Ghoulish: Who Steals Deeds From the Dead?

In Houston, stealing deeds from dead people is a thing.

Investigators are looking into a deed fraud scheme carried out by three people. These people allegedly laundered deeds of dead homeowners through their limited liability companies. Then they sold the homes to unsuspecting buyers. They’ve pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“This is no different from someone robbing a bank,” said local attorney Cris Feldman, except the perpetrators are “doing it with pen and paper.”

Trio Tracked Down

The Harris County D.A. has named a certain Liliana V. and a mother-son duo in the above thefts. All three are accused of transferring deeds of dead homeowners to various LLCs and then reselling the homes.

One of the deceased people targeted was Suzanne Donisi — a notable figure in the history of property ownership and deed rights. When Suzanne bought her Texas home in 1976, she was one of the first single women to ever pull it off. That’s because single women could not acquire deeds by themselves before 1974. Seriously. As Bankrate puts it: “Women in the U.S. were not allowed to finance real estate purchases without a husband or male co-signer until the 1970s.”

Suzanne Donisi’s home was worth $320K when her deed was swiped, just before she passed in late 2023. She’d been suffering from dementia for some time.

The tricky trio created a deed and backdated it, then recorded it after Suzanne passed away. This came out in the surviving brother’s quiet title action in the civil courts.

Suzanne’s signature was forged. The notary seal belonged to a notary who hadn’t been in the business since the 1990s.

A Seasoned Developer, Caught Up in a Deed Scam

The ultimate recipient of that deed, a Houston-area developer, was caught by surprise, and is cooperating with both the criminal investigation and the civil action.

And not just in one deed transfer case. The same developer bought more than one property from the same seller. All told, the development firm is claiming losses of more than $1.5 million in the cases. Meanwhile, Suzanne Donisi’s family struggles just to get their property back.  

Harris County has been dealing with the mess for most of the past year. The office of the D.A. states:

The defendants’ elaborate scheme stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from innocent people, through fraudulent and unauthorized sales of properties.

Back in 2022, the same Liliana V. was charged with deceiving a mentally disabled homeowner to gain control over a deed. That case didn’t have enough evidence to stick, though.

Dead Notaries Also Exploited

Meanwhile, in Florida, a deed swindler in Volusia County has been tried for deed transfers and notarizations from property owners who are now dead.

Soon after Charles G. died in Daytona Beach, the county recorded a quitclaim he supposedly signed. The named recipient — a local, but a stranger to Charles — turned around and sold the home to an investment business.

Florida authorities ignored a surviving sister’s calls for assistance. So she got News 6 on the line. An investigative news team tracked down a certain Javon W., who took several homes. One, believe it or not, was the family home of a jailed friend. Notably, after the incarcerated friend’s mother died, her name was never removed from the title. Javon forged her name.

Javon W. has pleaded no contest to organized fraud.

The mobile notary whose name appeared on the seal said she actually never signed the deed, but backed out because the deed was handwritten.

Fraudulent quitclaim deeds are common in deed thefts. But quitclaim deeds can be perfectly legitimate. Spouses, relatives, co-buyers, and business owners often use quitclaims to pass deeds between themselves or to their companies.  

Impersonators, Squatters, Thieves

Previously we noted the case of a certain Wanda who dressed up as her own elderly mother, then tried to steal her Florida home. Wanda used an online notary service when forging a quitclaim deed. In May 2023, Wanda was arrested, charged with the forgery as well as elder exploitation.

We’ve also reported on James, who faked dead notaries’ and witnesses’ signatures on multiple home deeds. One of James’s false documents was a bogus life estate deed, designed to steal a $345K home from the adult child of its occupant, a Florida senior.

The revocable life estate deed is a probate-free way to pass a home along after death. There’s also the enhanced life estate deed (“lady bird deed”), that offers the deed holder who creates it an extra degree of control. It’s available in Texas, Florida, and a few other states.

But that’s not all. James actually moved into a home he got from its dead owner through a fake quitclaim. He was attempting to find a buyer when he was jailed for grand theft, forgery, elder exploitation, and manipulating the personal data of someone who’s died.

When a Deed Holder Dies…

Remove the name from the title!

Leaving a dead person’s name on the deed can attract people who impersonate the deceased. Surviving co-owners are wise to update the title to their home when:

• The survivor is a joint owner with rights of survivorship or a tenant by the entirety. A surviving joint owner keeps the title, but should also record an affidavit of survivorship to remove the deceased co-owner’s name.
• A surviving spouse co-owned community property. The interest of the surviving spouse or domestic partner goes, upon death, to the surviving co-owner. The couple can draft a property agreement while alive, directing the title to pass into the survivor’s name alone.
• The deed passes by a transfer on death deed. In this case, the TODD beneficiary would add an official copy of the death certificate, plus the state affidavit form, to the transfer on death deed record.

When it’s a sole owner who dies, and in most other cases, the title goes into probate. A judge removes the deceased owner from the title. Be sure the probate court’s deed is signed, notarized, and recorded with the county.

Keeping a Deed Safe Matters

Stay safe. If there’s no probate for the home, an experienced attorney in your state can take care of the deed after a death. It’s no cakewalk to recover a deed that gets pulled out from under a deceased owner. All the more so if it gets transferred again to an innocent buyer. Because the harm is so severe, some states are busy drafting anti-fraud deed laws.

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Note to our readers: Please consider this article a commentary, and not legal, tax, or financial guidance. For guidance in individual decisions and actions, consult with your experienced professionals.