real property law
Written by Staci N. Gamble, Research Fellow with the National Agricultural Law Center and law student at Florida A&M College of Law, and Ellen Essman
You may have heard about the crime of “deed fraud” in the news in recent years. Deed fraud is a crime where scammers forge property ownership documents to make it appear that someone’s home has been sold or transferred to the scammer. Once the fraudulent deed is recorded with the county, the scammer sells, mortgages, rents, or uses the property to launder money or create a shell company without the real owner knowing until it is too late.
What might deed fraud look like in practice? An example might be an adult child who, after a parent’s death, thought inheriting the family home would be the least of their worries. While grieving, the child discovers that a stranger had filed a fake deed claiming the parent sold the home for just a few dollars weeks before passing away. Through research, the child discovered documents that included forged signatures and falsified notary stamps. Scammers commonly commit deed fraud through forging signatures, falsifying documents, or illegally transferring property titles to themselves, leading to unauthorized sales of mortgages. Despite the true owner having clear proof of fraud, undoing this damage can become a months-long ordeal filled with court hearings, police reports, and costly legal filings. Landowners should be aware of how easily deed fraud can occur and how important it is to protect your property.
How common is deed fraud?
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported 11,578 real estate complaints nationwide in 2021, 11,727 in 2022, and 9,521 in 2023. The report in its entirety is available here. While these numbers are not huge, they do show that deed fraud and related real estate crimes are occurring across the United States.
In 2024, Franklin County created the “Deed Fraud Strike Force,” which included the county’s Auditor, Recorder, Treasurer, Commissioners, and Prosecuting Attorney. In their subsequent report, the Strike Force noted that out of the approximately 50,000 home titles processed every year in Franklin County, there are fewer than 10 deeds that are flagged as potentially fraudulent. Despite this low incidence of fraud, Franklin County wanted to get ahead of any growth of the crime with preventative efforts. To this end, the report also recommended Ohio legislation that would give the Auditor’s office greater authority to reject materially false or fraudulent documents, and authority to the Recorder and Auditor to require photo identification for certain real estate transfer and conveyance transactions. The Strike Force further recommended working with county courts to expedite returning properties involved in fraudulent transfers to their rightful owners.
While there have been stories of deed fraud throughout Ohio, it is still relatively rare, and there are steps you can take to protect yourself and your property.
What can I do to protect myself from deed fraud?
Those who own real estate, whether it’s located in a city, a suburb, or in a rural area, are highly encouraged to contact their county recorder’s offices for protection against deed fraud. Many counties have partnered with software vendors to monitor any changes to recorded documents in the county records. Software like Property Fraud Alert, AlertMe, and Fraud Sleuth are free services that help real estate owners protect their property. Once enrolled, property owners will receive email or telephone notifications when a document is recorded in the county using their name or business name. As an example, the sign up for fraud alerts in Pickaway County is available here. To find out if your county has a similar alert system, go to your county government’s website. Searching your county name and key words like “property fraud alert” is another approach that may be quicker than searching through your county website.
In addition to signing up for fraud alert software if it is available in your county, the Franklin County Deed Fraud Strike Force compiled a helpful list of steps a property owner can take to prevent deed fraud:
- Check your county recorder and auditor websites often by using the online records search tool to ensure there are no more deeds or mortgages you don’t know about on your property. (Checking this regularly can help you prevent/be aware of deed fraud even if your county doesn’t have fraud alert software).
- Pull credit reports to check for unauthorized activity. A free credit report can be obtained via: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/free-credit-reports
- If your property is not occupied, check often to ensure that it is not occupied illegally. Ask someone you trust to look after your home if you are going to be away for an extended period of time (or set up a camera with remote access to monitor).
- Make sure the county auditor and treasurer have your contact address and/or email for you to receive assessment notices, tax bills, etc. Contact the auditor and treasurer if you suddenly stop receiving notices.
- Change online passwords regularly.
- Sign up for the electronic notice services if they are provided by your county auditor and county recorder.
