The story unfolds like this...
A married couple buys ten acres of land in another
county where they plan to retire when the time comes.
Two years later they divorce. Title to their ten
acres remains in both their names after the split.
Months later the wife checks county records and
finds a deed transferring the property from her name
and her husband's name to a buyer.
But wait...she never signed the deed. Her
husband had forged her signature and had a notary
(who was a friend) notarize the false signature.
Is the wife in a fix? Has she lost the property
through the action of her slimy ex-husband? Should
she try to remarry the ex? Should she tell her
story on Oprah for 15-minutes of fame? Should
she have the old husband whacked?
Surprise! The wife still owns the property... at
least she owns half of it. A forged signature
conveys nothing! Since the wife did not sign the
deed she did not release her interest in the property.
What about Mr. Sneaky Husband? Well... he signed the deed
didn't he? He conveyed his interest in the property
and that was a legal transfer (probably).
The buyer of the land owns only the husband's
interest... and here's where it gets good...
The buyer was buying the whole property in good faith.
He did not know about the forged signature... so he has
a claim under the title insurance policy for the loss of
the wife's interest in the property!
Hurray!... Finally somebody gets something for all those
title insurance payments we make!
About the Author
Mark Walters is an investor-entrepreneur helping other investors from his Web pages at
http://www.Lease-Option-Sub2.com