In cases where it is necessary to establish the affiliation of the handwriting manuscript and the signature to a particular person, a handwriting examination comes to the aid. Usually, this set of measures is used to determine the authenticity of a signature or to identify the falsification of a document.
Handwriting study has its own specific features and complexities, because no one has stable writing and movement skills. The handwriting can vary depending on the psychoemotional state, the comfort of the pose at the time of writing the text, type of a pen, other minor household factors that can significantly change a person’s handwriting.
The main objectives, which lay down the handwriting expertise, include:
- identification – help to establish or disprove a specific executor of the manuscript or signature;
- diagnostic – are necessary for establishing maximum information about the person who wrote the text (studies of subjective qualities, psychophysiological state and other information);
- situational studies – determine the objective conditions for writing a manuscript (in which position the document was signed, there was intentionally distorted handwriting, etc.).
The main task of handwriting expertise is the identification of the individual, the author of the manuscript or signature. However, in the process of expert research, it is possible to establish or carry out the signature by one person or several persons, as well as to determine the time-limits for the execution of the text.
As a rule, for research, handwritten or digital records are provided, copies of documents, scanned/photographed copies of documents.
The handwriting expertise most often answers the following questions:
- Who did the handwritten entry or signature contained in the document?
- Is the signature personally signed by a particular person or is the signature forged?
- Were there factors or conditions that prevented the signing/drafting of the document?
- What is the approximate age of a person whose handwriting is being researched?
- Does the signature of the document correspond to the date when it was signed?