- Make sure you are dealing with reputable companies and make sure you only trust your personal and financial information with those you truly can trust.
- When utilizing the services of a notary, first verify whether the notary is listed on the Ohio Secretary of State website at https://www.ohiosos.gov
What if deed fraud happens to me?
Despite monitoring, deed fraud can still occur, and courts in Ohio have ruled that if a homeowner’s property is taken by fraud, they are entitled to regain ownership; however, this requires clear and convincing evidence of the fraudulent act. For example, in the case Salone v. Stovall, which took place in Cuyahoga County, an elderly landowner was deceived into signing a page that had been secretly attached to a falsified deed transferring her home. When she discovered the deception, the trial court voided the fraudulent deed and restored title in her name. The court emphasized that it was not enough simply to take her word for it but, rather there needed to be clear and convincing evidence of fraud occurring. In Salone, that standard was met through evidence showing that the notary had only seen the signature page and not the deed itself, that Salone never intended to transfer her property, and that she was misled into believing she was signing papers for a reverse mortgage. This combination of deception persuaded the court that the deed was the product of fraud. You can read the case in full here. Cases like Salone highlight the importance of clear and convincing evidence needed if a property owner wants to get their land restored. Thus, signing up for fraud alert software offered by your county can provide early notification of any suspicious filings and help you to provide evidence.
If a property owner suspects deed fraud, the following steps should be taken immediately to help protect the homeowner’s rights:
- Obtain a certified copy of the recorded deed from your County Recorder’s office.
- File a police report with your local police department and/or county sheriff’s department.
- The Franklin County Deed Fraud Strike force recommends alerting your county auditor, treasurer, and recorder of the suspected fraud and following the steps they suggest.
- The Franklin County Strike Force recommends notifying your mortgage company, banks and credit cards of the identity theft and fraud.
- The Strike Force also suggests filing an identity theft notification and affidavit with the Ohio Attorney General.
- Contact your title insurance company (if applicable).
- Consult a real estate or property attorney – They will advise on your legal options and next steps such as:
- Recording an affidavit or statement of facts regarding the property – A formal declaration in the public record stating the deed is fraudulent.
- Filing a Quiet Title or similar action – A legal case to have a court confirm you are the rightful owner of the property.
- Gather evidence of identity theft or fraud.
- Change passwords for online accounts.
- Check your credit report for odd, unfamiliar or unauthorized matters. A free credit report can be obtained via: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/free-credit-reports
Although deed fraud is still somewhat rare in Ohio and across the U.S., it is important to be aware than it does happen, and that it can happen to you if you own real estate. If you take precautions to monitor your properties ahead of time, you will be more aware of any suspicious activity occurring that might affect your ownership, and able to respond more quickly if you believe deed fraud has occurred.
When we are not on the road presenting, in the classroom teaching, or keeping up with the news for the blog, our team is busy working on large scale research projects for the Agricultural & Food Law Consortium. One of our recent projects looked at how states assess farmland for property tax purposes, and we then created a compilation of every state’s laws on this topic. Based upon the research, we found that property taxes are a fact of life for virtually all landowners in the United States, but that each state uses a “differential tax assessment” for agricultural lands.
What exactly is a differential tax assessment? Many Ohio farmers know about and use Ohio’s special property tax assessment known as CAUV, which is short for Current Agricultural Use Valuation. Instead of assessing property taxes on the basis of the market rate for developable land, CAUV uses a different formula that assesses the land on its value for agricultural production. CAUV is a form of differential tax assessment.
While each state utilizes differential tax assessments for agricultural lands, they use different definitions of agriculture, different formulas, and different application processes. Some areas of law utilize model acts that states may adopt in order to make it easier to do business across state lines. Differential tax assessments of agricultural land do not have a model act, so each state’s language reflects the culture, norms, and conditions of the respective state at the time the state adopted or amended its differential tax assessment.
