Forgeries of paintings may be the stuff of movies, but forgery of signature on documents happens more often than the public realizes.
For example, recently had an inquiry about a home that was being sold on a lease-to-rent agreement. The original tenant/buyer died during the term of the sales agreement. His sister and her husband, who had lived with him for the last several months of his life, were not parties to the agreement. However, when the landlord/seller went to the property to discuss the situation, the sister produced a signed sales contract between her, her brother (the original tenant/buyer) and the landlord/seller and his wife outlining different terms for the sale.
Their attorney contacted us because they believed that someone had forged signatures on the second document.
An expert handwriting analysis usually takes about a week to 10 days to complete. We work with well-known forensic document examiner. He has more than 30 years of experience in the field and has provided training on the subject for a wide array of professional and government organizations, corporations associations.
Handwriting analysts use a collection of authentic samples called exemplars for comparison. Those can be:
- Signed checks
- Signed legal documents such as wills, deeds, leases, sales contracts
- Signed tax returns
The more exemplars a handwriting analysis expert has, the better. He is able to compare the authentic signatures to the suspected forged document and provide an expert opinion and serve as an expert witness in court.
There are many instances that has been asked to provide a hand writing analysis, including:
- Forged sales agreements
- Forged child custody agreements
- Forged documents regarding parental rights
- Forged checks and financial theft from bank accounts
- Forged checks issued to others
- Forged sales receipts in credit card theft
- Insurance fraud
Document forgery alone and in connection with a theft is a crime, but it takes an expert to uncover the forgery in a scientific manner. Again, the mission of is to uncover the truth so decisions are made with solid, proven information.
Call the experts when you are confronted with the issue of forgery.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations
