Posted by Janell DeMello on 5/27/12 3:34pm
Msg #422022

Quitclaim Fraud - Nevada County, California

My mom and stepfather own a cabin in Tahoe, quitclaimed to them by my father's mother. They own 75% undivided joint tenancy and my brother owns 25%. My mother has been very ill (actually has passed now) and my brother had been living in the cabin and not paying on the property taxes. My parents in the past have let the taxes go to 5 years and then refinance their other home and pay the taxes. This time they were not able to refinance and the property taxes for the cabin became delinquent. Against my repeated warnings, they brought in a cousin who had a typed out agreement that said he would pay the delinquent taxes and in return they would ADD him to the cabin deed. He brought in a notary to their house and while my brother was out of the house this cousin actually had my stepdad sign a quitclaim deed that had this cousin's name and the cousin's son's name on it. My brother was made aware after the cousin had left that my stepdad had signed the quitclaim. My stepdad did not know that he was signing off his share of the cabin. A couple month's later, the assessor's office sent a letter to the house requesting a copy of the death certificate for my mother. I called their office with my parent's present to see what this was about. Apparently, the cousin took the quitclaim deed, crossed off his son's name and wrote in his brother's name. When the assessor's office called him to question ownership, they asked about my mother and this cousin told them that my mother had deceased. They then told him that the two brothers then owned 75%. I told them that my mother was not deceased. I then drafted up a letter for my mother and had it notarized. We filed an elder abuse report against the two brothers. Nothing really came out of that as far as I know. The cousin also only paid part of the delinquent taxes and now the next year has become delinquent and the cabin is now up for auction again on June 30, unless $3500 is paid by then. My stepdad and brother who live in the family home are also losing that house. I am trying everything I can do to help them. The cousin is very unstable. We are concerned he will burn the cabin down when we try to file an eviction notice if everything is not done exactly the right way.

The notary also left a grant deed at the house that was notarized but not signed by my father which I believe is an illegal document.

I am going to request copies of the journal. Since there were two documents notarized, then I believe their should be two lines of entry in the journal. Since their were two names on the quitclaim, then those two names should be on the journal lines, both lines signed and fingerprinted by my stepdad.

If the quitclaim has the original two names in the journal, and the cousin crossed off the son's name and added in his brother's name after the fact, does this make the document fraudelent, illegal, or forged?

If we try to do a civil eviction, the cousin can step in and pay the back taxes to remedy the eviction so I want to get he and his brother off the title and then get him out of the cabin which he now will not leave because he believes he owns 75%.

My feeling is that he has let the taxes go because he believes he can pick the place up for the back taxes (not the sharpest tool in the shed) as he probably is not aware that he is not able to bid on the place since he is on title (personally I am way smarter than he and I actually did not know this fact).

Also, my stepdad may end up filing bankruptcy as both places are up for auction and the family home has some equity so they have it up for sale, but the auction date on that is June 5. In order to stop that sale, he may have to file emergency bankruptcy. This would stop the sale on both places which would ultimately give me time to get the cousin out of that property. In all likelihood, my stepdad and brother will have to move to the cabin (which is paid off) once we can get the cousin out of there.

Reply by Janell DeMello on 5/27/12 3:45pm
Msg #422023

My mistake and apologies for posting this. I am not a notary and was not supposed to post in his forum. Please delete.

Reply by 101livescan on 5/27/12 4:56pm
Msg #422031

It is in fact a great illustration of why notaries need to be cautious when notarizing documents such as this. What a nightmare.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 5/27/12 8:49pm
Msg #422035

I agree!

One other detail you may want to look into, Janell. Seems to me that the Quit Claim that supposedly added your cousin to title would also have required your brother's signature to be valid, since he was part owner at that time, if I understood your post correctly. But I'm not an attorney. If you can afford one, I highly recommend you find an attorney who specializes in real estate to help you sort out this mess.

Good luck!