An example close to home illustrates what this means. Under Ohio Revised Code § 5713.30(A), agricultural use means commercial animal or poultry husbandry, aquaculture, algaculture, apiculture, the commercial production of field crops, tobacco, fruits, vegetables, nursery stock, ornamental trees, and sod. Commercial timber qualifies, but non-commercial timber only qualifies if it located on or next to land that otherwise would qualify for CAUV. Exclusive use requires just that: the land is exclusively used for an activity listed as an agricultural use. Lands of more than 10 acres that are exclusively devoted to agricultural uses qualify, but lands of less than 10 acres only qualify if the average yearly gross income exceeds $2,500 over the preceding three years. That is an example of a definition of what qualifies as agriculture for the purposes of the differential tax assessment.
The differential tax assessment project compiled the approaches taken by all fifty states, and the compilations are available on the National Agricultural Law Center website HERE. This material is based upon work supported by the National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tags: differential tax assessment, cauv, property tax, real property tax, real property law
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Written by: Evin Bachelor, Law Fellow
Welcome to 2019 from all of us at the OSU Extension Agricultural and Resource Law Program! With a new Congress, a new Ohio General Assembly, and a new slate of leaders atop Ohio’s executive offices, we are expecting a flurry of activity in the new year. Our resolution this year is to keep you in the know about agricultural law news, and maybe find some time to exercise.
Here’s our latest gathering of agricultural law news that you may want to know:
U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear state livestock standard lawsuits. In a previous blog post, we noted that California and Massachusetts had adopted laws that would require sellers of certain meats and eggs to follow heightened animal care standards in order to sell those products within California or Massachusetts. Thirteen states, led by Indiana, quickly sued Massachusetts to stop its law from taking effect. Missouri led another group of thirteen states in suing California.
Indiana and Missouri had attempted to have their cases brought directly before the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court has “original jurisdiction” over claims between states. After the states filed their arguments with the Supreme Court, the justices asked the U.S. Solicitor General whether he believed these cases were appropriate for the Court’s original jurisdiction. The Solicitor General filed briefs in the Indiana v. Massachusetts and Missouri v. California maters, and suggested that the Supreme Court should not exercise original jurisdiction because, among other things, the states lack the proper standing to sue. Here, this argument essentially means that the resulting harm from enforcement of the statutes would not harm the states as states, but only some of their citizens, and that those citizens may still sue California or Massachusetts for their individualized harm.
The Supreme Court took the position of the Solicitor General and denied the requests of Indiana and Missouri to have the cases brought before the Court. Any further action will have to be taken through the lower courts. For more information about the Missouri v. California matter as argued to the Supreme Court, click here. For more information about the Indiana v. Massachusetts matter as argued to the Supreme Court, click here.
USDA not required to adopt Obama-era “Farmer Fair Practice Rules,” according to federal appeals court. In December 2016, the USDA published the Farmer Fair Practices Rules as an interim final rule, and published two amendments to its rules that deal with the Packers and Stockyards Act. The amendments addressed the ease of bringing a lawsuit for unfair and uncompetitive business practices under the Packers and Stockyards Act. The rule was set to take effect at the end of February 2017, although the amendments were only proposals that had not fully gone through the required notice and comment process. In early February 2017, citing the President’s regulatory freeze, and arguing that the rule would cause more litigation and confusion, the USDA postponed, and ultimately withdrew, the rule. The USDA also did not take action on the two proposed amendments. The Organization for Competitive Markets sued to stop the USDA from withdrawing the interim final rule, and to compel the USDA to promulgate the two amendments, arguing that the 2008 Farm Bill requires action by the USDA.
On December 21, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit denied the Organization for Competitive Markets’ request for review. The court explained that the USDA did not fail to fulfill its mandate, describing Congress’s language as ambiguous. Further, the court said that the USDA’s withdrawal of the interim final rule followed the proper notice and comment procedures. Ultimately the court believed that Congress has been monitoring this issue and if Congress wishes for a more specific action, then Congress should act. The court’s opinion in Organization for Competitive Markets v. USDA, No. 17-3723 (8th Cir. 2018) is available here.
