THE deed to a home was signed away under the owner’s signature although they died months before.
Brenda Booth of Atlanta, Georgia, was shocked to see a private business owned her dead sister’s home and was unable to claim it back because there was no way to prove who really signed the deed.
The deed to the home of Brenda Booth’s sister who died is believed to have been stolenCredit: WTVY
There is a signature from Booth’s sister, Claudia Marie, with a date that is from three months after she diedCredit: WTVY
Marie’s home is now owned by private business EBA Capital Inc. and Booth has not been able to claim it backCredit: WTVY
Booth’s sister, Claudia Marie, died in January 2022 due to health issues but the deed to her Clayton County house was signed on April 26, local CBS affiliate WANF reported.
Marie had already been dead for three months when the deed was allegedly signed by her.
“Uh, she can’t sign a deed three months after she died,” Booth told WANF.
The new owner is EBA Capital Inc. and full ownership was granted after the papers were signed.
Booth was expecting to sell Marie’s house with no issues but soon became the victim of alleged deed theft.
“It’s usually a fairly routine process: gather the assets, gather the debts, identify the creditors, and make your disbursements, and away you go,” attorney Daniel Kalamaro on Booth’s case explained, per WANF.
“That did not happen here.”
Real estate attorney James Clifton dissected what could have happened with Marie’s deed.
DEED THEFT
Clifton explained deed theft is growing exponentially in Georgia.
This is because Georgia law does not require people to show IDs when filling out paperwork for a home.
Clifton is convinced there must have been some form of fraud with Marie’s deed.
“Unless she’s Lazarus or this company supposedly received the deed from her [or] sent a witness notary to heaven, there is no way this lady could have possibly signed this deed,” Clifton told WANF.
Even with the help of Clifton, Booth has failed to regain ownership of her sister’s home.
Clifton said local police are not properly investigating deed theft cases even though forging someone’s signature is fraud.
“We report it to local law enforcement,” Clifton said.
“They tell us there is nothing they can do about it.
“They say it’s a civil matter only, even though there’s forgery, even though there’s fraud, which are crimes.”
Booth has been left with little to no answers on how to fix the situation.
“It’s been really hard,” Booth said.
“You don’t have anyone to call and say, ‘Am I doing this right? What am I doing with this? How do I do this?’”
Unless…this company supposedly received the deed from her [or] sent a witness notary to heaven, there is no way this lady could have possibly signed this deed.
James CliftonReal Estate Attorney
“You’re just by yourself,” she added.
“It’s been a doozie.”
However, a newly introduced House Bill 888, known as the Georgia Not on My Deed Act, wants to require IDs for filing house paperwork.
But it is unclear if this will be any help to Booth.
There are no current updates on Booth’s case.
Georgia law does not require IDs when people are doing house paperwork which may have led to the deed being stolenCredit: WTVY
Booth’s sister died in January 2022Credit: WTVY
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