check legal definition

A draft signed by a person (the drawer or maker) that directs a bank (the drawee) to pay, on demand and without conditions, a specific sum of money to another person (the payee). Usually the funds are withdrawn from an account or a deposit that the drawer or maker has with the bank. Also called cheque.

A check that is not honored by a drawee bank because it is forged, the account it is drawn on has insufficient funds or does not exist, or the check is in some other way defective. See also check kiting.

A check with a notation (for example, the word “paid”) on it made by the drawee bank that indicates that the check has been paid.

A check drawn by a bank upon its own account rather than that of an individual depositor and made payable to another person, to the same bank, or to a different branch of the same bank.

A check with a certification or notation written upon it (for example, the word “certified”), indicating that the drawee bank has set aside sufficient funds from the drawer’s or maker’s deposit to guarantee payment of the check on demand.

abbr. Not sufficient funds check. A check that a drawee bank may not pay because the drawer has insufficient funds on deposit to cover it when it is presented for payment. See also check kiting.

A check whose face amount has been increased. Unless done with the agreement of the drawer or maker, the charge constitutes a material alteration and discharges the drawer or maker, as well as the drawee bank, from paying any amount on the check.