Challenging a will is no easy task, but sometimes a family of a deceased loved one in Tennessee has reason to believe that a will claiming to express the wishes of their relative is not authentic. Sometimes fraud occurs when a deceptive party crafts a will and forges the signature of another person onto it. Forged signatures can take different forms. Some are easy to spot, while others are more difficult to detect.
An article run by Towards Data Science explains that forged signatures fall into one of three categories. Some forgers do not have an authentic signature to copy and have to guess what the original signature might look like. These signatures are generally easier to spot because often the signature does not look much like an original signature or contains variances from an authentic signature that are easy to spot.
If a forger has access to a legitimate signature, spotting a fake can become harder. Some forgers only have a paper that contains an indentation of a real signature. The forger will attempt to fake a signature by tracing over the indentation. This can still result in an obviously fraudulent signature since the forger still has no actual handwriting to draw upon. Some forgers, however, do possess an actual legitimate copy of the signature. Fake signatures taken from an authentic copy are often the hardest to detect.
Even if a signature looks real, there are small clues that may give it away as fraudulent. The quality of the handwriting is sometimes poorer than an original signature. The pressure of the pen changes because the forger is stopping to refer back to an authentic copy of the signature. A forger may also create pen lifts. Forged signatures can also feature differences in how letters are slanted or sized compared to an original copy.
Consultation with legal help is important if you suspect someone has forged the signature of a loved one on a will or other estate document. This article only provides general information on this topic and is not a substitute for the advice a professional attorney provides.