I have a cousin that had a stoke in 2003 and her husband asked for a divorce in 2005. In the process of taking her belongings, she discovered that he had sold their home, without her knowledge. The Deed of Trust has her signature and it was notarized.

Her signature was falsified, don't you have to show I.D or some form of identification to prove you are?

Thank you

Was your cousin not living in the house while it was being sold? If the house was in both of their names, she would have had to sign more then just the deed of trust; there would have been real estate papers to negotiate as well.

Tick

To answer your specific question when a notary verifies a signature (which is the notary's primary purpose), they are required to review identification to insure the identity of the signator.

If this was not done then a fraud was committed.

The problem here is that a) the Statute of Limitation may have expired on this and b) the buyer was also a victim.

So the question is whether your cousin received value for the house as part of the divorce settlement. If she did, then she is whole. She can file a complaint with the state agency that licenses notaries.

If, however, the house was not properly distributed in the divorce then she needs to file suit against her ex.

Yes the notary checks ID when they have someone sign the paper work. Of course at the time of the stroke was her hand writing effected ? It may be hard to even prove it was faked.
But you will have to prove that the cousin did not sign it.