“The rule is also clear that one who signs his true name, purporting to act as the agent of another, has not committed a forgery.” Id. Employing this definition, the Texas Supreme Court has held that “one who signs his true name, and does not represent himself to be someone else… does not commit forgery because his act does not purport to be that of another.” Id. FRAUD AND FORGERY ARE NOT SYNONYMOUSĪt common law, forgery was defined as “the making or altering of a written instrument purporting to be the act of another.” Nobles, 533 S.W.2d at 925-26 (internal quotation marks omitted).

App.-Houston 1994, writ denied) (“when a document is void or void ab initio it is as if it did not exist because it has no effect from the outset”).Ī fraudulent deed, however, is merely voiudable, and will stand until set aside or invalidated by the Court. 1915)) see also Commonwealth Land Title Ins. App.-San Antonio 2007, no pet.) (citing Hennessy v. The legal terms “Void” and “Voidable” sound alike, but they are vastly different.Ī void instrument passes no title, and is treated as a nullity. However, a deed procured by fraud is voidable rather than void. These two classes of “Dirty” deeds are treated differently - and with differing criteria for setting them aside - based upon whether they are categorized as “forged” or “fraudulent.” Texas law draws a stark distinction between FORGED deeds and FRAUDULENT deeds. After all, shouldn’t fraudulent deeds be disregarded? Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily so, and to believe that all deed fraud results in an automatic nullity is a dangerous simplification of a complex concept in Texas real estate law. Most people think that fraudulently procured deeds are simply invalid or “no good,” and can be set aside by Courts as a matter of course. The distinction between deed fraud and deed forgery carries tremendous legal implications. I frequently refer to deeds obtained through deception or deceit as “dirty.” This nomenclature started off as a backhanded reference to AC/DC’s 1970’s rock n roll anthem “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” However, within my office the notion of a “dirty” deed has evolved to represent the significant distinction between conveyance instruments procured through fraud versus those that are forged.

Dirty land title