Funding for National Weather Service and National Algal Bloom Program receives President’s signature. On Monday, January 7th, President Trump signed Senate Bill 2200, which passed during the previous Congress. The bill increases funding for the National Weather Service’s agriculture related weather monitoring and forecasting from $26.5 million in 2019 to $28.5 million by 2023. The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, the research arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will see an increase in funding from $136.5 million in 2019 to $154 million by 2023. The bill also instructs NOAA to “plan the procurement of future data sources and satellite architectures,” essentially instructing NOAA to think about cost-effective ways to upgrade weather monitoring systems both on the ground and in space. The National Integrated Drought Information System will also see an increase in funding from $13.5 million this year to $14.5 million by 2023. The program is to use some of the funding to “develop a strategy for a national coordinated soil moisture monitoring network” within the next year. Finally, the bill also reauthorizes $20.5 million each year through 2023 for relief from hypoxia or harmful algal blooms “of national significance,” which the bill defines as “a hypoxia or harmful algal bloom event that has had or will likely have a significant detrimental environmental, economic, subsistence use, or public health impact on an affected state.” For the text of the act, visit Congress’s webpage here.
Ohio Case Law Update
- Ohio Power Citing Board cannot extend construction certificate for wind farm by simple motion, but must follow amendment process, according to the Ohio Supreme Court. Black Fork Wind Energy filed an application with the Ohio Power Citing Board (“the board”) to construct a wind farm in Crawford and Richland Counties in 2011, and the board approved the application in January 2012. Black Fork had five years, until January 2017, to begin construction on the project. The project was delayed due to a lawsuit challenging the project, and Black Fork sought an additional two years to begin construction. The board granted Black Fork’s motion without a full application to amend and investigation. The board argued that it regularly grants such extensions and that extensions do not amount to an “amendment” that would require an application because an extension is not “a proposed change to the facility.” The majority of the Ohio Supreme Court disagreed, and held that the board acted improperly. Because the commencement of construction was a term in the certificate, granting an extension amounts to an amendment in the certificate. As such, the board should not have acted on the request without requiring an application for amendment and investigation. The Court reversed the order and remanded the issue back for further proceedings. Justices Fischer and O’Donnell dissented, arguing that the Court should defer to the board in how it reads “amendment” under Ohio Revised Code § 4906.07(B). For the Ohio Supreme Court’s opinion from In re application of Black Ford Wind Energy, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-5206, click here.
- Creditors must first seek payment of unpaid bills from estate of deceased spouse before attempting to collect from a surviving spouse, according to the Ohio Supreme Court. In Embassy Healthcare v. Bell, Mr. Robert Bell received care at a nursing home operated by Embassy Healthcare. Embassy sent a letter for collection to his wife, Mrs. Bell, six months and three days after he had passed away, but no estate for Mr. Bell had been opened. In Ohio, creditors have six months to request an estate administrator be appointed in order to collect a debt from an estate, but Embassy did not make such a request. Since it missed the six month statute of limitations, Embassy tried to seek collection from Mrs. Bell under Ohio’s “necessaries” law, as provided in Ohio Revised Code § 3103.03. This law requires spouses to support their spouse with money, property, or labor if their spouse cannot do so on their own; however, the Ohio Supreme Court has said that a person is responsible for their own debts first, and that under this statute their spouse will only be liable if that person cannot pay for their debts. In this case, the Ohio Supreme Court said that Embassy had to seek payment from Mr. Bell’s estate before it could require payment from his spouse. Since the statute of limitations had run to bring a claim against Mr. Bell’s estate, Embassy would be unable to demonstrate that Mr. Bell’s estate could not cover his personal debts. Therefore, Embassy would not be able to prove an essential requirement of Ohio’s necessaries law, and cannot recover from his spouse. For the Ohio Supreme Court’s opinion in Embassy Healthcare v. Bell, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-4912, click here.
