Cohousing-L Mailing List: Legalise & Plain English -- Bylaws and investments

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> The CC&Rs and By Laws are written in "legalese" reflecting their origin with 
> our attorney, the Villager's Guide is in a more personal but still 
> professional style. 

I recently researched Plain English in legal documents for neighbor who is a 
single parent trying to set up legal guardianship and financial oversight for 
her daughter in the event of her death or disability. 

The document her lawyer prepared is totally incomprehensible. I was grievance 
chair, president, and board member of an AFL-CIO Union and have extensive 
experience writing policies for a new college. I like sorting out language so i 
do a lot of it. I could not understand in any way what any of the sections 
related to custody meant. What was supposed to happen? Who was to take custody? 
Keep custody? Which person had the child and which the money? Not even that was 
clear.

Without the document, her friends would have contacted her family and done the 
logical thing. With the document,  not only would no one know what to do but 
they would be afraid to do anything because they might be doing something 
illegal.

This is totally unnecessary and there are many guides for lawyers that assure 
them they do not have to use 19th century boilerplate language in order to 
write a legal document. The court will not invalidate the document -- well, 
some courts will do anything but the Plain English movement is very old now. 
Lawyers who have not studied it should be embarrassed. 

You can insist on Plain English documents and choose a lawyer using this as a 
criterion. You can also take what you are given and translate it (if you can), 
a good check to see if you understand it.

A Plain English will as an example:
http://estate.findlaw.com/wills/sample-basic-will-annotated.html

_Plain English for Lawyers_ by Richard Wydick is in its 5th edition and used 
for 25 years in law schools.
 http://www.amazon.com/Plain-English-Lawyers-5th-Edition/dp/1594601518

The University of Massachusetts has brief list of tips on drafting laws for 
communities that will give you sense of how cities can use Plain English. If 
they can, you can:
http://www.umass.edu/masscptc/tips_on_drafting.html

Plain English Bylaws from a non-profit organization that are probably much less 
detailed than condominium bylaws need to be they are a good example of 
readability, even colloquial language in a legal document:
http://www.advmca.org/organization/bylaws_in_plain_english.php

And finally the website of a legal firm that represents condominiums, believes 
in Plain English. Lots of information posted. Some recommendations will be more 
restrictive than cohousers think they need but ......
http://www.davis-stirling.com/AmendingDocuments/tabid/1317/Default.aspx#axzz2dHo5G1Zt

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org