My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Ohio
My fiance cosigned on one student loan in 2005, and hasn't heard any correspondance on them since, until October of this year. His brother received a letter addressed to him, from a collection agency/law firm, who was trying to collect to the tune of about $5K. We called the original lender listed on the collection papers, who we assume to be a private lender the collections agency is representing, and asked for proof of my fiance's signature on the loan papers. Upon receiving the loan documents, we came to find out that his signature was forged on three additional loans, that add up to roughly $50K. We sent the collection agency a certified letter, requesting validation of the debt that they are trying to collect. After awhile, they sent a copy of the loan they were collecting on, and it is one of the loans that is undoubtedly forged. We called the original lender back, to see how to proceed with this, and they informed us that they have since sold the loans, and now they won't even talk to him anymore.
A week and a half ago, his brother received a certified letter, that was a court summons. He is being sued for this fradulent student loan. We have been in contact with the students mother. She claims the loans have been defered, and the guy is presently enrolled in school. My fiance has tried to do research, and get any information that he can, but understandably, no one will deal with him, because he isn't the student. We would just pay the collection fee, but are afraid that this company will come after us for additional loans if we do. We live in Texas now, and just don't know how to handle this from across the country.
My questions are:
1) Can this collection agency come after us on behalf of the original lenders, when they have sold the loans?
2) Is it even possible to prove that his signature is forged, after all this time?
3) If we can prove our case, is it possible to receive compensation for all the travel expenses they are causing us, and the leave of absence he will have to take from work?
4) If we can prove our case, can we get his credit cleaned up, since these loans have been forged, and they have been listed on his credit report?
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. This is seriously stressing us out, and keeping us up every night.

