Verify the official record
Use the county clerk or recorder's official site and request a certified copy when appropriate. Confirm instrument number, recording date, parties, legal description, preparer, notary, and return address.
Florida deed-fraud response
Found a Suspected Forged Deed? An Alert Is the Beginning—not the Fix.
A fraudulent document in the official records can create urgent title, lending, sale, identity, and litigation problems. Preserve the record, verify what was filed, and coordinate the clerk, law enforcement, Florida counsel, title professionals, insurer, and identity-protection steps promptly.
Do not sign a “correction,” pay a stranger, or confront a suspected filer without advice.
Preserve evidence and use verified contact information for every agency, professional, insurer, lender, and account.
Preserve evidence and use verified contact information for every agency, professional, insurer, lender, and account.
Preserve EvidenceAlert and certified instrument
Verify IndependentlyUse official contact details
Report PromptlyClerk and law enforcement
Protect TitleCounsel, insurer, and underwriter
Call or Text386-661-8000
Immediate response
Take these steps without destroying evidence
Preserve the complete trail
Save alerts, screenshots, documents, emails, texts, voicemails, envelopes, account notices, IDs used, dates, names, phone numbers, and confirmation numbers. Do not edit originals.
Contact the recording office
Ask for its suspected-fraud procedure and certified-record options. The clerk can explain administrative steps but may not decide ownership or erase an instrument without legal authority.
Report suspected crime
Contact the appropriate local law-enforcement agency and follow instructions about identity theft, forgery, exploitation, cybercrime, or financial accounts. Obtain the report or case number.
Engage Florida counsel
Florida Statutes § 817.535 includes civil procedures for materially false property instruments. Counsel can evaluate emergency relief, lis pendens, court action, third-party rights, and other remedies.
Notify the title insurer
If an owner's policy exists, provide prompt written notice according to its claim instructions. Do not assume coverage; the issued policy and facts control.
Check connected risks
Review mortgages, liens, tax mailing address, insurance, utilities, association records, tenant communications, listing activity, credit reports, and identity-theft exposure with appropriate professionals.
Continue monitoring
Enroll in the county's free property-alert service and use Georgia FANS for authorized Georgia monitoring. Alerts are forward-looking and have indexing limitations.
Why the clerk cannot be the judge
Recording offices accept documents; courts determine disputed legal rights.
Florida's false-record statute includes criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for adversely affected persons. It describes potential court findings that an instrument is null and void, sealing or removal from electronic databases, damages, injunctions, and recording of a court order where feasible.
Those remedies require fact-specific legal process. A property owner should not assume that an alert, affidavit, phone call, or new deed automatically cancels the challenged instrument.
Fraud-response file
Gather these records for counsel and the title team
- Certified copy of the questioned deed or instrument and the complete recording stamp.
- Prior deed, owner's title policy, survey, closing statement, and title commitment if available.
- Mortgage, satisfaction, association, tax, probate, trust, divorce, or entity records tied to ownership.
- Government-issued identification and examples of genuine signatures requested by counsel or investigators.
- Property-alert notice and exact date it was received.
- Chronology of suspicious calls, emails, listings, access, mail changes, account activity, or notary contact.
- Police, sheriff, prosecutor, elder-abuse, identity-theft, or cybercrime report numbers.
- Contact information for the clerk, lender/servicer, insurer, title underwriter, attorney, and investigator.
Forged-deed FAQ
Common property-owner questions
Can the clerk simply delete a forged deed?
Do not assume so. Clerks perform recording functions and may require statutory procedures or a court order before an instrument can be declared void, sealed, or removed. Contact the recording office and qualified counsel immediately.
Does a property alert prevent deed fraud?
No. An alert may notify you after a matching document is recorded or indexed. It does not authenticate the filing, block recording, restore title, or replace legal and title action.
Should I contact my title insurer?
If you have an owner's policy, give the insurer prompt written notice and follow the claim instructions. Coverage depends on the issued policy, date, facts, exclusions, exceptions, conditions, and endorsements.
What evidence should I preserve?
Preserve the alert, certified instrument, communications, account records, identity-theft evidence, chronology, and confirmation numbers. Follow counsel and law-enforcement instructions.
What Florida law addresses false property records?
Florida Statutes § 817.535 addresses unlawful filing of materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent instruments and provides criminal and civil mechanisms. A lawyer must evaluate how it and other remedies apply.
Related fraud and title guidance
Combine monitoring with a real response plan
Home Title Lock and free filing alertsCompare paid monitoring with official Florida and Georgia notification tools.Wire-fraud preventionVerify every instruction and contact before sending funds.Owner's vs. lender's title insuranceUnderstand which policy may protect which insured.Title problems that delay closingLearn how ownership gaps, liens, and record defects affect a transaction.
Official resources
Law and free monitoring tools
Last reviewed August 14, 2026.
Florida Statutes § 817.535False-property-instrument offenses and civil mechanisms.Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers: Property Alert ServicesDirectory of free county property-record alert programs.Georgia FANSGeorgia's filing activity notification system, subject to its stated limitations.IdentityTheft.govFederal identity-theft reporting and recovery planning.
Urgent educational and jurisdiction notice: This page is general information, not legal, criminal-investigation, identity-theft, tax, probate, lending, or insurance-coverage advice. It does not establish that a specific instrument is forged, void, removable, or covered by insurance. Contact law enforcement and qualified Florida counsel promptly. Georgia property and remedies require Georgia-qualified counsel. Monitoring services do not prevent or reverse recordings.
Start with the official record and a coordinated response.
Veterans Approved Title can help identify title records and policy information while qualified counsel and authorities handle legal and investigative remedies.