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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