My children signed a QuitClaim Deed presented to them by their father
under false pretences.  It was presented during a family gathering. 
The cildren were advised that it was a document that he needed signed
so that he culd finalize the probate of their grandmother's will.  The
signing of the Deed was not witnessed and there was no transfer of the
$1.00, as specified in the legal documents.  A Notary Public seal was
affixed on the document.  However, there was no Notary at the family
gathering to witness the signing of the document.  The document that
the children were provided to sign did not include the QuitClaim
portion of the document.  They were presented only with the signature
page and a copy of the property description that they were releasing. 
A subsequent title search revealed that a Federal Tax Lien was filed
against the property at the time of signing.  Is the QuitClaim Deed
legal if the signatures were not witnessed and the specified $1.00
payment was not made?  I suspect that the Notary Public is a close
relative of the children's stepmother.  Would there be a conflict of
interest?  What grounds can be used to dispute the legitimacy of the
document?

Dear cecil1021-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. As you probably already know from reading our disclaimer
that we cannot provide legal advice in this forum. What I?ve been able
to do is to research some applicable laws in general and also research
issues that have occurred in situations similar to yours and have been
made public. You really do need to consult an attorney but I?ll do my
best to try and explain, where possible, some of the issues
surrounding improper contracts and deeds.

Laws vary on this from state to state but suffice it to say that state
laws universally prohibit the improper use of a notary seal. This
alone can, in some instances, invalidate the document that the affixed
seal is intended to authenticate. Depending on your state?s laws the
notary public can be held liable for misconduct if it can be proven
that he or she participated in defrauding others or authenticating
illegal documents, or if, as you suspect, notary is actually aligned
with the father to use his or her sworn authority in a conspiracy to
willfully defraud the children:

GOOGLE: NOTARY MISCONDUCT
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=notary+misconduct

Secondly, generally speaking, any time a person enters into a contract
with another he or she is obligated to full disclosure of the
document. The intentional withholding of a portion of the document and
the attachment of that withheld portion after the fact is, in my
estimation, a clear case of fraud and as such would likely render the
deed and any agreement entered into in the transfer of property
legally and contractually invalid.

Consider this discussion on a site where visitors are offered what is
being billed as free legal advice. Here the person asking the question
was actually the one who admittedly perpetrated a similar the fraud in
coercing someone to sign a quitclaim deed then having it notarized
after the fact. Let me highlight some of the comments in response to
this person?s story:

?There are going to be some people "going down" for this little fiasco
- - from the Notary, down to whomever attempted to file that Quit
Claim - - for fraud. The Quit Claim Deed will be rescinded. I wouldn't
want to be in anybody's shoes involved in this matter!?

?Get yourself a local attorney. You may need to discuss this in full
detail, and in the expectation of the worst.?

?Look, I'm not going to mince words with you. It sounds like your wife
attempted to swindle and defraud her mother, and then exacerbated the
situation by carrying on with the potential criminal and/or civil
activity or plan or design, by having the document illegally
notarized. That act doesn't bode well for her - - which also sounds
like a "conspiracy" with the Notary.?

FREE LEGAL ADVICE FORUM
http://forum.freeadvice.com/printthread.php?t=189205

Finally, if the quit claim deed was obtained through fraud or error or
the proper consideration as required by law is not transferred
appropriately, what exists, in essence, is a ?defective title? ? and a
defective title can, in some instances, be deemed invalid and can
also, by virtue of the fraud that transpired, be a sound basis for
criminal or civil action against the person who perpetrated the fraud.

