Bill Summaries: S83 CRIMINAL LAW/FILING FALSE DOCUMENT.

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  • Summary date: Jun 22 2015 - View Summary

    A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO AMEND THE CRIMINAL LAW CONCERNING THE FILING OR RECORDING OF FALSE LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES KNOWING OR HAVING REASON TO KNOW THAT THE LIEN OR ENCUMBRANCE IS FALSE OR CONTAINS A MATERIALLY FALSE, FICTITIOUS, OR FRAUDULENT STATEMENT OR REPRESENTATION. Enacted June 19, 2015. Effective October 1, 2015.


  • Summary date: Jun 3 2015 - View Summary

    House committee substitute makes the following changes to the 3rd edition.

    Amends proposed GS 14-118.6(b1), which gives the same authority to clerks of superior court that registers of deeds have when presented with a document they suspect to be false by modifying the specified procedures for when a clerk of court suspects that a lien or encumbrance is false, providing that a clerk of superior court cannot file, index, or docket the lien or encumbrance against property of a public officer or public employee until approved for filing by any judge of the judicial district that has subject matter jurisdiction. On determination by the judge that the filing is not false, the clerk must index the claim. Provides that priority interest is secured as of the date and time of the indexing by the clerk of superior court. Further requires the clerk of superior court to serve orders declaring a filing as null and void and to return the original denied filing to the person/entity that presented it. Provides for a 30-day window from the entry of the denial order for appeal. If no appeal is sought, the clerk can destroy the filing (previously, required the clerk of superior court to file stamp the document, but prohibited indexing or docketing the document against the property of a public officer or public employee until that document was approved for filing by the clerk of superior court by any judge of the judicial district who has subject matter jurisdiction. Also did not require the clerk to serve the denial order and did not provide for an appeal of said order but required the denied filing to be retrieved within 30 days of the court's denial order, upon expiration of the 30 days the clerk was allowed to destroy the filing). Makes conforming changes.

    Amends the effective date clause, providing that the act is effective October 1, 2015, applying to all filings on or after that date (was, effective when the act became law). 


  • Summary date: Apr 23 2015 - View Summary

    Senate committee substitute deletes all the provisions of the 2nd edition and replaces them with the following provisions.

    Current law, under GS 14-118.6(a), provides that any person who attempts to file a false lien or encumbrance against the real or personal property of a public officer or public employee or an immediate family member of a public officer or public employee because of the performance of the public official or public employee's official duties, knowing or having reason to know that the lien or encumbrance is false or contains a materially false statement, is guilty of a Class I felony. Amends GS 14-118.6(a) to also make it a Class I felony for any person to present for recording a false lien or encumbrance as specified in subsection (a).

    Subsection (b) of GS 14-118.6 authorizes a register of deeds who has a reasonable suspicion the lien or encumbrance presented for recording is false to refuse to record the lien or encumbrance. Provides that there is no liability on the part of the register of deeds nor any other entity for recording or refusing to record a lien or encumbrance as described in GS 14-118.6(a). Further amends subsection (b) to replace references to 'file or filing' a lien or encumbrance with the register of deeds with the term 'record or recording.' Provides that when recording is denied, any interested person may initiate a special proceeding in the county where the recording was denied within ten business days of the filing of the Notice of Denied Lien or Encumbrance Filing, asking the superior court (was, district court) of the respective county to find that the proposed recording has a statutory or contractual basis and to order that the document be recorded.

    Adds a new subsection (b1) to GS 14-118.6 to provide the same authority to clerks of superior court that registers of deeds have when presented with a document they suspect to be false. Authorizes clerks of superior court to refuse to file a lien or encumbrance against the property of public officials or their family members if the clerk has a reasonable suspicion that the lien or encumbrance is false. Requires the clerk of superior court to file stamp the document, but prohibits indexing or docketing the document against the property of a public officer or public employee until that document is approved for filing by the clerk of superior court by any judge of the judicial district who has subject matter jurisdiction.

    Makes a conforming change to include new subsection (b1) of GS 14-118.6 in those subsections that do not apply to filings under Article 9 of GS Chapter 25 or under GS Chapter 44A.

    Effective when the act becomes law and applies to all filings on or after that date.

    Amends the act's long title


  • Summary date: Feb 12 2015 - View Summary

    Enacts new GS 14-401.26, Filing false documents, providing that presenting a document for filing with the register of deeds or clerk of superior court that the person knows to be false or contain materially inaccurate or misleading information with the intent that the recorded document alter an identity, defraud another person or entity, or circumvent the legal name change procedures will be a Class I felony. 

    Effective December 1, 2015, applying to offenses committed on or after that date.