The following documents have helped us a great deal. We are posting the documents here solely as a service, and accept no responsibility regarding the use or misuse of these documents. You may or may not like them, and they may or may not help you. Odds are they will give you a fairly solid starting point... give you some ideas... and should save you some money if you want to have your attorney edit them for your own personal use.

NOTE: You MUST Agree to ALL of the following terms and conditions in order to use these documents in any fashion:

1. Use the document(s) at your own risk. 
2. PBG and the Mercer's assume no liability or responsibility that the document(s) are suitable for any purpose what so ever, and do not guarantee or warranty any of the document(s) are legally binding in all (or any) states or countries. 
3. The document(s) are intended as guidelines for honest, ethical, and business-like relationships which the document(s)  may or may not help accomplish - legally, morally, or in any other fashion. 
4. Under no circumstances may you (or anyone else) resell any of these documents.
5. Under no circumstances may you copy or post any document(s) on this web site to another web site, or any publication, or use for any purpose other than that of your own personal/aviary use with individual legal council by a lawyer in your state or geographical area. 
6. You agree to NOT resell or commercially distribute (with or without a charge) any of the document(s), and/or any document(s) derived from or because of these documents.
7. You agree NOT to create ANY links over the Internet directly to this page or to any of the documents, without the prior written permission from Terry E. Mercer and/or PBG.
8. You MAY take these documents to an attorney for legal editing for your personal and/or aviary's use.
9. You MUST use, edit and/or alter these documents at your own risk.

If there are any typos, grammar, or legal errors within any of these documents please notify us. Although we bare no liability for any such problem(s), we endeavor to have the best and most accurate information possible. We don't want to knowingly distribute (even in the draft form) any information that is known to be flawed, incomplete, or have legal problems. Therefore, your feedback is both encouraged and appreciated.

Next, it is important to explain to people (you are doing business with) that you want things in writing to help eliminate any miscommunication and misunderstanding in the future. In addition, written agreements will give both parties some legal protection and security. These documents are written to be MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL - to protect both parties!
It is important to always have equally punitive and beneficial agreements. If you are honest and sure, then there shouldn't be any problem (from your side) having things in writing and having some stiff penalties if you did lie or was purposely dishonest.

Also, even with the prior explanation, you will need to realize that the average person will NOT sign one of these agreements as they are written. Encourage edits, and learn what can and can NOT be edited without making the document worthless. Get a sense of what the person you are dealing with is really like.

In addition, I have found that just sending people the "legal" documents (even with a justifiable reason and prior warning) gives me a great deal of insight in how a person  will do business with me, whether as a buyer or seller. There are ONLY a few reasons that a person will not put stuff "in writing:"

1) The are "working" under the table - and don't want a record of the transaction (for tax, legal, or tracking reasons). This is pretty common, especially amongst hobbyists, but this type of people will usually still sign or deal with a written document (just keep it short & sweet)... they just won't give you their social security number (so you can't 1099 them if you are paying them for something, which may make the "write-off" highly difficult, on the "business" side).

2) They are used to doing things "As is" and based on their word, don't want anything in writing... and may be well intentioned and honest person. And, then again...

3) They might be dishonest to begin with - possibly lying outright, misleading, or hiding things. It may be nothing intentional, it might be their own ignorance - belief in what the person they bought the goods (birds) from told them, or just an inability to effectively communicate accurately. I don't suggest putting things another person TOLD you in writing, without the proper qualifications (and disqualifications). That is easy, only put in writing WHAT YOU KNOW TO BE 100% TRUE! If you aren't sure, say that you aren't sure - use the universally honest and disqualifying words, "I DON'T KNOW" when you aren't sure... and expect the same from others!!!

Under any of the above circumstances, if they refuse to put stuff in writing to protect you, then you have to figure out whether you can afford to take the risk. What could the possible risks be? Seriously, how bad could it get?

There are other possibilities, I just can't think of them right now. It is always important to get references about the person you are doing business with for the first and second times, in particular (especially if it is a sizable amount of money). 

4) Another POSSIBLE reason they don't want things in writing: They are illiterate, or don't feel comfortable trying to understand a semi-complex legal document. I have encountered this once, so it is possible. Don't always assume that a person not wanting to put things in writing is necessarily dishonest. Have you seen them read or write anything? The illiterate person I know has a wife that deals with all of his written correspondence - including email. Although extremely intelligent and ethical, he won't deal with anything in writing without having his "lawyer look at it" (usually his wife). I have learned to either email stuff over ahead of time or be prepared to wait... or to deal with him on a hand shake.

We are, in no way, attempting to practice law. 

We do, however, retain ownership and copyright to the following documents.

The Documents:

(currently getting them in an Adobe Acrobat Reader Format for cross-platform compatibility)

Generic Buyer's Agreement 18KB PDF file

Breeder Loan Agreement 23KB PDF file

Don't have Acrobat Reader? Here is the address to download the latest version for FREE:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html 

Again, we are, in no way, attempting to practice law in any state or country. 

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Last modified: January 03, 2005