- Trial court may determine width of easement as a question of fact, and will not be reversed by appellate court unless the evidence shows it clearly lost its way, according to Ohio Court of Appeals for the 7th District. A property owner signed an express easement to a neighbor so that the neighbor could cross the property owner’s land to access the public road. The written easement did not specify the width of the easement, but the neighbor cleared a path approximately 10 feet wide. The property owner eventually sold the property, and the new owner laid gravel on the path from the public road to their garage, and the neighbor extended the gravel all the way to his own property. Disputes later arose regarding the easement, and the neighbor sued the new property owners for breach of easement, and sought a declaration that the easement was thirty feet wide. Ohio case law allows trial courts to establish the dimensions of an easement if the writing does not specify any dimensions if the trial court examines: 1) the language of the granting document, 2) the context of the transaction, and 3) the purpose of the easement. The trial court found the easement to be ten feet wide. The neighbor appealed, but the Seventh District found the trial court’s decision to be reasonable given the evidence and Ohio law. Since the width of an easement is a question of fact, an appellate court will not reverse the trial court absent evidence that the trial court clearly lost its way given the weight of the evidence. For the Seventh Districts’ opinion in Cliffs and Creek, LLC v. Swallie, 2018-Ohio-5410 (7th Dist.), click here.
Tags: ag law harvest, livestock care standards, USDA, harmful algal blooms, Ohio Supreme Court, wind energy, wind turbines, real property law
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Written by: Evin Bachelor, Law Fellow, and Ellen Essman, Sr. Research Associate
The end of the year is here, and there is a flurry of news coming across our desks. We wish you a prosperous 2019 and look forward to keeping you up to date on what is happening in the agricultural law world.
Here’s our latest gathering of agricultural law news that you may want to know:
GMO labeling rule released by USDA. The Agricultural Marketing Service posted the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard rule on the Federal Register, located here, on Friday, December 21, 2018. According to the rule page, the rule “establishes the new national mandatory bioengineered (BE) food disclosure standard (NDFDS or Standard).” The standards require foods labeled for retail sale to disclose certain information either through a new symbol, inclusion of a QR code that provides a link to a website, including a phone number to text for more information, or including the term “bioengineered” on the label. The rule defines bioengineered food as food that contains genetic material modified through changing DNA or other modifications that could not be done through conventional breeding or otherwise found in nature. Exemptions for foods served in restaurants and very small food manufacturers with gross receipts of less than $2.5 million limit the rule’s applicability. The rule will take effect on February 19, 2019, with compliance becoming mandatory by January 1, 2022. For more information, or to see the new label, visit the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s BE Disclosure webpage here.
Farm Bill provides good news for dairy farmers. Under the 2018 Farm Bill Conference Report, available here, the Margin Protection Program (MPP) was renamed the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC). The name was not the only change made to the program. Per the USDA, the program “is a voluntary risk management program… offer[ing] protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all milk price and the average feed cost (the margin) falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer.” The Farm Bill lowers the premium rates for risk coverage. Furthermore, the bill adds coverage levels of $8.50, $9.00 and $9.50 for a dairy operation’s “first five million pounds of participating production.” If a farmer covers his first five million pounds at $8.50, $9.00, or $9.50, he then has the option to cover anything in excess of five million pounds at coverage levels of $4.00-$8.00 (in fifty cent increments). Another notable change—the Farm Bill allows farmers who maintain “their coverage decisions, including coverage level and covered production, through 2023,” to “receive a 25% discount on their premiums each year.” The DMC language can be found in section 1401 of the Farm Bill.
Missouri farmer pleads guilty to wire fraud for falsely marketing grains as organic. Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Randy Constant with wire fraud, alleging that since 2008 he and his associates improperly marketed millions of dollars worth of grain as certified organic while knowing that it was not. Mr. Constant operated certified organic farms as part of his larger operation, but “at least 90% of the grain being sold was actually either entirely non-organic or a mix,” according to the information filed by the federal prosecutors. Federal prosecutors sought full restitution of approximately $128 million for victims/purchasers, in addition to the forfeiture of 70 pieces of equipment, ranging from pickup trucks to combines and semi-trucks to GPS yield mapping systems.
