Our FAQs
Q1.  How can Forensic Document Examiners help lawyers?
Forensic Document Examiners provide a great deal of help to lawyers by examining and offering written opinions on a variety of disputed document problems include: wills, deeds, medical records, income tax records, contracts, loan agreements, cheques, and anonymous letters.

The examiner’s specialized knowledge of literature in the questioned document field is of great benefit to lawyers.  It helps lawyers in preparing meaningful direct examination questions for their own experts and cross-examination questions for opposing experts.

Q2.  Are Forensic Document Examiners similar to Graphologists?Graphology or Graphoanalysis attempts to predict character traits from handwriting examination.  Forensic document examination involves the analysis and comparison of questioned documents with known material in order to identify, whenever possible, the author, or origin, of the questioned document.  Some graphologists call themselves handwriting analysts or document examiners and are there for confused with Forensic Document Examiners.

Q3.  Can you describe an individual’s personality from examining handwriting?“Graphology” is a separate field of study, which deals with personality and handwriting.  Questioned Document Examination is a forensic science, concerned with identification of handwriting and technical aspects of document preparation.  Document examination and graphology have been studied together and practiced by some professionals in other countries.  Today, in the United States, the two tend to be mutually exclusive.

Q4.  Can right or left-handedness be detected by examining handwriting?Contrary to popular belief, there are three things that cannot be reliably determined by examining handwriting.  One of those is the “handedness” of the writer.  The other two things are the author’s gender and age.

Q5.  Can you compare printed writing to cursive writing?It is sometimes possible.  Some writers have enough writing traits that carry over between cursive and printing to allow for a good comparison and some do not.  It may be possible to identify the writer of cursive writing by comparing with hand printed writing, but it would not be possible to eliminate a writer as the author of a document with this method.

Q6.  Can you examine documents in a foreign language?
Yes, it is possible to do this, but the examiner has to first learn about the characteristics of the written language and how that writing is taught.  For example, in some languages, placement of diacriticals or distinguishing strokes is important, and in other languages, shading of handwritten strokes is noteworthy.  The actual methods of examination are the same, but factors are weighed differently when the structure of the writing varies among languages.

Q7.  Can a document examiner work with photocopies of questioned documents?This question must be answered on a case-by-case basis.  If the copy is good and there is enough information in the writing to allow an opinion, a copy is sufficient.  But there are some situations where the opinion rests on the subtle aspect of the writing that might only be visible on an original viewed under the microscope.  In such situations, examination of the original is critical.

Q8.  Can a client fax documents to you for examination?
A fax of a questioned document is of very little use.  The fax process digitizes the copy, obscures detail and adds flaws to the document.  Of course, there are document questions about faxed documents, but those are best handled by examination of the original faxes themselves.