Family Facing Eviction Gets New Hope With New Laws

Imagine you are enjoying a slow start to your morning. The old kettle on the stove almost boils to a whistle, distant chickens begin to greet the sun and life is as it always has been for years in your home. Then an unexpected knock ruins the peace, and on the other side of the door awaits an adamant stranger with a copy of a title and a pressing assurance that they are the brand-new owners of your house. It sounds impossible, but it happens thousands of times a year, and finally, Dallas is leading the charge on hampering rampant deed fraud. 

Committing deed fraud is not that hard. All you really need, for the now at least, is a notarized deed transferring the property and a less-than-scrupulous buyer looking to dole out quick cash. But starting in the new year, a number of new laws, filed by Dallas Sen. Royce West with support from Dallas Rep. Rafael Anchia and a village of advocates, will penalize perpetrators while offering more protections to the victims. 

“[This] is the ultimate violation of one’s property, one’s sense of safety and security in the most important asset that they own,” said Anchia at a news conference. 

The laws include changing identification verification rules for notaries, creating “self-help mechanisms” to allow victims to file claims without the need for an attorney, doubling the statute of limitations for victims reporting deed fraud and, most notably, classifying real property fraud and real property theft as a criminal offense. 

“Deed fraud does not discriminate its financial violence,” said Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot. “Until now, too many victims were left to fight these crimes alone. We decided that had to change. Together, we drafted this legislation to make it unmistakably clear: Deed fraud is a crime, and we will prosecute it.”

The effort, Anchia said, had been in the making for three legislative sessions, and credit is owed to the Dallas District Attorney’s Office, which has taken a new and steadfast approach to deed fraud cases. The county became one of the first in the state to establish a white-collar crime unit, and they hope, with the framework established by the new laws, every county in Texas will take deed fraud as seriously as they do in Dallas. 

“Here in Dallas, what we have said is: no more,” Anchia said. “This is an expression of our values. It’s an expression of our values as a community that we are going to take care of the people and their most important asset, and we’re going to take care of people who are most vulnerable.”

The Family That Could Benefit

The nightmare door-knock scenario was a reality for the Mendoza family, who have lived in a small house in East Dallas for almost 30 years. Cristo Mendoza has lived there almost his entire life with his father, mother and siblings. In idle moments, he had imagined raising his own children in the same home one day. However, a complex case of deed fraud, which the family believes was perpetrated by Martin Mendoza Sr.’s son from another relationship, Martin Mendoza Jr., and enabled by a real estate company and cash-grab property flippers, has crushed those dreams. 

In May, an angry stranger with a construction crew demanded that the family leave the only home they had ever known. The stranger, a representative of Konikoff Connection, a foreign company, and the purported legal owner of the home, insisted that it had been legally sold and the family needed to pack up their things and go or be forcibly evicted. 

This was the third time someone came to the door claiming to have purchased the Mendoza home. The family soon contacted a lawyer, realizing that it wasn’t a cruel joke or a legal fluke. Their home had been sold without their knowledge, and they were being evicted. In June, they received formal eviction papers, and since then, they’ve been enduring a lengthy, complicated and expensive legal battle to keep their home.

 After a temporary injunction was granted in October, the eviction process was delayed until June 2026, but the family still loses sleep at night. What started as resistance and denial has shifted to anger and vengeance as the family is forced to cough up more cash without getting much closer to the end of their battle. 

“[My father] used to say, ‘I just want the house back. That’s it. They can keep their money,’” Cristo said. “But now he’s saying he wants to take them for everything.”

But the new laws could bring new hope to the Mendoza family, allowing them to refile criminal charges well within the statute of limitations. The civil classification of deed fraud proved to be a hurdle for the family, who learned the legal system as they went, and faced rejection after rejection from authorities who said their hands were tied. 

“[They] are not without hope,” Dallas Assistant District Attorney Phillip Clark told the Observer in September. “It is a civil case, but it is also a crime. … The new law will make it absolutely abundantly clear … to help law enforcement investigators understand the criminal nature of this, despite the fact that it’s signatures and paper, and despite the fact that there’s a lawsuit that could be filed. This is a crime.”

New Laws Are New Hope

The laws will take effect Jan. 1, 2026. The senator and attorney behind the bills recommend family currently in the midst of litigation speak with the lawyer before refiling charges. But they should, most certainly, consider refiling charges within criminal court and pursuing prosecution. 

“I guess tomorrow I’ll call the detective and ask him if we have to refile the charges again, or is this something that they’ll update themselves? I’m not too sure,” Cristo said. “I haven’t heard from him since early October.”

In the past, with a little incredulity, the Mendoza family neglected to embark on a legal battle, admittedly waiting until it was too late (deed fraud can often go unnoticed for years). Still, the Mendozas will be quick acting in 2026. 

“I talked with my dad about this, especially with the laws that passed; we don’t want to wait until a law is [in effect],” he said. “We’re trying to do anything, especially since we have until June. I’m trying to reach out to different people, representatives, just trying to do something. Maybe they might not be able to help us, but they definitely can help other people who are going through this.” 

Cristo and his father, who have had an uphill battle in filing claims and charges with the proper authorities, securing proper counsel, paying legal fees and proving there was no collusion, are glad to see the new laws passed, even if it isn’t they who benefit most. 

“We appreciate that laws are being passed and that something is happening,” Cristo said. “The problem is that these criminals are doing it so quickly and so easily. We have to wait until January, I guess, so these criminals can get a harsher penalty for this.”