Customer Reviews

Put It in Writing!: Creating Agreements Between Family and Friends

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a real lifesaver! It's definitely difficult to loan things to people and set up parameters without feeling too pushy. This book not only includes agreements for lending money and personal property, but it also includes stories and talking points for a variety of other situations as well. I really believe that the more I can think of to talk about up front the fewer misunderstandings I'll have down the road. This book is well thought out and researched and I'm sure I'll put it to many years of good use!

This book has surfaced two years too late. The year before my mother passed away was extremely difficult on all the immediate family members. My sister lived in the same town as our mother. My sister was naturally the go-to person for all her medical and life matters that arose that year. I live 1,700 miles away from them. This, as you can imagine, was extremely difficult on all of us. The situation created a lot of stress that still, sadly, exists long after my mother passed. I sincerely wish I had this book, and its agreement on aging parents, at the time. I truly believe this would have solved so many issues that we never saw coming. Everyone would have known what was expected of them. Ah, hindsight is better than foresight. Do yourself a favor and get this book. You never know what life will throw at you. Be prepared!

Almost everybody can use the advice in this book at some point, and should.

The advice: Before stepping into an arrangement with a friend or family member, take a moment to agree in writing. Or at least think it through using one of their excellent forms as a guide. Seemingly harmless arrangements get sticky fast.

Right on. The book could pay for itself 20 or 1000 times over.

Forms Provided:

1. Lending Money
2. Lending Personal Property
3. Temporary Residence/Grown Child Returns Home
4. Shared Parenting for Separated/Divorced Parents
5. Caring for Our Aging Parents
6. Safe Driving Parent --Teen Driver
7. Shared Pet/Pet Parenting
8. Lending Your Vacation Home
9. Personal Confidentiality
10. Roommate Agreement

It even has a form at the end -- *spoiler alert* -- that can be used as a basis for any agreement about anything.

So far, I give it 17 stars. If this was 1986 I'd leave it there.

But, no...The idea of photocopying these forms and filling in the little boxes and blank spaces with a ball point pen... it's so goofy I want to add 3 more stars.

In the real world, most people will need to tweak their photocopied forms. Cross out this. Need more space for that.

Plus, these are agreements. Expect some back and forth. More cross-outs and adjustments. Edited on paper, your agreement will soon be a tangled illegible mess. Rinse. Repeat.

The authors do not provide a way to pull their excellent forms into your word processor for modification. (You can buy PDF copies at their Web site, but didn't I already pay for these?) It would be nice if owners of the book had an access code for free electronic copies.

This is why I must reluctantly subtract 16 stars, leaving 4 lean but un-dented stars.

Better to have good advice delivered by smoke signal, than bad advice delivered in the right format.

I don't subtract anything for the cheesy trademarked phrases --"Sane Approach to an Emotional Issue (TM)" etc., etc. -- that litter each form. You're going to hand-type the forms anyway, so who cares?

Readers who know about a secret resource called Google, can find agreement forms for free. Including forms for a lot of situations that are not covered in this book. Some not as nice as Hutchinson & Toler's, but at least you can Copy...Paste them into Word without typing for 20 minutes.

Just one person's honest viewpoint. Read the others too, with special attention to the shiny 5-star reviews from people who were so impressed they chose this book as their very first amazon review!

Length:: 1:27 Mins

This is a video I did to encourage everyone to purchase Put It In Writing by Deborah Hutchison and Judge Lynn Toler.

This book is most helpful because it covers nearly anything and everything that one might encounter in his/her lifetime when it comes to interacting with friends, family, associates, co-workers, business partners, etc.

The book can save you a great deal of time, money, friendship, and/or relationship by making official agreements, understanding clearly, & concisely, what is expected of each other. That's why it's so important to "Put It (ALL) In Writing." The two authors are absolutely brilliant. Got to love them!

Congratulations, Deborah Hutchison & Judge Lynn Toler!

I found most helpful in writing some ordinary phrases particularly in faMILY AND friends agreement

"Put It in Writing!" is easy to read and easy to use. It provides a common sense approach to agreements between family members, friends and casual business associates. I highly recommend this book to help avoid missunderstandings in any basic agreement.