Authenticating Legal Documents

[Palanan]

How would one go about authenticating a document such as a treaty or a will, especially the will of a noble or king? Are there any spells intended specifically for this purpose, or are there spells which could be adapted?

In particular, I’m thinking about a case in which a will is drawn up and signed, but whose contents are not what the signer intended. The will would be drawn up by the official who ordinarily handles that function, so there’s nothing apart from the sense of the words to indicate it’s not fully legitimate.

How, then, could the will be proven or disproven by magical means? Is there any way to detect, from the document alone, whether the signer was under the influence of some enchantment? And if not, then is there any way to determine the text of the will isn’t in accordance with the signer’s wishes?

[Duke of Urrel]

Firstly, I would advise you to find somebody with Forgery skill.

If you prefer magic, either the Commune spell or the Contact Other Plane spell answers yes-or-no questions about anything.

If a document concerns a legendary creature, the Legend Lore spell may work, though this spell has a long casting time. The Vision spell accomplishes the same task as Legend Lore with a very short casting time, but it costs you some experience points.

That's all that I can find looking at the online SRD.

[Darrin]

Sounds like you need Keyrock.

[tomandtish]

Law and the Multiverse has five different articles that handle wills using comic related situations if you need suggestions on the non-magic side of things.

[Particle_Man]

Modrons? Inevitables?

[Troacctid]

I think it's not too much of a stretch to use an augury spell for this purpose.

[Tvtyrant]

How would one go about authenticating a document such as a treaty or a will, especially the will of a noble or king? Are there any spells intended specifically for this purpose, or are there spells which could be adapted?

In particular, I’m thinking about a case in which a will is drawn up and signed, but whose contents are not what the signer intended. The will would be drawn up by the official who ordinarily handles that function, so there’s nothing apart from the sense of the words to indicate it’s not fully legitimate.

How, then, could the will be proven or disproven by magical means? Is there any way to detect, from the document alone, whether the signer was under the influence of some enchantment? And if not, then is there any way to determine the text of the will isn’t in accordance with the signer’s wishes?

You have the paper signed in front of a being of pure good and law who is bound as a notary, then take the papers back to the notary archon and ask it if is legit. Simple and easy.

[Kelb_Panthera]

First and foremost, it's legal. Always read before you sign, idiot dead guy.

That being said, it can be contested by bringing the matter to a magistrate or alderman or the like. Comparing the signature to other documents he's signed will prove it's veracity. The deceased's closest kin and friends might be able to convince the official(s) that the contents of the will don't match what he would've wanted. From there it's up to laws, customs, and officials' judgement.

Now for the magic bits; speak with dead fairly leaps to mind. Just ask the guy. The powers psychometry and sensitivity to psychic impressions can be used on the will itself and the locations it was discussed, drawn up, and signed to get a fairly complete picture of the situation.

Less directly, you could try using various spells (and basic spycraft) to try and catch the guy who wrote it admitting either in person or on paper that he disregarded the dead's wishes and tricked him into signing.

Worst case, there's always contact other plane.

The tricky part is gonna be getting people to believe random strangers that have nothing to do with it casting weird magics are actually being helpful and truthful and not trying to manipulate the situation.

[TheStranger]

In most cases, the best solution is to prevent a will executed under questionable circumstances from being valid. In the real world, this means that it must be witnessed by third parties, and there’s an inherent suspicion of wills that are oddly beneficial for somebody who could have exercised undue influence on the decedent. In a fantasy setting, that could easily include an expectation that any will disposing of a large estate be witnessed by a cleric who has confirmed there are no enchantments or other magical trickery. And in the case of kingdoms or large estates, there may be inheritance laws that take precedence over any will, anyway.

But if all of that has been circumvented, your best bet is to use speak with dead and/or various divination spells to confirm that the will as written reflects the intent of the deceased. You could also get the person who prepared the Will in a zone of truth.

Alternately, there’s the extrajudicial strategy, where a band of murderhobos either kills the false claimant outright or captures him for trial, and the grateful true heir announces the plot, executes the traitor on the palace steps, and throws a big party to deflect questions. Because really, when you’re talking about kingdoms, things like “proof” tend to be secondary to “bigger army” or “best assassins.”

[Bullet06320]

just get a lawyer, profession barrister is a thing