I wrote a check 11/2005. THe payee cashed it and it cleared my bank 1/2009. Shouldn't this check have been void after 90 days or at least prior to 3 1/2 years?

If you didn't want the check honored by your bank, you should have maintained an active stop payment order with the bank. Checks are cleared electronically and most state laws protect the bank from loss if they innocently clear the item. I have never seen a state law that provides a timeframe for a check to be "void".

Checks are "stale" after 6 months based on the Uniform Commercial Code. Those stale items need not be paid. But if a bank pays an item in good faith after that, they generally have a clause in your agreement with them, that they can't be held liable.

As was noted above, to ensure it wasn't would have required a stop payment request. Stops have a limited life, require renewal and that costs you money. But that is how it works.

How often should a stop payment be reissued?
Would it not just be cheaper to close the act. then reopen another?

What is the "life" of a stopped payment?
I have one that is about a year old. Should I be doing something
to secure my money?

I hear "if they innocently clear the item" or in "good faith" alot from banks as excuses.
Note other request for answers or help Titled "safest way to make out a check for deposit"7/22 dated, "Bank takes my funds"7/21 dated, "14 months later and bank takes the money back"7/13 dated
Who makes rules and are why are they different for the consumers?

Banks and credit unions create their own policies within the Federal Reserve Bank's (FRB) guidelines. This is the reason that standards can be so different between institutions. In a fee-happy society, it has become the customer's responsibility to watch their own account carefully and pressure people to cash or deposit the check items. A good bank or credit shoudl always allow their own customer\member to refuse payment on a stale item. If yours doesn't perhaps you should seek a customer\member friendly place to do business.

They have let me stop payment but what about all these other problems I have read about he re at this website. 14 months and then the back reacts, 3 1/2 years and a bank reacts,a stop payment has to be reactivated?
Are you saying each bank makes it's own rules?

The only way to prevent an issued check from being negotiated is to issue a stop payment. Checks are simply IOUs. You could theoretically issue a check on a napkin or tissue paper. A check reflects the obligation/debt to pay to the payee the amount stipulated on the document with NO limitation on date. So a debt in 2006 may still be valid in 2009 so the check may be negotiated. As stated above- stop payments do have a limited duration before requiring reissue.

Because checks are often not hand posted any longer, the speed reading computer has no idea what the checks date is. Yes, under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) a check is "stale" and need not be paid after that. But most banks include a UCC allowed clause that says if the check is paid, the bank is not at fault. You wrote the check.

If you no longer want an item paid, have a stop payment order issued. Those generally last only six months and you will have to set a calendar and probably pay a fee to renew it over and over. The other option is to get the original check back from whomever is holding it.

The other side of this coin is you do a job for me and I pay you by check. That check literally falls between the cracks and you forget about it. 7 months from now you find it. Should you be able to collect it, or should you have to track me down (I move a lot) and ask for a new check?