On December 20, 2018, Mr. Constant entered a plea of guilty. The magistrate filed a report indicating that Mr. Constant understood what his plea meant, and that the one count of wire fraud is punishable by (1) a maximum of 20 years in prison, (2) a maximum of 3 years of supervised release following prison, and (3) a maximum fine of $250,000. Further, Mr. Constant will be barred from receiving USDA benefits, including those from USDA Farm Service Agency, Agricultural Marketing Service National Organic Program, and Federal Crop Insurance Program. Additionally, Mr. Constant could face restitution to all victims/purchasers of approximately $128 million. For more information, search for United States v. Constant, 6:18-cr-02034-CJW-MAR (N.D. Iowa 2018).
Japan set to lower tariffs on agricultural commodities from TPP members and the EU. The United States exports a significant share of the beef, pork, wheat, and other farm products imported by Japan. However, two major trade agreements set to take effect early in 2019 will result in reduced tariffs for imports into Japan from a number of other countries. The United States withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, but 11 other nations continued to pursue the agreement, which is set to begin taking effect at the start of 2019. On February 1st, the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement takes effect, and will result in lowered tariffs for a number of agricultural products, especially for beef. Under the new agreements, chilled or frozen beef from EU and TPP exporters will face a 26.6% tariff, while tariffs on American beef will remain at 38.5%. Prepared pork from EU and TPP exporters will face a 13.3% tariff, while tariffs on American pork will remain at 20%. For more information on Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan’s TPP webpage here. For more information on Japan’s agreement with the European Union, visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan’s EU agreement webpage here.
Ohio Case Law Update
- Signing a mortgage is enough to bind signatory despite not being named in the mortgage if the signature demonstrates an intent to be bound by the mortgage. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals asked the Ohio Supreme Court to clarify “whether a mortgage is invalid and unenforceable against the interest of a person who has initialed, signed, and acknowledged the mortgage agreement but who is not identified by name in the body of the agreement.” In this case, Vodrick and Marcy Perry filed for bankruptcy. At issue was a piece of property subject to a promissory note and mortgage. The bank held the promissory note, which was signed and initialed by Mr. Perry only, while the mortgage was signed by both Mr. and Mrs. Perry. The Ohio Supreme Court held that “the failure to identify a signatory by name in the body of a mortgage agreement does not render the agreement unenforceable as a matter of law against that signatory.” The focus is on the signor’s intent to be bound by the mortgage, even if the mortgage itself does not mention the signor by name. The case is cited as Bank of New York Mellon v. Rhiel, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-5087, and the Ohio Supreme Court’s opinion is available here.
- Specific reference in a deed to a mineral interest preserves the interest despite Marketable Title Act when the reference includes the type of interest created and to whom the interest was granted. Generally, Ohio’s Marketable Title Act allows a landowner with an unbroken chain of title for forty years or more to take an interest in the land free and clear of other claims that arose before the “root of title.” However, there is an exception where prior interests will still apply if there is a specific identification of a recorded title transaction, rather than a general reference to an interest. In this case, Nick and Flora Kuhn conveyed a 60-acre tract of land in 1915, but retained an interest in royalties from any oil and gas extracted from the parcel, specifically naming Nick and Flora Kuhn and their heirs and assigns. Then in 1969, the Blackstone family purchased the 60-acre parcel, and received a deed that included language “[e]xcepting the one-half interest in oil and gas royalty previously excepted by Nick Kuhn, their [sic] heirs and assigns in the above described sixty acres.” The Blackstone family sought to quiet title and have the Kuhn heirs’ interest extinguished or deemed abandoned in 2012. The Ohio Supreme Court interpreted the language in the deed as sufficient to survive Ohio’s Marketable Title Act, which preserves the Kuhn heirs’ oil and gas interest that dates back to 1915. The case is cited as Blackstone v. Moore, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-4959, and the Ohio Supreme Court’s opinion is available here.
Tags: ag law harvest, gmo labeling, farm bill, Food Labeling, trade, real property law, oil and gas law
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