Forgery

The crime of forgery has been showing up in some of the released MBE questions so it's worth noting the different angles that might be tested. Here's what I've gathered is important to know:

Forgery consists of the following:

Making or altering a writing with apparent legal significance so that it is false with intent to defraud.

The falsity is apparently important; to be forgery one must represent that the writing is something that it is not. It's not enough if the writing contains a misrepresentation. So, for example, an intentionally falsified receipt might be forgery, but a receipt that is merely inaccurate will not be.

In addition, the "apparent legal significance" element is one that is tested.  So, a contract may be forged, as may a will.  But creating a document and then signing it as Abraham Lincoln or creating a picture and then signing it as Pablo Picasso will not be forgery. Neither the painting nor the writing has any legal significance.

Situations may arise in which the defendant fraudulently causes a third person to sign a document that the third person does not realize he is signing. This, too, is forgery.  Importantly, though, if the third person knows he is signing a document then it is not forgery even if the third person was fraudulently induced into signing it.

Uttering a forged instrument is slightly different than the crime of forgery.  This consists of offering as genuine an instrument that may be the subject of forgery and is false with the intent to defraud.