Document & Handwriting Examination

Forensic document examiners often deal with questions of document authenticity. To determine whether a document is genuine, an examiner may attempt to confirm who created the document, determine the timeframe in which it was created, identify the materials used in its preparation or uncover modifications to the original text. Documents can be examined for evidence of alterations, obliterations and erasure or the examiner can study the methods, materials or machines that created the document, providing key information that can identify the possible sources of the document. The ink, paper, writing tools, ribbons, stamps and seals used in production of the document may all reveal important clues. The examiner may even discover valuable evidence in a document’s invisible impressions.

Since documents are part of daily life, forensic document examiners work a wide variety of cases. Forensic document examiners are called to investigate the authenticity of documents in situations such as Forgeries, counterfeiting, identity, theft, fraud, suicides, homicides, bank robberies, kidnappings, extortion ,stalking contested, wills contested contracts, medical malpractice, title/deed lawsuit etc.

Forensic document examiners are most frequently asked to resolve questions of authorship. Is the signature on the mortgage loan genuine? Who wrote the anonymous note? Did the deceased sign the will? By comparing documents found at a crime scene to a suspect’s known writing samples, the forensic document examiner can help confirm who wrote the note and include or exclude suspects from the investigation.