VIC Ex Forged My Signature - How will Family Court View This?

[Parallel]

I have discovered that my ex forged my signature to obtain a $150,000 worth of credit for his hobby farm. I was away at my father's deathbed. (My father was a multi millionaire and my ex was unemployed at that time).

How would the Judge in Family Court view my ex-husband's affidavit?

 

[Rod]

Depends on a number of factors such as:

Is the signature obviously fake?

When did you find out about it?

Why haven't you done anything about it before now?

Are you obligated for the debt or just the ex?

Were you still married at the time?

Separated?

All you can do is present your facts to counter the ex, even cross examine him on his false statements, and hope the judge sees it the way you do.

 

[Parallel]

Is the signature obviously fake?

• Yes, he has distinctive hand writing, used same pen as his signature on same page. I have evidence I was in Sydney on the day it was signed.

When did you find out about it?

• I guess I knew about the document, but had no idea what it was for at the time, but I know I had elected not to sign; obviously I was focussing on my father's decline, multiple trips to sydney and my four children aged 9 to 18 months at the time. His farm was his hobby and I was at arm's length from his dealings. He went ahead obviously and I never realised until just before he finally vacated the marital home in 2012, did I gather up a plethora of his documents, files, computer back up files etc etc, online research etc - I actually did not find this particular document until about 2014 or later after I had written my last affidavit - thousands and thousands of files that Ive had to sift through. My affidavit would have been tenfold larger with what I know now.

Why haven't you done anything about it before now?

• My ex commenced the property settlement process (actually he took me to court to attempt to gain 50% of what assets were left of the marriage after sucking the children's Testamentary Trust dry - long protracted case which the judge has ordered the trial not to be re-listed unless all evidence of basically what happened to the Testamentary Trust funds are accounted for and ready to go to trial - Case is listed on the comm portal as closed). So I did not find this evidence until after. I will definitely be using it if I have to go back to court - which may have to happen) he has since become bankrupt, stating to child support he is unemployed. I am guessing the rogue lawyer ditched him at that point.

Are you obligated for the debt or just the ex?

• Thee loan was back in 2002 - it was paid off over time with funds mostly drawn from the sale of cattle, or the Line of Credit draw down on the original marital home, (which was partly paid off with the Testamentary Trust funds the ex had unilaterally withdrawn). Unscrambling the egg is very challenging for me.

Were you still married at the time?

• Yes, married, definitely not happily.

Separated?

• Separated about 2004 or 2005 (non-existent marriage for years before then as well) and I had been through my parents hideous acrimonious divorce as a child and so I determined to co-exist with the ex, for the children's sake, as women stupidly do, until gradually I realised financially what he had been up to. By Xmas 2011, I found my courage and said enough, no longer living under one roof. He no longer walked down the hallway of my home after late April 2012. I grew an extra centimetre in height.

 

[Rod]

Hmm, looks like you want to prove the ex is untrustworthy and a liar using the fake signature as proof to discredit the rest of his affidavit.

Law does not quite work that way. The law will look for evidence confirming each fact. If there is conflicting evidence then the court may look at the trustworthiness of the source (ie you) to assign a greater probability your evidence is the correct evidence for the fact in dispute. So it may help, but there are no guarantees it will. Remember courts hear cases where both parties tell untruths!

Cases can take a while to finish as the court needs to go through the evidence for each fact in dispute to try and work out which is the best truthful evidence.

 

[Cairnsdad]

Hi Parallel,

I am by no means well versed in the law but through experience I can say how some scenarios played out for me. I have been in a similar situation whereby my ex used my name and credit score unbeknownst to me to obtain several large short term finance loans and credit cards online when she was preparing to leave with her boyfriend that obviously all fell in my lap after the separation.

First off the Family Court will never take your word for it and given it is illegal to forge a signature with the intent to deceive your best bet is to report it to the Fraud Squad which they will pursue if they think they can build a case. If they do and he is prosecuted and convicted then that is what the Family Court Judge will want to see and of course should hold some weight towards his credibility. My ex was charged and convicted for fraud for using my signature and it definitely made a difference in Family Court.

I'm sorry to say though but my biggest hurdle was getting the Fraud Squad to be interested enough to take on the case because even through my lawyer contacting them they were reluctant as it is common for marriage splits to make accusations against each other misappropriating money and it wasn't until I gave them gold plated evidence of the fraud that they moved forward. It still took several months and my lawyer had to ask for adjournments in Family Court pending the outcome of the criminal investigation which we were fortunately granted.

It is definitely not pretty as you will have to testify and be cross examined and the only reason I did it was to have to $140k high interest debt removed from my name and my credit score restored.

Good luck

 

[Parallel]

Thanks Cairnsdad,

The ex signed my name way back in 2002, so the loan was paid off a long time ago. I was just trying to ascertain what reaction the Family Court has to fraud. The legal process is so unpredictable and challenging.

I am now investigating what else he did to misappropriate as I was left as guarantor of $1,800,000 on the family home despite having paid off the mortgage to a $0 balance 5 years before. I discovered immediately after officially declaring final separation, that he opened a joint bank account at a branch I have never visited. So I assume more fraudulent activity (I was interstate at the time, so my flights prove I wasn't in Melbourne).

The bank will not respond to any of my questions. So it is all so complicated, so many dramas.

 

[Rod]

re: Bank. Have you raised a dispute yet with the Financial Services Ombudsman?

https://www.fos.org.au/

 

[Parallel]

No, I'm assuming I should.

 

[Rod]

If the bank is not responding to your legitimate queries, then yes.

I'd probably make one more call to the bank, speak with a manager, write down his name, then remind them my name is on the account, tell them I have a right to records, then suggest that their failure to respond may be seen by the police and courts as aiding and abetting a fraud. Then I'd ask the question - Well <insert name>, how do you want to proceed from here, it is your choice today, mine tomorrow if I don't get a satisfactory response right now?

 

[Parallel]

Brilliant, thanks so much Rod! Monday morning can't come soon enough.