Is it possible for a county clerk to backdate documents?

Question

It's as simple as this: Last year, almost every month from July forward up until January of this year, I would go to the court house and search my name to see if anything new had been filed regarding our case (which is still in the courts not resolved). One of the reasons I was going every month was because last year we had court and the judge put a hold, or in other words, pretty much implied that neither the other party or us could create any new documents pertaining to the lawsuit, and pretty much said we can only use what has already been filed BEFORE that day. The other party has given us a hard time by not meeting the dead lines our lawyer has set and not providing us with any of the information we are requesting.

However, 2 days ago they provided us with these documents that I had never seen before. I was surprised because I was pretty sure I looked everywhere, used every keyword possible, and these documents were not there before. So after receiving them, I rush to the court house, search my name, and now these documents are there?! To make matters even fishier, they are not recently filed, but rather they had been filed last year BEFORE our first court appearance. So why did they not provide these documents to us when the served us? Or when our attorney requested them? And why when I searched my name before, these files did not show up?

The reason I suspect back dating is because these documents are signed in favor of the other party, and signed by non other than a very powerful and corrupt politician in this area. This politician works in the courts, he's a board member for the district appraisal, and he's been working this position for over 30 years that I do not doubt he has the connections to accomplish such a thing. On top of that, before these papers showed up, a neighbor of ours that hangs out with this dude warned us that he had said they were going to forge some papers, and back then I threw it to the wind thinking I could catch him if he did because I had ALL the documents already printed.

However, after doing everything I could possibly think of, I don't know whether to doubt myself, believe they were really good at covering up their crime, or just accept that they may have actually filed these documents when they claim they did and I just missed it? I mean, I tried to check the patters on all the documents filed that day, and it's not a big county so a day of records would include about 20 files. The only inconsistency I could see is that these documents, each from a different day several days apart, were stamped by the same employee, and on top of that, were the only documents signed by that employee that day. In other words, of all the 3 employees working that day, those were the only documents signed by that employee, on both days.

So, I hope I have made my story clear and my question is, does a county clerk record what they somewhere else other than what I would find on their database and filed away? Do they have a sign in logs, or keep a book where they write in what they have just stamped or are about to file? Or what else can I do to verify these documents were actually filed when they claim they filed them?

I hope you understand that because of the level of corruption found around here, I do not trust going to the county clerks office and asking for their help until I know exactly what I can ask them for and what to look for. Thank you for any help.

Answer 1

Filings are never backdated. They are date stamped with the date and the time when they are handed to the clerk. Three copies are returned, one for delivery to the judge, one for you to mail to the opposing party and one to keep yourself. All copies have original date stamps on them.



There is a docket that shows every document filed. Your lawyer will give you a copy if you ask. Dockets do not include discovery. You must have missed the one you thought had not been filed. Clerks are not rotated daily. They work 5 days a week, all day long, just like most people so it is common to have the same clerk check in documents, especially if it is a small court house/location and there is only one counter or two.



The clerks do not sign incoming filings so what papers are you talking about that were signed by the same employee two days in a row? You are alleging corruption but, you haven't given enough information that I can comment on.



Going to the clerk and asking for help is not going to get you anywhere. They are employed to accept and file documents. They are not there to give you legal advice, or anything else. If you want help with something, talk to your lawyer.



Sometimes it takes months for documents to be produced after they have been requested at discovery. It is not unusual, just annoying to the side that requested the documents.

Answer 2

Your question is quite long and detailed and so hard to Answer, but to try and do so.....

1.) Documents are 'very very' easy to forge in this computer age. Even I can alter them on screen and then print them out in 'pristine' condition.

2.) County workers are not usually, but 'can' be corrupt and made to alter time stamps to keep their careers, the time stamp machine can be in a few seconds manually set to any date desired.

3.) If this has happened to you in your legal battle your probably going to have to accept it, it's already happened, the employees will lie to protect themselves, your opponents (from your Question) are already lying to win.

4.) To prevent this going forward you need all 'certified documents', meaning a Notary Public will have to certify it with official stamp and make a copy of it, it then has to be recorded/ approved/ passed through many officials....Such a 'certified document' cannot usually be forged because of the many layers of officials that would have to be 'in on it'.

Answer 3

The clerk can certainly record documents that were forged. Every recording clerk I have ever visited (in 30 years) has a date-time stamping machine that marks the actual paper copy the moment it comes across the counter, permanently establishing the moment at which it was submitted. If someone tampered with that process, people can go to prison.

Answer 4

If you requested a formal discovery and the documents were not served and do not have proof of service they are inadmissible.