REAL ESTATE GLOSSARY
http://www.realestateagent.com/glossary/real-estate-glossary--1-440

In closing it seems that the issue of the notary affixing the seal to
the document COULD come into question, but more importantly perhaps is
the fact that (a) the consideration mentioned in the document that
must change hands in order to finalize the agreement has clearly not
yet taken place, which could mean that the agreement is not yet
binding, and (b) there may be a clear case of fraud by virtue of the
father?s withholding or failure to disclose a portion of the quit
claim deed, and his obvious misrepresentation to the children that
what they were signing was a contract in full when in fact he
conspired to withhold a portion of that contract to them with the
intent of adding the missing page(s) later without their knowledge at
the time he had the document notarized. These, I am convinced through
my research, are probably the most impressive and damning grounds upon
which you might consider disputing the validity of the document.

Now, having said that let me remind you that we cannot and do not
provide legal advice in this forum. It is best to consult a
knowledgeable probate attorney in your state who can direct you
further on such matters and I highly recommend you do so. What I
suggest you do is to get together with your siblings and contact your
state?s Bar Association. Here you can often receive a free or low cost
referral to a knowledgably licensed attorney who will be able to
answer your questions. Often a referral can help you find an attorney
who is willing to offer you a free or low cost initial consultation
where many of your questions can be answered and a tentative plan of
action in response to what you learn can be developed and hopefully,
with the aid of the attorney, if you choose to hire him, you can put
this whole ugly mess behind you. On the simply visit the AMERICAN BAR
ASSOCIATION and select your state in order to get information about a
possible referral:

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION REFERRAL DIRECTORY
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/lris/directory.html

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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Fraud

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Conspiracy

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Contract

The facts as you relate them infers that "fraud-in-fact" was
committed. In the first instance, inducing the children to sign a
document under another pretense is fraud in itself. The notary is but
another.

It sounds as if the deed is able to be attacked on a number of levels.
Certainly, as the very competent tutuzdad suggests, you should seek
legal counsel as "quiet title" actions can be complicated - both in
terms of court rules and the law.

weisstho-ga

How about this:  Children cannot sell or buy or transfer ownership in
real property.  Therefore their signatures on the deed are void.

Hi,  I just took a real estate class and feel like I might be able to
help.  I believe you have a solid case and should speak with a good
real estate attorney, sooner than later to explain your situation. 
The longer you wait the harder it maybe to prove.

There are alot of things that have occured here that could be
considered in this case, but the following related to the actual
QuitClaim deed and capacity of your children depending on there age.

First of all a QuitClaim deed makes no "covenants" (promises; they
guarantee nothing, only convey whatever rights the grantor may have. 
It is used primarily to remove a cloud on title.  In most cases
involving a divorice will convey a property to one spouse and remove
the other.  A valid deed has eight essential elements, they are all
important.  The one that you should know about is that a deed does not
take effect until it is delivered and accepted.

There are 4 elements of a contract, typically 5 in real estate.  These
elements are Capacity, Mutual Consent, Legality, Consideration and
Writing is sometimes required (dictated by the Statues of Frauds). 
They all are important, but the one that sticks out would be the
Capacity.  Everyone is capable of contracting, except for the
following persons:  1. Minors, 2. incompetents and 3. convicts.  The
one that I would like to highlight is 1. Minors.  A minor is a person
under the age of eighteen.  A minor can not make contracts relating to
real property or property not in his or her immediate possession or
control, and does not have the right to employ an agent, unless the
minor is emancipated.  I am not sure if you kid meet the emancipation
criteria.  An emancipated minor is one who has the contractual rights
of an adult.  The three ways that a minor becomes emancipated are:  1.
through marriage, 2. a member or former member of the armed forces,
and 3. declared to self supporting by the courts.  Once emancipated,
always emancipated.  Otherwise, a contract or ded signed by a minor
would be void.

I took this straight from the book.  I would get advice from a real
estate lawyer ASAP.  Hopefully, this will be easy if you get to the
County recorders office in the county where the property reside,
before your husband.  In either case you, will need to get a lawyer
involved.

One last thing, if the document has an X where your kid signed.  It is
considered a Holographic Will and needs to be witnessed at the signing
of this document.

I wish you the very best and hope my comments help you in this case.