Do You Have to Report Forgery

[justtoonice]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Florida

While in my presence, Person "F" confesses to Person "N" to have forged a deceased person's signature on a quit claim deed, paying off a notary to notarize it.

Am I under legal obligation to notify someone?

[Disagreeable]

Are you employed in a legal capacity requiring you to report knowledge of a crime? Yes. Otherwise, No.

[flyingron]

Probably not unless you have some particular obligation to the deceased's estate (or the proper heirs, i.e., you're the executor, personal representative,etc...).

Why wouldn't you? You testimony is indeed hearsay and not admissible in court, however, the information would indeed be useful to someone trying to determine if such a crime has taken place. It probably won't be hard to determine (unless all involved were a lot more careful than they appear to be) that the deed is forged when given some scrutiny.

[justtoonice]

The persons involved made themselves a complicated situation to begin with, and the heirs involved are fine with them doing this.
My guess is that they did it to avoid probating the property, to avoid the lengthy process of getting the property back to the rightful owners.
I don't want to explain the details; just want to know that it's o.k. I don't get involved.
I also see that the county's site is not updated with the new deed and it's been nearly two months. So, either they didn't record it, or the county already has it's own suspicions.