{"id":2728,"date":"2023-01-20T08:52:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T13:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=2728"},"modified":"2024-04-25T23:18:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T03:18:10","slug":"heirs-protect-the-seniors-in-your-life-from-deed-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/heirs-protect-the-seniors-in-your-life-from-deed-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"Heirs, Protect the Seniors in Your Life From Deed Theft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A 91-year-old Floridian recently sent a payment to his insurer. Then the agent called to say the company wouldn\u2019t be able to renew the homeowner\u2019s policy. The deed had been transferred. The home was now legally owned by another person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some days later, from his bedroom, this shocked and disoriented senior heard three people come into the home. It seems the perpetrator was trying to sell the house. Fort Lauderdale police are investigating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The swindled senior paid off the mortgage 15 years ago. Maybe that\u2019s part of the issue. If there were a mortgage lien on the home, the mortgage company would have been alerted to the transfer. Plenty of elders live in homes with paid-off mortgages<\/a> in Florida, and plenty of fraudulent schemes<\/a> are targeting their increasingly valuable homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How Can Deed Theft Happen?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Deed theft can happen when someone with ill intent downloads a quitclaim deed form. The fraudster writes their name into the form as grantee (recipient) of the property, and forges the rightful owner\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A notary public might be complicit. For example, an involved notary could unlawfully witness the deed transfer in the absence of the grantor (rightful homeowner). Next, the deed gets recorded in the county. That\u2019s a simple step, as the deed recorder\u2019s job is simply to record the deed. As long as the document appears to adhere to the proper procedural requirements, it will go into the records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u261b <\/em>Quitclaims tend to be the deeds of choice in <\/em><\/strong>fraudulent real estate transactions<\/em><\/a>. Frequent victims are seniors, renters who pay owners who took the property by forgery, and unsuspecting buyers involved in transactions with fraudsters.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving the real homeowner in the dark, a fraudster can take loans out against the home, or sell or rent it out. In some cases, these homes wind up in foreclosure over the debts the fraudsters rack up. The rightful owners know nothing until one day a sale notice appears on the front door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no mortgage company as a lienholder to be notified, the entire scheme can happen under the radar. Later in this article, we\u2019ll discuss how the owner can get notification before <\/em>their property values are plundered.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could Your Inheritance Be at Risk?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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When seniors lose their homes, generations are affected. The property appraiser for Broward County, Florida calls deed theft a huge issue that\u2019s \u201ca very big priority for our office.\u201d Several recent cases illustrate why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n