Forensic Document
Examination
Forensic document examiners are often called
handwriting
experts. They are also called questioned document
examiners, forensic handwriting analysts, and forensic
document analysts. Some use the terms document
experts, handwriting authentication specialists, signature
experts, handwriting identification experts, and forgery
experts. The most correct terms are forensic document
examiner or questioned document examiner, and in some
laboratories, forensic document analyst.
To most people, a forensic document examiner is a handwriting
expert who examines a signature to detect forgery. The courts
also commonly use the term handwriting expert. While it is
true that a forensic document examiner is an expert in the
examination, comparison, and identification of handwriting, a forensic document
examiner is much more than a handwriting expert and the analysis
of questioned documents involves more than the examination of
handwriting forgeries or forged signatures.
Often
handwriting examinations have nothing to do with forgery.
In some cases, clients ask for verification that someone
actually wrote a signature, a will signature for instance.
On the other hand, a handwriting examination could establish
that a person accused of writing an anonymous letter is not
the true writer.
Forensic
document examination also involves the examination of
hand printing, the detection and decipherment of altered and
obliterated documents, the examination of typewritten and
computer-printed documents, the examination of documents
created by photocopiers and fax machines, the examination of
ink and paper, the authentication of documents, and much
more. Forensic document examiners also testify as
expert witnesses in court.
Shiver & Nelson
Shiver & Nelson
Document Investigation Laboratory is a forensic document examination
service
located near Atlanta, Georgia. Typical cases involve the
comparison of handwriting and signatures on questioned documents
such as contracts, receipts, checks, wills, and deeds, as well
as the forensic examination of medical records, contracts, and
other documents for possible alteration, differences in ink,
dating the document, indented writing, and the detection of non-contemporaneous
handwritten entries.
Documents are
also examined to decipher obliterated entries, to identify the
typewriter, photocopier, or other device that produced the
documents, to determine their source, their authenticity, or to discover other information about the
document's history.
Shiver & Nelson's clients include
attorneys, insurance companies, law enforcement agencies,
medical practices, educational institutions, businesses,
government agencies, loss prevention specialists, private
investigators, media services, and private individuals. Shiver & Nelson
routinely provides forensic document
examination services to clients from Georgia, Alabama,
Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and other
southeastern states. In addition, Shiver & Nelson has many clients
nationally and internationally.