What is the best fix for a cashier’s check with a forged endorsement signature that hasn’t been deposited yet? If the forged signature is crossed out and initialed, and then an authentic signature is written, is the forger still criminally liable?
The whole story: Alice and Bob are siblings with a joint checking account at Bank Of A&B. Alice and Bob agree to close the account, and for Bob to receive the entire balance of about $2000. Bank Of A&B closes the account after issuing a cashier’s check payable to Alice on the first line, and to Bob on the second line, with no “and” or other qualifiers appearing among their names. Bob wants to deposit the check in his own account at Bank Of B, and that bank says Alice and Bob both need to endorse the check (even though no “and” appears among their names). Alice is off traveling for a few months, so with Alice’s verbal permission, Bob forges her signature as an endorsement. But before depositing the check, Bob learns that the forgery could be a felony criminal offense, so he wants to mail the check to Alice, have her cross out the forged endorsement signature, initial it, and sign authentically.
The back of the cashier's check currently looks like this:
Alice’s forged signature
Bob’s real signature
For deposit only
Bank of B account#
After the proposed fix, it would look like this:
Alice’s real signature
Alice’s forged signatureAlice’s initialsBob’s real signature
For deposit only
Bank of B account#