BUSINESS LAW 101 / Forgery

By Albert L. Kelley, Esq.

What is forgery? According to Black’s Law Dictionary, it is defined as “The falsely making or materially altering, with intent to defraud, any writing which, if genuine, might apparently be of legal efficacy or the foundation of a legal liability.”  The most important part of this definition is the phrase “with intent to defraud”. If the action is not done with a malicious intent, it is not forgery. The statute is similar: “Whoever falsely makes, alters, forges or counterfeits a public record, or a certificate, return or attestation of any clerk or register of a court, public register, notary public, town clerk or any public officer, in relation to a matter wherein such certificate, return or attestation may be received as a legal proof; or a charter, deed, will, testament, bond, or writing obligatory, letter of attorney, policy of insurance, bill of lading, bill of exchange or promissory note, or an order, acquittance, or discharge for money or other property, or an acceptance of a bill of exchange or promissory note for the payment of money, or any receipt for money, goods or other property, or any passage ticket, pass or other evidence of transportation issued by a common carrier, with intent to injure or defraud any person, shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree”.  Again, the most important phrase is “with intent to injure or defraud any person”.  Forgery is what we refer to as a specific intent crime. 

What is interesting about forgery is the extent that it encompasses so many things. It includes falsely signing someone else’s name of course, but it also includes counterfeiting, changing a public record, falsely notarizing a document, or modifying an invoice or receipt. It even includes putting someone else’s trademark on goods they did not produce.

The statute actually makes forgery two crimes. There is the act of creating the forgery which is a third-degree felony, and the act of passing the forged document to another person, called uttering a forged instrument which is also a third-degree felony.

Some forgeries can be deemed misdemeanors or raised to a second-degree felony. If a person forges a trademark on less than 100 items, the violation is only a first-degree misdemeanor. If they put the trademark on 100 to 999 items or if the retail value of the items is $2,500-$19,999 it is a third-degree felony and if they place the counterfeit trademark on 1,000 or more items or if the value exceeds $20,000, the penalty is raised to a second-degree felony. And like with injury or death which occur during the commission of a crime, if a person is injured as a result of the counterfeit trademark, the penalty is raised to a second-degree felony and if a person dies as a result, it becomes a first-degree felony.

Another form of forgery is if someone signs any loan document, such as a promissory note or mortgage, as if they were the officer of a bank or other financial institution. This doesn’t require signing someone else’s name; it applies even if there is no one by that name.

 A final form of forgery is to assemble a false document from other documents. In other words, if a person takes four promissory notes and cuts and pastes the separate sections to make it appear that they are part of a single document, that is also deemed a forgery. 

There is also a pre-emptive angle to this law. If a person is in possession of ten or more forged checks, notes or other financial paper, the mere possession is a third-degree felony. As before, actually tendering the forged document is a separate third-degree felony.

Al Kelley has worked as an attorney in Key West for the last 31 years. He is the author of five law books available through Absolutely Amazing E-Books and the host of “Basics Of The Law”, a weekly YouTube channel. He also previously taught business law, personnel law, and labor law at St. Leo University. This article is being offered as a public service and is not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about legal issues, you should confer with a licensed Florida attorney.

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