Governor Greg Abbott has added a renewed push to combat title theft and deed fraud to the Texas Legislature’s special session agenda, which begins July 21. The move follows his veto of Senate Bill 648 earlier this year — a bill intended to curb property fraud, but which he argued created undue burdens for low-income and rural Texans.
Now, Abbott is urging lawmakers to revisit the issue with a more balanced approach, calling for “strengthened protections against title theft and deed fraud” without penalizing property owners who lack legal representation.
A Second Chance for a Contentious Bill
Senator Royce West (D-Dallas), the author of the original bill, has confirmed he will bring it back in a revised form, aiming to maintain protections against fraud while eliminating some of the more controversial provisions that led to the veto.
The original version of SB 648 differentiated between who was filing property documents: attorneys or title companies only needed a notarized signature, while individuals filing without legal assistance had to provide two subscribing witnesses and a notarized signature — plus additional affidavits if dealing with inherited property.
Governor Abbott’s veto message criticized this dual system, stating it created unnecessary legal obstacles for property owners without lawyers. “It should not entitle a person to different rules altogether,” Abbott wrote.
A Growing Threat in Texas
Property fraud — particularly deed fraud and title theft — is becoming a more visible issue in Texas, especially in counties like Dallas where cases have steadily increased.
Phillip Clark, an assistant district attorney in Dallas County who prosecutes real estate fraud, says the crime is both easy to commit and difficult to detect. “It is a ripe opportunity for criminals to get a high payoff with low effort,” he said in an interview. “You can commit deed fraud with very basic access to public records and a forged signature.”
Clark argues that even the original bill, with its tiered requirements, would have made it harder for fraudsters to operate, especially by adding verification steps when documents are filed by individuals.
While he acknowledges no system is immune to fraud, he says the added layers of review would have acted as deterrents. “Industry professionals like attorneys and title companies already have built-in oversight. The general public doesn’t — so it makes sense to have different standards.”
A Legal Divide on the Solution
But not all legal professionals agree. Veteran title attorney Terry Hogwood believes SB 648 was flawed from the start.
“Just because an attorney or title company files the document does not in any manner make the document less fraudulent,” Hogwood told The Texan. He fears the bill would have unintentionally created a new source of income for professionals while making property transfers more difficult for regular citizens.
In a detailed analysis, Hogwood argued that the bill placed too much responsibility on county clerks, effectively requiring them to judge whether a document was executed properly — a legal decision clerks aren’t trained to make. “That’s not their role,” he said.
Hogwood also noted that under Texas law, a forged deed is void and does not legally transfer ownership. However, even a void deed can cause chaos, delaying sales, damaging credit, and costing rightful owners tens of thousands of dollars to resolve the mess.
“Mr. Crook may not legally own your land,” Hogwood wrote in his article Can Your Title to Texas Owned Lands be Stolen?, “but he can certainly cloud your title and cost you dearly to fix it.”
Another Proposal on the Table: SB 2611
In addition to reviving SB 648, Clark is pushing for the passage of another bill from Sen. West: SB 2611. This legislation would create new criminal categories specifically for real estate fraud, separating them from general theft and fraud crimes.
“Right now, we don’t have a clear picture of how common this crime is,” Clark said. “A standalone law would give us better tracking, and tougher penalties could act as a deterrent.”
Clark estimates he has personally worked on at least 11 title fraud cases involving nearly 200 properties between 2018 and 2024 in Dallas County. In 2025 alone, he says 22 cases involving 41 properties have already surfaced — and those numbers are likely just the tip of the iceberg.
SB 2611 would also extend the statute of limitations from five years to ten and allow judgments referencing fraudulent deeds to be recorded — helping future title researchers identify and explain breaks in property ownership history.
Looking Ahead
As the special session opens, the pressure is on lawmakers to strike a balance between deterring fraud and protecting property rights without adding unnecessary bureaucracy. Both bills — if rewritten carefully — could address the growing threat of real estate fraud while avoiding some of the pitfalls that caused SB 648’s initial downfall.
