Writing Dollar Amounts in Legal Documents
We should start by defining the terms number and number. Unfortunately, it`s more complicated than it should be. If you want to know the exact definitions of these words, please read the final note.1 The rest of you will be happy to know that the numbers in this article are values that can be expressed by words or numbers (so “11” and “eleven” are examples of numbers), and numbers are numbers (so “11” is a number, but “eleven” is not). Fortunately, the rules about numbers in writing are much simpler — and more dazzling — than definitions of words that refer to numbers. It is included here, along with most of the credentials removed. It is less a strictly legal document than a government document, but the idea is exactly the same: someone felt the need to state the large numbers used to describe a long series of measures of property boundaries, and the result is anathema. Writers will often do this with words and numbers when specifying amounts of money: Acme pays Widgetco a million dollars ($1,000,000). The idea is that while numbers are easier to read than words, they are more prone to typographical errors. The addition of words provides a safety net because courts generally believe that if there is a discrepancy between words and numbers, the words will apply. In rare cases, you may need to write a cheque for less than $1.
To make sure your intent is clear, write the word “only,” followed by the amount written in words and the word “hundred.” So you would write 42 cents like, “Only forty-two hundred.” Draw a dotted line to the far right of the cheque and with the word “dollar”. within seven (7) daysFourteen dollars and seven cents ($14.07) a waiting period of sixty (60) days Some currency signs are shared by many currencies, and you can clearly indicate which currency you are referring to by completing the currency sign. For example, the dollar sign ($) is used for currencies in many countries other than the United States, primarily for currencies that use currencies in dollars (including Australia, Brunei, and Canada) or pesos (including Argentina, Chile, and Mexico). If a contract between parties from different countries is for a currency that uses the dollar sign, the use of an appropriately modified currency code or sign, such as A$ for the Australian dollar and Mex$ for Mexican pesos, would make it clear which currency is being referred to. Legal documents such as settlement agreements can contain amounts of five to seven figures that you need to write carefully. The text surrounding a settlement agreement is different from a cashier`s check, and there may be more than one section of the agreement where you have to write a dollar number, so check the document to avoid spaces where the written amount should be. For example, a settlement agreement of $1,250,001 million would normally be placed in parentheses and written as follows: “One million two hundred and fifty thousand and one dollar and No/100”. In its presentation on matrimonial settlements, the American Bar Association suggests writing $36,000.00 as “thirty-six thousand dollars exactly,” which is a very light way to check the dollar amount in writing. If you enter a transaction in a household journal or checkbook, enter the date and a brief description of the transaction in the fields provided. However, do not spell out dollar amounts.
Instead, write each dollar amount in the appropriate column: credit, debit, or balance. Omit the dollar sign. Always put a decimal place after the total dollar amount and write a number of cents. If the amount is an even number, write two zeros for the cents. Example: You would write $15,237 as $15,237.00. Ruth Mayhew has been writing since the mid-1980s and has been a human resources expert since 1995. Her work appears in “The Multi-Generational Workforce in the Health Care Industry” and she has been cited in numerous publications, including journals and manuals focused on human resource management practices. She holds a Master of Arts degree in sociology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In addition, she has obtained the SHRM-Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) from the Society for Human Resource Management and the Senior Professional Human Resources (SPHR) certification from the Human Resources Certification Institute. Ruth is also certified as a facilitator for the Center for Creative Leadership Benchmarks 360 Assessment Suite and is a certified Logical Operations Modern Classroom trainer. Ruth lives in North Carolina and works from her office in Washington, D.C. If you deal with a lot of contracts, you will find that some lawyers use a mixture of words and numbers to describe the one hundred portion of a comparative number.
The wording usually follows that of a cheque: “Thirty thousand one hundred and twenty-five dollars and none/100 cents ($30,125.00)” or “Thirty thousand one hundred and twenty-five dollars and 75/100 cents ($30,125.75)” Writing the cents as part of the dollar is the preferred style of many law firms because the meaning is quite clear. Some say it is a purely archaic practice of writing numbers: it was done by people who had limited literacy and even less numeracy skills. I argue that this theory only makes sense if the practice goes back both to a time and a place when literacy was very low, so that writing, including writing numbers, was unusual and concerned only important documents; and it would probably have to date it to a time before the widespread introduction of Arabic numerals. This would presuppose that the tradition began in the 16th century at the latest. If you ask most lawyers why they do it this way, they don`t get an answer. The benefits of simply writing down the numbers are obvious. Only one number must be inserted or changed. It also takes up less space and makes a document less “legal”. A very experienced lawyer once told me that he preferred to write only the numbers, because if you both write the number with words and add the numbers, what do you do if they don`t match? One thousand nine hundred, ninety-seven; Three million, one hundred and fifty thousand, six hundred, * and * twenty-one dollars (. added superfluous commas to emphasize the point).