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Home >> Special Situations >> Deceased Individuals
Is it Customary to Issue Check to Deceased?
I am the beneficiary of my deceased mother's pension. The company recently sent a check because my mother overpaid her medical benefits. The check is issued to my mother, but sent to my address. My mother had no estate and nothing went through probate. The company told me it is customary to issue the check to the deceased person, and they are giving me a hard time about re-issuing the check in my name. It is illegal, isn't it, to deposit this check issued to my mother into my bank account?
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 Yes, it is customary to issue such refunds to the decedent, since legally the overpayment belongs to his/her estate. Some companies may accommodate situations like yours and reissue checks payable to a family member, but they are not obliged to do so. If you were to deposit the check to your own account, the company could order its bank to refuse payment.
Unless your state has a low-cost expedited probate process that can help, or you can convince the company to reissue the check, you are left to decide whether it's worth the trouble and/or expense to initiate a conventional probate process to be able to negotiate the check. In many cases, the costs of doing so are prohibitive.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 12/16/08
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