Forged or false instruments.

Under existing law, a person who knowingly procures or offers any false or forged instrument to be filed, registered, or recorded in any public office within this state, which instrument, if genuine, might be filed, registered, or recorded under any law of this state or of the United States, is guilty of a felony. Existing law requires a criminal court to issue a written order that the false or forged instrument be adjudged void ab initio after a person is convicted or a specified waiver is obtained for the previously described crime. Existing law requires a prosecuting agency to use specified procedures to file a motion to adjudge the false or forged instrument void, including providing written notice to an interested party within 10 calendar days, as specified. Under existing law, an "interested party" includes all parties who have recorded with the county recorder various documents including a deed, lien, mortgage, or other instrument declaring an interest in real property. This bill would include a person who has recorded an instrument asserting any right, title, lien, or estate as an "interested party" to whom a prosecuting agency is required to provide notice. Existing law authorizes the criminal court to decline to order that a false or forged instrument be adjudged void ab initio if the court determines that the interests of justice or the need to protect the property rights of a person or party so requires, including, but not limited to, upon a finding that the matter may be more appropriately determined in a civil proceeding. Existing law authorizes the court to take into consideration whether a person or party has filed a quiet title action seeking a judicial determination of the validity of the false or forged instrument or the status of an interested party as a bona fide purchaser or bona fide holder of an encumbrance on the property affected by the false or forged instrument. This bill would revise and recast those provisions to instead require the criminal court to decline to make that order under the circumstances described above, including when a quiet title action or declaratory relief action has been filed by an interested party concerning the validity or enforceability of a false or forged instrument that is the subject of the motion and the instrument affects an interest in real property held by an interested party claiming they are a bona fide purchaser or encumbrancer. The bill would make conforming changes to those provisions. The bill would provide that its changes govern all motions that have not yet been ruled on and all orders that are not yet final.