My friend forged signatures on her Divorce Application.

Question

I am worried my friend may get in trouble if he forges signatures on her divorce application. She is an Australian citizen and her husband resides outside of Australia. Husband will not sign the divorce papers, so she is thinking of forging his signature.

Do the courts check the signature before the hearing date?

What are the consiquences if she gets caught?

Answer 1

Surely there is some legal avenue to get her estranged husband to sign the papers. Ask her to speak to a solicitor - I'm no lawyer (unless being a bush lawyer counts!) but either that, or there must be a way for the divorce to go through even if he refuses to sign. Perhaps the husband can be subpoenaed at the court hearing and made to sign by a magistrate?

Your friend would most likely be charged with fraud and/or perjury if she chooses to do this, so please advise her to consider all her options before resorting to forgery. I'm sure her ex-husband isn't worth her getting a criminal record over.

Answer 2

There's got to be more consequence to that than forgery and perjury. That's not like a student forging his or her parent's signature.

Answer 3

other than forgery and perjury..not much.

Answer 4

Criminal charges, but often those signatures need to be notarized to be accepted by the courts

Michael

http://www.mcordova.com/

Answer 5

I think you can get jail time for it, but I think its a minor offense. Same idea as plagiarism.