Is Anyone Here a Lawyer or Member of Law Enforcement?

[frozenchief]

The general ideas in here are actually pretty good. The best advice is how much is the RV worth? If it’s worth $5K, how much are you willing to pay? I mean, you could put $20K into a lawyer’s trust account and tell him to go nuts but that’s not real smart.

The first thing you need to do is to get a copy of the title history of the RV. I don’t know NM law about that. Maybe it’s public. Maybe it’s not. But you should be able to talk with the DMV and see what it takes to get a copy of the title history.

Compare the signature of your father on the title he had with the signature signing title to her. If you know your father’s signature, you could testify as to whether they are the same. If they are not, your testimony would help but you can also get an expert on handwriting to compare the signatures. You’ll need various samples of his handwriting so try to find something he has written. If your expert will testify that the signatures are different and the one conveying title to her is not consistent with his handwriting, you’re halfway there. You’ll need samples of her handwriting to get an opinion that the signature is consistent with her. That doesn’t always happen, though, because sometimes people try to match a signature or write in a different way to disguise a forgery.

You can probably do this all on your own. If you get a report from an expert that the signature is not your dad’s, provide a copy to the DA in the county where the RV is registered. I would maybe contact a criminal defense attorney or a former DA in that county because they would know which DA to talk to, although it would conflict them out of the case so maybe throw them a bottle of bourbon. But if a DA were to find out about this case from a defense attorney who has a good reputation, that would make things much different.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by frozenchief

The general ideas in here are actually pretty good. The best advice is how much is the RV worth? If it’s worth $5K, how much are you willing to pay? I mean, you could put $20K into a lawyer’s trust account and tell him to go nuts but that’s not real smart.

The first thing you need to do is to get a copy of the title history of the RV. I don’t know NM law about that. Maybe it’s public. Maybe it’s not. But you should be able to talk with the DMV and see what it takes to get a copy of the title history.

Compare the signature of your father on the title he had with the signature signing title to her. If you know your father’s signature, you could testify as to whether they are the same. If they are not, your testimony would help but you can also get an expert on handwriting to compare the signatures. You’ll need various samples of his handwriting so try to find something he has written. If your expert will testify that the signatures are different and the one conveying title to her is not consistent with his handwriting, you’re halfway there. You’ll need samples of her handwriting to get an opinion that the signature is consistent with her. That doesn’t always happen, though, because sometimes people try to match a signature or write in a different way to disguise a forgery.

You can probably do this all on your own. If you get a report from an expert that the signature is not your dad’s, provide a copy to the DA in the county where the RV is registered. I would maybe contact a criminal defense attorney or a former DA in that county because they would know which DA to talk to, although it would conflict them out of the case so maybe throw them a bottle of bourbon. But if a DA were to find out about this case from a defense attorney who has a good reputation, that would make things much different.

From speaking with some criminal defense guys and personal experience, finding a good handwriting expert is difficult.

My $0.02 is OP should drop this. Likely just throwing good money after bad.

[Jenson71]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

From speaking with some criminal defense guys and personal experience, finding a good handwriting expert is difficult.

My $0.02 is OP should drop this. Likely just throwing good money after bad.

I would not try to get a handwriting expert on your own. Have they ever gone through a Daubert challenge? Have they testified in court at all? Or in a deposition? You could end up with a $5k handwriting expert that isn't worth a damn. I'd let your lawyer deal with that.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by Jenson71

I would not try to get a handwriting expert on your own. Have they ever gone through a Daubert challenge? Have they testified in court at all? Or in a deposition? You could end up with a $5k handwriting expert that isn't worth a damn. I'd let your lawyer deal with that.

That was my point.

It’s a pseudoscience.

[Jenson71]

Originally Posted by Cave Johnson

That was my point.

It’s a pseudoscience.

I was agreeing with your first point. I'm sure there are fine handwriting experts and that it's an accepted practice generally, but I can also see some crackpots holding themselves out as experts, charging a ton, and being completely unusable when it counts.