What Does Stale-Dated Mean? The Six-Month Rule and Exceptions

A stale-dated check is a check dated more than six months ago, and once it passes that mark a bank is no longer required to honor it.¹ The check itself may be dead on arrival at the teller window, but the money behind it usually is not: whoever wrote the check still owes the debt, and whoever received it can still ask for a fresh one.

The Six-Month Rule

Under the Uniform Commercial Code, a bank has no obligation to pay a check, other than a certified check, that is presented more than six months after its date.¹ The clock runs from the date printed on the front of the check, not from the day it was handed over or mailed.

The rule covers ordinary personal and business checks. It does not automatically void them at six months. It only means the bank can turn them away without owing anything to the account holder.

The Bank Can Still Choose to Pay It

Here is the part that catches check writers by surprise. The same UCC provision that lets a bank refuse a stale check also lets it pay one in good faith and charge the account.¹ Money can leave your account months after you assumed the check was forgotten.

Banks vary in how they treat old checks. Some flag or automatically reject anything past a certain age; others send it for manual review. If the paying bank rejects it, the check usually goes back to the depositor’s bank with a note explaining why. Neither side should assume a stale check is dead paper. The writer’s account can still be debited, and the recipient can still be told the check will not clear.

What “Void After 90 Days” Really Means

Plenty of business and government checks carry language like “void after 90 days” or “void after 180 days” printed near the signature line. That wording comes from the issuer, not the UCC. The statute itself sets only the six-month threshold.¹

Banks still treat the printed language as a warning. A teller or automated system that sees “void after 90 days” on a four-month-old check may reject it even though the UCC would technically allow payment. If your check carries that kind of notice and the window has passed, contact the issuer for a replacement rather than testing the bank’s tolerance.

Checks That Follow Different Rules

The six-month rule does not apply uniformly. A few common payment types have their own timelines.

U.S. Treasury Checks

Federal checks, including paper tax refunds and Social Security payments, are valid for one year from the date of issuance. After that, the check is canceled and the funds return to the issuing agency.² Treasury checks print “VOID AFTER ONE YEAR” above the disbursing officer’s signature.³ If you find an expired one, contact the agency that issued it and ask for a reissue. The government’s obligation to pay does not expire with the check.

State and Local Government Checks

State and local agency checks often carry their own printed expiration dates, ranging from as little as 60 or 90 days to close to a year. Because the rules vary so widely by jurisdiction, contact the issuing agency directly if you are holding an older one.

Certified Checks and Cashier’s Checks

UCC 4-404 explicitly excludes certified checks from the six-month rule.¹ Cashier’s checks and teller’s checks work differently too, because the bank itself is on the hook to pay. If a cashier’s check is lost or sits uncashed, you can file a declaration of loss with the issuing bank. Under UCC 3-312, that claim becomes enforceable 90 days after the check’s date (for cashier’s or teller’s checks) or 90 days after acceptance (for certified checks), as long as no one else has cashed it.⁴

Money Orders

Money orders follow the issuer’s rules, not the UCC. U.S. Postal Service money orders never expire and do not lose value.⁵ MoneyGram money orders do not technically expire either, but after one year a monthly service charge starts eating into the value; the fee is printed on the back.⁶ Western Union deducts a similar administration charge on transfers not picked up within a year, where permitted. The longer you sit on a private-issuer money order, the less it may be worth.

If You Received a Stale Check

Start with the person or company who wrote it. Explain that the check was never deposited and ask for a replacement with a current date. Offer to return or destroy the original so it cannot accidentally be deposited twice.

Depositing an old check without checking first is a gamble. If the bank rejects it, you may be hit with a returned-item fee, which can run anywhere from about $12 to $35 or more. Even if your bank credits the amount up front, the paying bank can flag the check as stale days later and the credit will be reversed.

The debt behind the check generally outlives the check. In most states, the statute of limitations for enforcing a debt based on a written instrument falls somewhere between three and six years.⁷ If the issuer will not replace the check and the amount is worth the effort, small claims court is an option.

If You Wrote a Check That Was Never Cashed

An outstanding check is an open liability. The money is still yours on paper, but the bank can decide to pay the check in good faith at any point.¹ A few steps clean this up:

Reconcile your statements against your check register regularly to spot anything outstanding for more than a few weeks.
Contact the payee. They may have lost the check or simply forgotten to deposit it. Offer to issue a replacement.
If you cannot reach them, or you want to be certain the old check will not clear, place a stop payment order with your bank.
Keep the funds available. Even after six months, your bank can still pay the check, and you still owe the payee.

Stop Payment Orders

A stop payment order is good for six months. A verbal order lapses after 14 calendar days unless you confirm it in writing within that window. You can renew for additional six-month periods as long as each renewal is filed while the current order is still active.⁸

Banks charge a fee for each stop payment, and the cost varies. Filing through an online portal or mobile app is often cheaper than by phone or in person. A stop payment does not erase the debt. It stops that particular check. If you still owe the money, the payee can ask for a new payment.

Where Uncashed Money Ends Up

If a check stays uncashed long enough and the issuer cannot find the payee, the money does not vanish. Every state has an unclaimed-property law requiring businesses and banks to turn dormant funds over to the state through a process called escheatment. Dormancy periods for uncashed checks generally run one to five years depending on the state and the type of check, with payroll checks usually on the shorter end.

Before remitting, the issuer typically has to make a good-faith effort to reach the payee, usually a written notice to the last known address. Many states require the letter to go out at least 60 days before the funds are reported and apply the requirement only above a minimum threshold, often $50.

Once the money reaches the state, the original check is no longer valid. The payee can still recover the funds, but they claim them through the state’s unclaimed-property program rather than the original issuer. Each state runs a searchable database, and MissingMoney.com aggregates records from most participating states in one place. If you remember writing or receiving a check years ago that never came back around, that is where to look.

1
LII / Legal Information Institute. UCC 4-404 – Bank Not Obliged to Pay Check More Than Six Months Old
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 3328 – Paying Checks and Drafts
3
Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Chapter 7000 Cancellations, Deposits, Reclamations, and Claims for Checks Drawn on the US Treasury
4
LII / Legal Information Institute. UCC 3-312 – Lost, Destroyed, or Stolen Cashier’s Check, Teller’s Check, or Certified Check
5
USPS. Money Orders
6
MoneyGram. Help for MoneyGram Money Orders
7
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can Debt Collectors Collect a Debt That’s Several Years Old?
8
LII / Legal Information Institute. UCC 4-403 – Customer’s Right to Stop Payment; Burden of Proof of Loss