The buyer finds a real estate agent who searches for multi–million dollar properties. The buyer looks until he finds "the one." He makes an offer to purchase the property for cash. The seller accepts and starts packing. An order is opened with a title company and then the buyer hand–delivers the following items:

• Affidavit of Presentment
• Negotiable Banker's Acceptance
• Irrevocable Letter of Credit
• Affidavit in Support of Irrevocable Letter of Credit
• Affidavit in Support of Negotiable Banker's Acceptance
• UCC1 Financing Statement
• IRS Form 56 Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship

We will not bore you with all the mumbo jumbo, but all of these documents are nonsensical. They ramble on using real words and terms, but in the wrong context. Here is a copy of the Negotiable Banker's Acceptance:

See? It is not worth the paper it is written on, but who or why would anyone think it is? Sovereign citizens do. A "sovereign citizen" refers to a person who rejects any of our country's government structure or authority. They consider themselves above the law. Yet, they regularly file documents with government agencies and our courts seeking to vindicate their common law rights.

There are a lot of variations to their theories. For example, many sovereign citizens believe when the government abandoned the gold standard in the 1930s it substituted its citizen's future earnings as collateral for the country's debts to foreign investors. Some of them believe a secret United States Treasury account is set up for each citizen at birth which contains hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. They claim each person has two identities: One as a "strawman" and another as a common law citizen who is not subject to the laws and regulations of our government.

Sovereign citizens use specific terms and legalese, but not in the correct context so their documents do not make any sense. They often believe by not capitalizing names and including "Bey" or "El Bey" in their name, such as in the example Negotiable Banker's Acceptance, or by adding "©" after their name, they can avoid being prosecuted or charged with a crime. They believe they can lay claim to the secret account held by the United States Treasury by drawing off the account using Negotiable Banker's Acceptance. Clearly they are wrong.

If you receive an order to purchase property using a Negotiable Banker's Acceptance or similar document, immediately return the documents to the person who deposited them with you and resign from the transaction. This enables the seller to put their home back on the market for sale.

This article was provided by contributing author:
Diana Hoffman, Corporate Escrow Administrator
Fidelity National Title Group
National Escrow Administration