Short version is my ex
took my name off title deeds. I have had no paperwork, signed nothing and notaire has said she sent papers to my UK home and I signed them and ex sent/brought them to notaire. Should there not have been witnesses and how can I prove I didn’t sign. I found out only when he died.
I have no legal qualifications… and only have brief details from you…
However, if I found someone had forged my signature… (because that is what this seems to boil down to)… I would go to the Police/gendarmes and make an official complaint…
and I reckon I would make the Notaire/solcitor/whoever very much aware of what I was doing…
Unfirtunalely he died last month. Thid has omly come to light since then. It wad done 9 years ago when we were still together I think because he wanted to borrow money against the properties and i refused.
It’s up to you… but it sounds like fraud to me…
you must have some idea what you wish to do about it… even if that means doing nothing…
cheers
What’s the situation with the inheritance?
No will left but he has 2 children from 1st marriage and another 2 from 2nd. It will take ages to sort this all out. The notaire sent all correspondence to my ex’s email and that is how the transactions were completed.
So I guess it defaults to being divided equally amongst his children unless you can prove your claim, tricky. Legal advice would seem sensible, perhaps proving a fraudulent transfer will be as easy as “that is nothing like my signature”, but I suspect it will be more work than that.
Does seem bizarre that all communication was made between notaire and ex and none with me. I will make a formal complaint to the notaires overseer and do as much as I can without resorting to legal advice and then decide what I will do.
Definitely fraud and not sure of best action. Notaire is definitely guilty of negligence not having contacted me and is also friends on his FB. Not very professional.
What you seem to need is a legal ‘acte’ to correct the previous error by getting your name back onto the title deeds. I believe that you will need to instruct a Notaire in order to do that.
The complaint that you make about the previous Notaire will need to be in writing and should be sent by recorded delivery against signature. You may wish to invite them to correct their error without charging you any fee as that would be less hassle for them than having to deal with an official complaint made to the governing body in relation to Notaires.
I think that you should also register your claim on the property by sending a letter to the Notaire who is dealing with the estate of the deceased, and that this should also be sent ‘Recommande avec Avis de Reception’.
It may also be helpful to go to the Mairie and get them to witness your signature on an ‘Attestation sur l’honeur’ to the effect that you did not sign any papers 9 years ago in relation to the fraudulent transfer.
Probably won’t do much good going to the Gendarmerie as the offender is dead.
by going to the gendarmes… the legal process can be started and costs nothing to do so…
I’ve been a “fly on the wall” with the gendarmes, during a very convoluted matter, not too dissimilar to the OP…
What a dreadful thing to discover.
A thing that puzzles me is, did you divorce from the person you refer to as your ex? If so it is surprising that this did not emerge during the settlement when your joint assets were divided up.
We were still together when he did this. We weren’t married. It was 9 years ago and we split up 18 months ago. It is more about how this could happen without some sort of witness to signature and some confirmation from me.
The not being married is a problem because that means you are no relation and have no legal link or rights over the estate by virtue of the relationship.
However.
You need to tell the gendarmerie about the fraud so there is an official record of a crime having been committed, and you as a victim of fraud. Then get a lawyer, and contact the head of the chambre departementale des notaires about the fraud and who carried it out.
Only after that do you stand a chance of getting out what you put in. There has to be a paper trail. There is no need for witnesses when signing most documents.
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Thank you. I will be going over to France in September to sort some things out as I have a lot of my property there. His daughter informed me that I wasn’t to go into the house when I went over for his funeral, which not one if his family attended. I don’t know if that was the leval oosigion or she just said the notaire said that. I had no intentions of putting myself in that position anyway just in case of any accusations. French law is so very difficult.
On the contrary, it is clear and prescriptive, it isn’t down to fuzzy subjective interpretation of some event which occurred in 1342.
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I’m definitely lost there. In the UK signatures for property transfer must be witnessed and certainly both parties would be made aware of any changes. Our properties were bought on “tontine” I think it’s called.
Well yes but as it was done fraudulently none of that applies - all someone unscrupulous would have needed to do was initial each page and put lu et approuvé and sign on the last one. If someone dishonest says yes of course this is legit this is my partner’s signature, what will a lawyer in another country think? Especially if there was collusion.