Reply by MW/VA on 5/28/12 3:32pm
Msg #422063

I think it's ok to post your scenario here, because it did

involve a notary. We can't advise you, however, and you certainly need an attorney in this matter. Good luck. :-)

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 5/28/12 3:50pm
Msg #422069

"The notary also left a grant deed at the house that was notarized but not signed by my father which I believe is an illegal document."

If this was a California Notary, then you should take the document to the Secretary of State's office pronto.

This won't replace needing an attorney... but you can file a complaint with the CA Sec of State if that's what happened. They will want to see the documents (or copies of them).

Information about filing a compliant is here: http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/notary/file-a-complaint.htm

Again, though, you really need an attorney here. AN Attorney may not know to file a complaint against a notary (if, indeed, something happened) but the Secretary of State's office has investigators who handle this kind of thing. THe more you give them, the better.

Reply by GOLDGIRL/CA on 5/28/12 8:05pm
Msg #422074

Fascinating property dispute ...

Except to poor Janelle, of course, who is left trying to figure this mess out! Clearly, she should get an attorney if possible. In any case, the statement:

"The notary also left a grant deed at the house that was notarized but not signed by my father which I believe is an illegal document."

To say it was "notarized," is a stretch since we notarize signatures, and if the father didn't sign it, there was nothing to notarize. She must be referring to the blank copy left with the signer (?), and a signed and notarized GD may be found at the Nevada County recorder's office. I would suggest Janelle start there and search for what's actually recorded regarding this property.

Judging by the sound of all this, there may be no notary negligence at all. Requesting line item entries from the notary journal would be helpful at some point, but there are far bigger fish to fry first.

Also, Janelle's mother would have needed to QC her portion of the property to the cousin, but it's not clear from the post if she was deceased at the time the cousin came into the picture. If she was deceased at that point, there would need to be a Death Certificate and Affidavit of Death of a JT recorded, or, if still living, she would have needed to sign the QC along with her husband.

As far as the cousin crossing out his son's name and inserting his brother's name as grantees, I don't know if that invalidates the document or not. I would suspect so; but still, get thee to the Recorder's Office first thing Tuesday!!!

PS I am not a real estate attorney (obviously) and all my suggestions are just that.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 5/28/12 10:18pm
Msg #422082

Great idea to check what's actually been recorded. n/m

Reply by CJ on 5/29/12 12:19am
Msg #422087

I agree: check on what has been recorded.

The recorder's office kicks back stuff all the time if it is not perfect. Us notaries know this because we have to go back and get signatures if even the notary stamp is smudged.

We are not attorneys, so it is illegal for us to give advise or opinons, THAT is why you must get an attorney.

My experience is this: when notarizing a Grant Deed or Quit Claim, I need to have ALL the owners of the property to sign it. To me it seems like this: you can't "add" a person to a property, but ALL the owners have to "give" the property to "all the owners plus the new owner". The county recorder's office knows this too and can't record if it isn't correct.

If I "notarize" a document (I sign and stamp it) without a the person's signature on it, that is a HUGE no-no for me, and I can't even imagine how much trouble I would get in to. I'm talking revoke my license, fines and maybe jail time. I would NEVER do that. This sort of stuff is on the notary test. A notary first needs to make sure the person has proper ID, and then they have the person sign and put their thumbprint in their journal. To just leave your signature and stamp on a random blank document for anyone to sign and attach to anything - Whoa! The whole point of a notary is that we identified the signer and, under penalty of purjury, we swear that we SAW them sign it. I met a guy who worked for the DA as the guy who busts notaries. He said not only does the notry go to jail, but everyone involved in the fraud also goes because it was a conspiriacy to commit a crime.

So check with the country recorder in the morning, and then get an attorney involved.

Reply by CJ on 5/29/12 12:27am
Msg #422088

What I said was not intended to be advice or opinions:

I was just speaking from my own factual expereice. Take what you like and leave the rest. BUT GET AN ATTORNEY!