How to Create a Demand Letter with Heavyweight

Updated

Heavyweight (heavyweight.cc) is a free browser tool that formats a professional-looking demand letter without claiming any real legal authority. You fill in a recipient, a topic, and a sender identity, adjust a few tone settings, and it renders a letter you can download as a PDF. It fits situations where you want a letter to look serious — a repair request, a deposit dispute, a nudge to a slow client — but you are not actually invoking a lawyer or a court.

The tool is built by artist WTTDOTM and lawyer Kendra Albert, and its own tagline is "All of the gravitas, none of the fees." That framing matters: the output is a formatting exercise, not legal advice or a real legal threat.

What you need before you start

  • A recipient: either a named company from the built-in list or a custom name you type in.
  • A topic for the letter.
  • Sender details: who the letter is from, and the firm-style fields Heavyweight asks for.
  • A way to save the result — the tool produces a PDF you can download.

Step-by-step

1. Set the recipient

Use the Recipient field to say who the letter is going to. Heavyweight ships with presets you can pick instead of typing:

  • Custom
  • Delta
  • Amazon
  • Tesla
  • Landlord
  • Repair Request (example)

Choosing a preset fills the recipient slot for you; choosing Custom lets you enter your own. The example entries (Repair Request, Workplace, Overdue Client, Security Deposit Request) double as starting points if you are not sure how to phrase things.

2. Choose the topic

The Topic field is the subject line of the letter. Built-in options include:

  • Repair Request (example)
  • Workplace (example)
  • Overdue Client (Generic Template)
  • Security Deposit Request (Generic Template)

Pick the one closest to your situation, or write your own subject if you are using a custom recipient.

3. Fill in the sender and firm details

This is where Heavyweight does most of its work. You provide:

  • Firm — who is sending the letter.
  • Snootiness — a dial that changes how pompous the letter reads.
  • # of Partners — how many partners the "firm" has.
  • Floor — the floor number of the office.
  • Age of firm — how long the firm has supposedly existed.
  • You — who the letter is written on behalf of, with a title selector (Mr., Ms., Mx.).

The # of Partners, Floor, and Age of firm fields are the ones that create the impression of an established practice. A higher partner count, a high floor, and an old firm all push the letter toward "large, entrenched, expensive." A single partner on a low floor at a young firm reads much smaller.

4. Adjust the tone

The Snootiness setting is the main lever for how the letter sounds. Raising it makes the language more formal and self-important; lowering it keeps things plainer. Pair it with the partner count — a high snootiness value and a large partner count together produce the most imposing version, while a low snootiness value with one partner reads like a normal person writing firmly.

5. Generate, then export

Once the fields are set, use Update to render the letter. From there you can:

  • Download PDF to save the finished letter.
  • Upload Past PDF if you want to bring in a previously generated file.

The rendered letter uses placeholder-style blocks for the recipient name and address, and signs off with a generic name and "Sincerely." You will want to replace those with real details before sending.

What the output actually is

Heavyweight's own description is explicit: it "uses the power of document formatting to make important-looking letters that never actually claim legal authority." The letter looks like it came from a firm — letterhead conventions, partner counts, floor numbers — but it does not assert that anyone is a lawyer or that legal action is coming.

Treat it as a presentation tool. It is useful when the look of a formal letter is what gets a response, and inappropriate if you need an actual legal demand.

Common snags

  • Placeholder text left in. The generated letter contains dummy names and addresses. If you download and send without editing, the recipient sees "Nammeeee" and "Addressssss."
  • Overdoing the snootiness. Maxing out every field makes the letter read as parody rather than serious. Match the tone to the actual stakes.
  • Expecting legal weight. Nothing in the tool creates a legal obligation or threat. If your situation needs real legal force, this is not the instrument.
  • No account or payment step is described on the page. The site presents the tool directly; there is no pricing information given, so do not assume anything about cost beyond what the page states.