§ 28:4–404. Bank not obliged to pay check more than 6 months old.
A bank is under no obligation to a customer having a checking account to pay a check, other than a certified check, which is presented more than 6 months after its date, but it may charge its customer’s account for a payment made thereafter in good faith.
(Dec. 30, 1963, 77 Stat. 706, Pub. L. 88-243, § 1 ; Mar. 23, 1995, D.C. Law 10-249, § 2(e), 42 DCR 467 .)
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 28:4-404.
1973 Ed., § 28:4-404.
Uniform Commercial Code Comment
This section incorporates a type of statute that had been adopted in 26 jurisdictions before the Code. The time limit is set at six months because banking and commercial practice regards a check outstanding for longer than that period as stale, and a bank will normally not pay such a check without consulting the depositor. It is therefore not required to do so, but is given the option to pay because it may be in a position to know, as in the case of dividend checks, that the drawer wants payment made.
Certified checks are excluded from the section because they are the primary obligation of the certifying bank ( Sections 3-409 and 3-413). The obligation runs directly to the holder of the check. The customer’s account was presumably charged when the check was certified.
