Under Texas law, any person who forges a Texas real property deed commits a crime. Further, forged deeds pass no title to real property. That being said, if someone forges a deed to your real property, contact a Texas forged deed lawyer to clear title and reclaim your property. It is important not to delay in reclaiming your real property and to understand Texas forged deed law and Texas real estate fraud law.
Forgery occurs when a person executes a document in the name of another person. In a civil forgery lawsuit, typically a handwriting expert and witnesses testify as to if a document has been forged. Further, a criminal conviction can provide additional evidence of forgery. More specifically, Section 32.21(a) of the Texas Penal Code contains a statutory definition for criminal forgery. Under this statute the term “Forge” means to alter, make, complete, execute, or authenticate any writing so that it purports:
(i) to be the act of another who did not authorize that act;(ii) to have been executed at a time or place or in a numbered sequence other than was in fact the case; or
(iii) to be a copy of an original when no such original existed;A void instrument passes no title, and is treated as a nullity. A forged deed is void ab initio. Lighthouse Church of Cloverleaf v. Tex. Bank, 889 S.W.2d 595, 601 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, writ denied); Dwairy v. Lopez, 243 S.W.3d 710, 712 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 2007, no pet.) (citing Hennessy v. Blair, 173 S.W. 871, 874 (Tex. 1915)); see also Commonwealth Land Title Ins. Co. v. Nelson, 889 S.W.2d 312, 318 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, writ denied) (“when a document is void or void ab initio it is as if it did not exist because it has no effect from the outset”).
Courts treat forged real estate deeds differently from real estate taken by fraud. Where forged deeds are void, a fraudulent deed, however, is merely voidable. Further, a fraudulent deed will stand until set aside or invalidated by the Court. Ford v. Exxon Mobil Chem. Co., 235 S.W.3d 615, 618 (Tex.2007).
For more information on reclaiming Texas real property through Texas Forged Deed Law and Texas Fraudulent Deed Law, please go to the following webpages: Texas Real Estate Fraud Lawyer, Texas Partition Action Lawyer, and Texas Adverse Possession Lawyer.