Depositing 2 payee check in California

[Sw3tflower]

I refinanced and took out an equity loan with my husband as cosigner. The bank sent 2 checks made out to both of us. We have no joint accounts at all. There is no 'and' or 'or' between our names. My name is on top with his below.
Can I sign this check and deposit it in my account? The loan was taken out in my name. Since we have no joint accounts the checks would have to go in either his or my personal account. We also do not use the same bank.
He has deposited joint tax returns without my signature in his personal account in the past.
Thankyou

 

[Veronica1228]

I refinanced and took out an equity loan with my husband as cosigner. The bank sent 2 checks made out to both of us. We have no joint accounts at all. There is no 'and' or 'or' between our names. My name is on top with his below.
Can I sign this check and deposit it in my account? The loan was taken out in my name. Since we have no joint accounts the checks would have to go in either his or my personal account. We also do not use the same bank.
He has deposited joint tax returns without my signature in his personal account in the past.
Thankyou

Tricky question. The legal answer would be no, you cannot deposit into your account without your husband signing off on it first. However, it's possible that if you deposit the check as is, you won't have any problems getting it paid. Keep in mind though that either bank could reject the check for Improper Endorsement and that could have serious negative effects on your account.

I suggest you either have them reissue a check with your name on it only, or you have your husband endorse the check.

 

[Sw3tflower]

question

Why would deposting the check have serious negative effects on my account if I had no idea it was illegal? I actually thought that if a check did not say 'and' between the names, either could sign. Plus we have no joint accounts so the only choice was to deposit it in a personal account, his or mine. I thought since my name was on the top, it made more sense to place it in my account.
In fact, we comprimised and he deposited o1 check in his personal account (without my endorsement) and I deposited the other.
I only started to question it when a friend mentioned it to me.
Do you think I should call and tell the banks to contact each other so they know what happened?

 

[Veronica1228]

Why would deposting the check have serious negative effects on my account if I had no idea it was illegal? I actually thought that if a check did not say 'and' between the names, either could sign. Plus we have no joint accounts so the only choice was to deposit it in a personal account, his or mine. I thought since my name was on the top, it made more sense to place it in my account.
In fact, we comprimised and he deposited o1 check in his personal account (without my endorsement) and I deposited the other.
I only started to question it when a friend mentioned it to me.
Do you think I should call and tell the banks to contact each other so they know what happened?

The check is made out to both of you so both parties need to endorse it. When it comes to checks, the AND is implied unless OR is specifically written on it.

When I said it was technically not legal to deposit the check what I meant was that either bank would be well within their rights to reject the check for Improper Endorsement. They would then have to deduct those funds from your account which could (or not, I don't know what kind of balance you keep) put your account in the negative which would be huge bank fees and returned checks.

Additionally, your husband could (or not, I don't know your marital situation either) contact the issuer of the check and inform them that he never endorsed that check. The issuer would then file a claim with their bank who would then take the money back from YOUR bank and again, would negatively effect your balance. This second scenario could take place any time in the future, so 6-12 months from now you could get a nasty surprise in your account.

I hope all of that made sense.

 

[Sw3tflower]

Wow!

I understood and WOW! was about all I could come up with.
It would be very ironic if one bank accepted the check and the other bank rejected it.
Thankyou for your help.