Fraudulent Deed Leads to Couple Losing Homeownership
Source of Title - reprinted with
permission
A couple who recently left their home due to
work and family emergencies returned last week to find someone else living
there, claiming to be the rightful owner of the property. Now, the couple
must go to court to prove they are the owners of a property which they never
sold.
James and Paula Cook of Denton County,
Texas discovered upon their return from two separate trips that their keys
to their former home no longer opened any of the property's doors. They
were even more surprised when a man came to the front door and informed them
that he owned their home. After providing a $12,000 down payment to a man
named Carlos Ramirez, he claims he purchased the home.
Upon traveling to the Denton County Courthouse to check their warranty deed,
the Cooks found a deed of transfer had been filed with a forged
signature. Paula Cook's maiden name was on the document, but she swears she
never signed it.
"We didn't have any idea of what was going on," said James Cook in an
interview with WFAA-TV. "We had no idea. It was very shocking and
outrageous. It puts us in shock that someone could just change the warranty
deed without our acknowledgement."
While the Frisco police admitted that they have seen a rise in identity
theft, this is the first time they have witnessed a case like this. They say
that the efforts taken to achieve this action are what make it so difficult
to uncover the truth.
"The only thing we can do is work it very diligently to try to get who's
responsible for this and put them in jail," said Gina McFarlin,
a sergeant with the Frisco Police Department.
Cook said he believes that something is problematic with a system where
anyone can access Denton County Courthouse's records and fraudulently change
the name on a deed so easily without the rightful owners being aware of such
a transaction
© 2005, Source of Title
Source of Title
launched in September 2002 as a directory to help title industry professionals
locate independent settlement service providers. Since then, Source of Title has
added forums and full-service news content targeted at industry professionals.
For additional
information on Source of Title, or to learn about advertising opportunities,
visit
www.sourceoftitle.com.
|
What you should know to
protect your family
Shredding your
documents and monitoring your credit will not protect you if your local
or state government is publishing the same information on the
World Wide Web
|
Get the Newsletter - It's FREE
