South Florida lawyer is one of two defendants charged in alleged deed fraud

A South Florida attorney has been charged with fraud, accused of helping a woman file fake documents so the woman could do away with her son’s stake in a home, court records show.

The case began when a man accused his mother of filing a forged quit claim deed to remove his name from a Cooper City home they shared on paper since 2020.

Broward County Property Appraiser’s fraud task force investigators in arrest documents allege that in May 2023, attorney Ashley Morin assisted Suzanne Corcoran to remove Corcoran’s son from a deed.

The records say Morin picked Corcoran up “and took her to various post offices in an attempt to find someone to notarize a pre-stamped deed bearing (the victim’s) signature.”

Morin has pleaded not guilty to charges of filing false documents, criminal use of personal ID and grand theft, court records show. Morin, reached on her cellphone, said by text that she and her two defense attorneys declined to comment. Her attorneys could not be reached for comment by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Morin told investigators she has been neighbors with Corcoran for 30 years, and there was “turmoil within the family,” records show.

The son, who is a lawyer, told investigators his signature stamp was missing from his office, and that Morin worked in his office as an attorney but her last day was supposed to be May 8, 2023, the date the deed was forged and recorded, investigators said.

Another attorney told Corcoran what she had done was a crime, and to reverse it back by adding her son’s name to the deed, “which she did,” according to arrest paperwork.

Corcoran, 64, has pleaded not guilty to charges of filing false documents, criminal use of personal ID and grand theft, court records show. Corcoran’s attorney, Scott Saul, called the case a “sad family feud going on here … fighting over a piece of property.”

Marty Kiar is Broward’s property appraiser who created the Crimes Against Property team, a unit of nine investigators and a supervisor, which roots out deed fraud. Kiar said, “Everyone should be very vigilant when it comes to title fraud and protecting their homes.”

Corcoran’s son declined to comment when reached by the Sun Sentinel.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash