Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Written rules

[David G Adams (dadams]

Gareth Fenley wrote about partnerships and problems in his Atlanta group.

Currently Cornerstone is operating as a partnership as well, as I think most 
groups do in the formation stages.  Incorporating is a somewhat expensive 
process, and requires overhead of filing government forms, etc.  We 
definitely will incorporate before we sign any large (> $10,000 or so) 
contracts.  The exception to this rule is the Cohousing Center, who have 
kindly agreed in writing to not charge us any fees not already paid if we 
were to disband for some reason.  So while we are spending money and doing a 
lot of work, we are not yet incurring any large liability that I can see.  

Effectively we have the same problem as the Gareth's Group in that we want 
new members to sign the same Joint Venture Agreement we did.  Unfortunately 
Joint Ventures imply "joint and several" liability.  The good news for us is 
that the Joint Venture agreement has very explicit escape clauses and 
dissolution rules, which look like they cover all the bases.  

We borrowed meat of the agreement from one of the Amhearst / Noho groups.  
We also borrowed their lawyer.  I will try to get the computer copy of the 
agreement if anyone wants a copy EMailed.

Dave Adams
Cornerstone

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  |\/\/\/|  David G. Adams   
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