A fraudulent lien or a forged deed is one of the most problematic aspect in dealing with real estate. Unfortunately, this problem is not discovered until months or even years after the fraudulent lien and forged deed has been recorded.
There are no alarms that alert a property owner if a fraudulent lien or forged deed is recorded against the property. Many times it is only discovered when the owner wants to refinance, or sell the property. These defects in title could take many forms, such as Deeds of Trusts, Judgments, Mechanic’s Liens, a forged transfer deed, quit claim deed, etc.
These title defects must be resolved prior to completing any transaction involving the property. One way the legal process corrects these defects is by filing a Quiet Title action. A quiet title action asks the court to determine who the real owner of a property is, or who possesses what interests in the property. A quiet title action has specific requirements that must be followed in order to not only prevail, but to initially have the court accept the matter as a case.
Since the matter is dealing with real property, time is of the essence. Any delays or rejections by the court could lead to a real estate transaction (i.e. sale of the property) failing, or could lead to an improper foreclosure of the property.
In one specific instance, a client was in the process of selling her home when through the process it was discovered that there was a fraudulent deed granting an individual interest the property. Because the sale for our client was pending, a quiet title action was immediately filed and a judgment for our client, “quieting”/ voiding the other deed was obtained in a short amount time, and the sale was able to be completed.
The Law office of Chung & Ignacio, LLP has initiated numerous Quiet Title actions on behalf of our clients for the court to declare that they are the real owners of the property and to void fraudulent and improper liens/defects.