What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts
At the beginning of August I closed on a property with my fiancee. She had put the down payment on the property, but financing fell through until I had to be added as a co-borrower on the mortgage. The sale went through just fine, and we've been living in the property since.
Yesterday I was told about, and visited, the local registry of deeds website. I had four entries under my name: the unit deed that I signed, the mortgage paperwork that I signed, the declaration of homestead that I signed, and another unit deed filed 3 weeks later that "I signed". That's in quotes because the scanned copy shows my signature on the line, but it's not something that I signed the day of the sale. The unit deed of course is "me" signing the unit deed over to her. I never did so, and I'm sure as hell still on the mortgage.
Panicking and digging a little deeper, I have two electronic signatures on my work laptop that I use for client cover letters, and low and behold, the signature is identical to one of the signatures. The notary public has signed this paper and there's a stamp on the deed, it's registered with the deeds office but it's not a legitimate document. Even better is the notary public just happens to be her lawyer.
There is no way they'd be able to present the "original" document that I signed, because I signed nothing and the only thing they have is what the registry accepted. Why did the registry accept a false document and literally put me in a very difficult situation?
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
At the beginning of August I closed on a property with my fiancee. She had put the down payment on the property, but financing fell through until I had to be added as a co-borrower on the mortgage. The sale went through just fine, and we've been living in the property since.
Yesterday I was told about, and visited, the local registry of deeds website. I had four entries under my name: the unit deed that I signed, the mortgage paperwork that I signed, the declaration of homestead that I signed, and another unit deed filed 3 weeks later that "I signed". That's in quotes because the scanned copy shows my signature on the line, but it's not something that I signed the day of the sale. The unit deed of course is "me" signing the unit deed over to her. I never did so, and I'm sure as hell still on the mortgage.
Panicking and digging a little deeper, I have two electronic signatures on my work laptop that I use for client cover letters, and low and behold, the signature is identical to one of the signatures. The notary public has signed this paper and there's a stamp on the deed, it's registered with the deeds office but it's not a legitimate document. Even better is the notary public just happens to be her lawyer.
There is no way they'd be able to present the "original" document that I signed, because I signed nothing and the only thing they have is what the registry accepted. Why did the registry accept a false document and literally put me in a very difficult situation?
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?