Does the notary in the lawyer's offices ever identify signatories? Every law office that I am familiar with has at least one notary. Most of this type criminal activity could be stopped if the notary asked for identification. There must be a seal on the documents before they can be filed with the county Register of deeds. Did the notary of record ask for proper identification? If not, why not?

Notaries are appointed for a purpose. It appears that this could have been stopped if the notary public had properly identified the signatory.