What can you do if your husband forges your signature?

[MickeyMouse111]

For business transactions.

(We're not getting divorced - yet - this hardly evokes trust so it's making me rethink our relationship...but all the cases I can read online are people doing it when they're in the middle of divorce proceedings so advice is different to what it would be in my case)

He's been doing it so he can run certain things in the business in a different order to what we agreed.

I would speak to a solicitor to ask what you can do to protect yourself in future. This would be a huge issue for me going forward. There is no legitimate reason for fraudulently signing a document.

^^ this OP!
once you calm down, you need to sit him down and have a conversation. Tell him you saw the documents. Get his to explain why he did it. Make clear it mustn’t happen again. It’s a massive breach of trust etc…

If it’s anxiety and wanting to move quickly, or maybe avoid a difficult conversation (if he knows you may disagree with his plan) then the two of you need to work on that . If he’s saying he didn’t know when you’d have time to sign it, and that’s genuine (??) then come up with a plan eg a set time every day when the two of you go over any business stuff.

Yeh I think I'm in shock and outrage atm but this seems entirely reasonable! I think it's the former though he can't seem to take no for an answer so not an easy fix. Although perhaps it's a bit of both and having a set time to go over business stuff means he'll remember to include me in decisions instead of changing strategy but not telling me

I can be the one in the other side of this. Never forged a signature but my DH has had to sit me down a few times about rushing ahead with something without running it by him for the biz we run together. It is always when I’m stressed and anxious.

I think focus on that

I think i would have taken photos/scans of the documents as proof. I would also contact the broker and tell her/him what's happened and set up a safeguard for the future.

I would also remove him as a director and make him an employee and report him to Companies House. If you are the only directors this may be more difficult but is still possible, particularly if you reporting it to the police. If there are other directors, then call meeting and let them know so you can remove him.

Think of what would happen if this was a big company like Tesco or Vodafone.

Fanciful perhaps, but I am reminded of the Allen film 'Blue Jasmine'

How convenient for him and very bad for you. You simply have no idea how far this goes at all.

You cannot trust someone like this. At all

This would mean divorce for me. I'd set out the events and action we both took and make it part of a letter of 'cease and desist'.

Untill the next one .

I agree with the minority. This wouldn’t necessarily be a deal breaker for me because you mention that otherwise your realationship is good, but I think a calm and candid conversation is needed.

I am certainly not suggesting that now the doc is destroyed, all is lovely and rosy. I’m suggesting that you don’t make any decisions yet.

You need to have a serious discussion him & potentially a 3rd party Particularly if you are not OK with the directive in the document. (he doesn't know its shredded yet ?)
Tell him its illegal & you are still deciding if you are going to report it.
Basically he needs to know this is not to happen again.
I would also want to know how many times he has done it before

This. I think you should seriously consider a full independent audit of the business’ transactions

I would ask him to step down as director, as the trust is broken

Limited company? Could you report to Companies House? He could be struck off as being a director. Could be a breach of the companies Act but you’d need to look it up.
I’d probs speak to a solicitor who deals with shareholder disputes

I’d start by looking at my business and personal finances through a new lens.

Now you know he is prepared to commit fraud, especially to deceive you, his business partner, followed by some stupid lies and excuses about why he did it, I’d be having a quiet look to see if there is anything fishy going on.

I’d put money on him having done this before, as you mentioned how “good” the faked signature was.

You have mentioned dealing with a broker on significant transactions...I'd be letting them know that there have been some irregularities with your signature (after having had this out with your DH if you are so inclined!) and checking that nothing has gone through in the past that you aren't aware of. And that they need to double check with you in the future.

I am also a Director of a business - you cannot have anyone else in the business signing things "on your behalf", for reasons fair or foul. Once signed you are legally liable for whatever it commits you to, you personally, not just the business.

Whatever your husband was thinking it certainly wasn't about your liability if anything went amiss...

This would be incredibly serious for me, I wouldn't be having nice chats about how we could ensure I was making time for him to be able to show him the documents. Using your identity is not only fraud, not only a massive breach of trust, but it is committing you to something you knew nothing about. It is extremely worrying. I would be telling him in no uncertain terms that if I ever had any inkling of him doing such a thing again I'd be reporting him to the police. I'd document everything you can now and share with others so there is a contemporary record of what happened (shame you didn't photograph the doc before shredding). I would expect him to tell me the truth with a clear (non made up) reason for why he did it. If he continues to obfuscate I'd be ending the business relationship (if feasible) and getting to relationship counselling pronto.

I know someone who went through years of court and treated as negligent and corrupt, he was almost bankrupted because a business partner with an alcohol problem forged his signature on documents over a number of years.

My worry would be is if he can forge your signature perfectly he may have done it on other documents! I would be carefully searching the house and office to make sure there are no other documents he has put your name to.

Also to add I know someone whose husband did something similar. He escalated his behaviour including stealing her postal vote for the election and 'voting for her' whilst denying all knowledge initially, before finally taking out a large loan in her name and spending it all on crap for himself and gambling. If someone is willing to breach your trust like this for something minor then it's safe to assume they may well be willing to do so for something more major.

You're going to need to check every return that's ever been made, along with the figures for all of them - you do not want to find out that you've signed for Covid payments that never made it into the company account or that you're supporting a 22 year old with a kid that shares his surname in a flat somewhere from Administrative Expenses.

He's clearly practised your signature many, many hundreds of times.

It is actually quite hard to forge a signature well.
if it is a good forgery, then he has been practising. A lot.

The question is why? What is he doing with your signature?
Why does he need to be able to forge your signature?

I'm afraid there is stuff going on that you don't know about, sorry.

You need to contact all the agencies that require your signature, be that sole or joint with your DH.
Explain what he has done, and ask them to flag any transactions to you and check they are legitimate.
Then you need to start divorce proceedings. Tell a solicitor what he has been doing so it is on record.

Well you can’t stop anyone doing anything, but you can take certain steps, for example, if these papers where going to be passed onto the accountant to action, you could send a pre-emptive email saying that your wishes are x/y and if you receive any documentation with my signatory to the contrary of x/y, then you must call me and obtain verbal consent.

You could also ask for a note to be put on your business bank account etc etc

My kids used to forge my signature when stuff had to be signed and sent back to school, they told me about it after, I tell my wife she needs to learn my signature so she can get stuff sorted when I am not about. It depends on your relationship with OH, ours is all total trust though, we all trust each other totally and know none of the others would fraudulently have any of the others over. Aware the claws will be out for me saying this, but it really does depend on how close you are as to if this is a major issue or not. But if not happy, tell him not to do it again and move on.
I really don't see a reason for divorce on what he has done but feel I am not in agreement with the predominant baying wolves on here.

It's also a useful process to prevent him skim reading something, assuming it came from the place expected, and being scammed. I think he needs to realise that's another reason you have the set up you do.