Questions every incoming director should ask

How does this board actually get things done?

Before you vote on anything, find out how many directors it takes to have a quorum, the minimum number who must be present before the board can act. Robert's Rules of Order treats the quorum number as fixed by your bylaws or your state's statute, not by Robert's Rules itself, so the actual figure lives in your own governing documents.

"It is never permissible to transact substantive business in the absence of a quorum."

Source: Robert's Rules of Order, Frequently Asked Questions, Robert's Rules Association

Once a quorum is established, Robert's Rules presumes it continues even if directors step out, unless someone actually says out loud that it's gone. How much notice your board must give before a meeting, and whether that notice must be posted, mailed, or both, is set by your state and your bylaws; some states specify figures as exact as 48 hours posted or 7 days mailed. Ask for last year's minutes while you're at it. Minutes record what the board decided, not a transcript of the discussion, so a thin minute book usually means terse recordkeeping, not something improper.

What do I personally have to comply with?

Ask whether your state requires new directors to complete a training course or sign a certification. Requirements range from a mandatory class within 90 days in some states, to a simple written self-certification that you've read the governing documents in others, and many states impose no requirement at all. Also ask what standard you're held to when you vote: acting in good faith, with the care an ordinarily careful person would use, and in a manner you reasonably believe serves the association's best interest. Courts generally defer to a board that investigates before it decides.

"Courts should defer to the board's authority and presumed expertise."

Source: Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Clubdominium Homeowners Assn., Supreme Court of California

That protection comes from the investigation, not the outcome. Finally, ask what your board's executive session actually covers. Closing the room to non-directors doesn't by itself make the conversation privileged, and what gets discussed there may still have to be disclosed in the minutes of the next open meeting.

What's already in motion?

Ask for a briefing on any pending litigation directly from the association's attorney, rather than trying to piece together the merits from old board packets. That privileged conversation is the real protection, separate from whatever room it happens in. Ask how open violations have been handled: most states require written notice and a chance for a hearing before a fine takes effect, though the notice period and hearing structure vary by state, so a fine that skipped that step is vulnerable no matter how clear the violation was. And before you move to reverse anything the last board did, ask why they did it. A rushed reversal without that question is exactly the kind of decision that loses the protection described above.