I recently acquired some uncashed checks from the late 1930's. Are these checks still negotiable?
The checks are probably still legally negotiable, but it is most likely that no bank would honor them. Because of the changes in check processing since those checks were written, no bank could fail to see that they are extraordinarily old, and banks can refuse to honor any check more than six months old. It could also be the situation that the issuers of the checks are deceased or out of business, and that the accounts on which the checks were drawn are closed, if not the banks themselves. For practical purposes, you probably are in possession of some collectibles rather than anything that you could negotiate.
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The checks are probably still legally negotiable, but it is most likely that no bank would honor them. Because of the changes in check processing since those checks were written, no bank could fail to see that they are extraordinarily old, and banks can refuse to honor any check more than six months old. It could also be the situation that the issuers of the checks are deceased or out of business, and that the accounts on which the checks were drawn are closed, if not the banks themselves. For practical purposes, you probably are in possession of some collectibles rather than anything that you could negotiate.
