Dating Documents Documents are occasionally fraudulently backdated to make them appear as though they were issued or signed much earlier than indicated. In these cases, attention can be focused on the type of paper, ink, typing or printed information present on the questioned document. Figure 1 Figure 1 shows a watermark in a sheet of paper used to prepare a questioned Will. In this case, the paper was manufactured three years after the purported date of the Will.
Some documents bear small printing defects or notations that have dating significance.
Figure 2 shows an advertisement appearing near the bottom edge of a patient's medical chart.