large environmental corporation. Later, the firm finds that the workload is too much for it to handle, so it assigns the contract to another company.

In other words, the assignor (the person or company who accepted the original contract) wants the assignee (the person or company that the assignor is getting to fulfil the contract) to undertake all of their contractual rights and obligations.

LawDepot's Assignment is available to use in the following Australian states and territories:

• Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
• New South Wales (NSW)
• Northern Territory (NT)
• Queensland (QLD)
• South Australia (SA)
• Tasmania (TAS)
• Victoria (VIC)
• Western Australia (WA)

An Assignment is sometimes referred to as a/an:

• Assignment Agreement
• Assignment of Contract
• Consent to Assignment of Contract
• Deed of Assignment

To assign your contract, you'll need to specify what you are assigning, such as:

• Income stream
• Personal property
• Contract rights

You should also include the full information (including name and address) of the assignor(s) and assignee(s), as well as if the Assignment is for the entirety of the contract or just a portion of the rights and obligations.

Assigning a contract to someone else does not necessarily relieve the assignor of liability. The original contract does not have to include a specific clause to keep the assignor liable.

In other words, the IT firm may still be responsible for the obligations of the contract, so if the other company that the IT firm chooses to complete the work indicated in the contract does not deliver, then the original IT firm may still be liable to ensure the work gets completed or face legal consequences.

You can include a clause in the Assignment to absolve yourself of either complete or partial responsibility to the original contract, provided all involved parties indicate that they agree by signing the Assignment.