Dear lilyveth-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. You have probably already noticed our disclaimer below that
we cannot provide legal advice in this forum. However, just to play it
safe I wanted to point that out to you. What I can do however is
direct you to some published information relative to situations like
yours to give you some insight into the issues you are wondering
about.
Under California law a valid agreement between two people is
considered legally binding and usually withstands the scrutiny of the
court provided that there is no evidence that the basis of the
contract is not founded in fraud or other form of deception. If you
and your uncle entered into a legal agreement and you have proof of
that fact by virtue of a notarized document, you have a powerful bit
of evidence that the agreement is binding. Add to this the fact that
official documents were changed to your name (which also, I presume,
contain your uncle?s signature) it can be argued that you followed the
law in drawing up the necessary legal instruments to affect a legal
transfer.
Testimony from the Notary Public, who notarized the document, or from
the representative of the deed company (finance company, mortgage
holder, etc), may also lend credibility to your claim that no
intimidation or coercion took place. Under California Contract Law not
all agreements (contracts) are required to be notarized but the fact
that yours is notarized lends significant credibility to your case.
CONTRACT LAW
http://law.freeadvice.com/general_practice/contract_law/contract_notarized.htm
http://law.freeadvice.com/general_practice/contract_law/
In addition, it would seem to me that if your Uncle?s signature on
both the notarized documents and the transfer match his signature on
other unrelated documents (such as his drivers license, Social
Security Card, letters, Christmas cards or any other documents that
might bear his signature) that the issue of forgery is easily proven
false. Some peoples? signature are not difficult to forge but being
able to show a court that the signature are identical is just one more
piece of damning evidence against his claim of forgery and in favor of
your defense that you did noting wrong.
One must also keep in mind that it is not an accused person?s
obligation to prove himself innocent, but the accuser who bears the
burden of proof that his allegations are true and factual. Your Uncle
will have a difficult time winning the case, in my opinion, if he
cannot explain why his signature appears authentic on the documents he
claims are forged, and why it appears exactly as it does on other
unrelated documents that he has signed. Furthermore, if the licensed
Notary Public or finance officer?s sworn testimony is that he or she
witnessed him sign a document (assuming they did witness the signing)
then it will be even more difficult, in my opinion, for him to
convince the court otherwise. Remember, a Notary Public is considered
an officer of the State of California and his or her testimony carries
some significant weight with the court:
CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE
http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/notary/notary.htm
Finally, if you have receipts showing that you paid the amounts that
your uncle now claims HE has been forced to pay, this proof alone
casts enormous doubt on your uncle?s case. Given the totality of the
evidence (as you have presented it to us here), if I were a juror I?d
decide in your favor and not in favor of your uncle.
Since your question seems to solicit opinion rather licensed legal
advice, my opinion is that your uncle has a very weak case indeed.
Assuming the case actually goes to trial, you should be prepared to
produce documented proof and witnesses who can testify that:
-- Your uncle DOES in fact understand, speak, read and/or write
English, contrary to his claim otherwise
--Your uncle physically and without duress signed the documents in question
--Your uncle?s signature on those documents matches his signature on
other documents and appears to be authentic
--You have legally obtained a transfer on the deed documents
--You have the receipts showing that you voluntarily and responsibly
paid the amounts that you have allegedly forced upon your uncle
Hopefully your uncle understands that giving false testimony under
oath in a court of law is a very serious offense and he can face
imprisonment if he is found to be intentionally untruthful and
deceptive in his quest to make some money at your expense.
I highly recommend that you contact an attorney and pose your legal
questions to a source that can provide you with actual legal advice.
Many attorneys offer free or low cost initial consultations in person
or via telephone and some of your question might be addressed in this
manner. If you do not know how to find an affordable lawyer perhaps
this referral feature of the California Bar Association can help you
find one:
THE STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10180&id=1396
Lawyer Referral Services Program (LRS)
The State Bar of California
180 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
E-mail: LRS@calbar.ca.gov
Phone: 415-538-2250
1-866-442-2529 or 866-44-CA-LAW (toll free in California)
415-538-2250 (from outside California)
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10182&id=1403
If you cannot afford a lawyer or you need some direction on how to go
about finding free legal advice, you should consider contacting the
Legal Aid Society in your area:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA ? LEGAL AID SOCIETIES
http://www.dca.ca.gov/r_r/legalso1.htm
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher
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