NSW Inauthentic document

[Esperer]

Hi,

I have registered a revocation of power of attorney with the NSW Land Registry. However, my previous POA continues to monitor/interfere with my financial matters. As my previous POA is not an honest person, if she forges my signature & creates a fake POA document under my name (ie register herself as my POA with the NSW Land Registry) while I am overseas and attempts to transfer my property, it will create lots of problems. Is there an easy way to prevent this?

Thank you

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

Unfortunately no. The chances of her being able to register a new power of attorney are slim, and the penalties if she did attempt to do so would be severe. She'd be forging your signature in a 'trusted position', the qualified witness' execution (almost certainly guaranteed to get the attention of the authorities), and produce a false document for registration to a government authority to gain an advantage. In 'old' speak that's two counts of forgery and one of uttering.

Assuming all that managed to get through, and the property transferred, one of the only exceptions to the rule of indefeasibility for titles is fraud. So, not only could you get the property transferred back to you; you'd have cause to sue her and so would the people who bought it (on top of everything else).

 

[Esperer]

Thank you

 

[Esperer]

Forgot to ask...if I am overseas at the time when the property is transferred, can I get the property transferred back while I am overseas? I may not be able to return to Sydney immediately.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

There'd be some back and forth and extra steps, but I don't see why not.

 

[Esperer]

Thank you. Do you deal with this kind of case? Are you a civil lawyer?

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

I’m a commercial lawyer, but not a litigator and I don’t practise in NSW. I’d suggest searching via lawtap.com for someone in the litigation area who also understands property law.

 

[Esperer]

Thank you

 

[Esperer]

I was wondering can I change my signature for the NSW Land Registry? Then, my previous POA would not even know what it is. If this is possible, how can I change it?

Thank you

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

The Registry doesn’t check your signature against anything that I know of. They rely on the authorised witness to the document to check your identity. And it would make no difference to the attorney executing.