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Home >> Accounts >> Checking Accounts
Joint Check "For Deposit Only"?
I filed my taxes with my husband who is now in prison. I received a refund check, but am having trouble cashing it. My husband says that I should write "for deposit only" on the check and it will go through. We don't have a joint account and the bank refuses to help me. What should I do? How can I deposit this check?
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 The issue here is that your husband is entitled to receive benefit of that check. If he neither endorses it nor has it deposited to an account which he owns, at least in part, then he can later say he never received benefit of the proceeds. If your bank accepted this check for deposit into your individual account, your husband could then tell the IRS that he had no benefit, and they will go back to the bank that cashed it and require the full or at least half of the proceeds back. The bank doesn't want that risk. In truth, even if your husband signs the check, your bank has to satisfy itself that he was the one who signed it. Without a signature specimen to compare it to, that is difficult. You need his endorsement on the check and a way for the bank to verify it, a Power of Attorney may be sufficient if you have or can get one, or you need to deposit the check to a joint account you and your husband had.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 4/08/08
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