What must the effect of creating or altering a document be for forgery to occur?

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Forgery focuses on the document being false or having its legal significance altered. The essential idea is that the act creates or changes a writing in a way that misleads about what it is or what it legally means. Minor inaccuracies or simply copying content from another document don’t rise to forgery unless they create a misleading, false, or legally deceptive effect. The creator’s identity as a public official isn’t what defines forgery; what matters is that the result would deceive as to the document’s truth or legal effect. That’s why the best answer is that the effect must render the document false or change its legal significance.