How I used Plain English for these blog posts

This blog consists primarily of two topics:

1. lessons in photography and photojournalism for school paper advisers, journalism students from grade school up to college, and participants in the district, division, regional, and national press conferences; and

2. spoiler-free synopses of Korean historical dramas and movies.

For both topics, I wrote the blog posts using guidelines in Plain English. Briefly stated, the goal of Plain English is clarity, not brevity. Through Plain English, readers can easily find what they need, understand what they read, and apply what they have read.

The Plain English writing guidelines can be used for any kind of writing — journalism, government documents, corporate communications, etc. For more information, surf to “Plain English, Plain Language or Plain Writing for government offices and private companies in the Philippines.”

Posted below are some discussions in my “Legal Updates” blog in Plain English about the Family Code and other topics that are relevant to the Filipino family:

Most-popular discussions:

Adultery, concubinage, marital infidelity, and psychological violence

Can a mother be deprived of custody of her child?

Custody battles over children: what determines fitness of a parent over another?

Financial support for an abandoned woman and her family

Did the Supreme Court order all credit card companies to reduce their interest rate of 3% monthly and penalty fee of 3%?

Divorce obtained abroad by a Filipino citizen against alien spouse recognized in the Philippines

Miss, Ms, or Mrs? Philippine law on surnames for married women

Visitation rights over illegitimate children

What surname should illegitimate children use?

Primers on the Family Code of the Philippines

Primer on marriage

Primer on void and voidable marriages

Primer on paternity, filiation and legitimate children

Primer on illegitimate children

Primer on legitimation

Primer on legal separation

Primer on rights and obligations between husband and wife

Primer on the family and family home

Primer on the property relations between husband and wife

Primer on absolute community of property

Primer on donations by reason of marriage

Heirs and inheritances

If your spouse dies without a last will, who will inherit?

Legitimes, free portions, and intestate shares

Rights of illegitimate children when their parent dies without a last will

Who inherits from an illegitimate child?

The right of legitimate children to inherit

Settle the estate of your deceased spouse before marrying again

Is property acquired before marriage the exclusive property of each spouse or does it belong to both spouses?

Do inherited properties belong exclusively to the spouse who inherited them or to both spouses?

Last will must be probated; Preterition (when a compulsory heir is omitted in a last will)

Can nephews and nieces inherit from their grandparents, unmarried aunts or uncles?

Disinheriting children and descendants, legitimate as well as illegitimate

Disinheriting your spouse

When a man is married to or living in with several women successively or simultaneously, who has the right to inherit from him?

Article 176 of the Family Code: how to compute the inheritance of legitimate and illegitimate children; an illegitimate child gets only 50% of what a legitimate child is entitled to

Who inherits from a man or woman who died single and with no last will?


Update on new, 2019 resource: “Plain English for journalism, legal, business, and general writing” resources and interactive exercises (with time limit and automatic scoring)