Cheques in Maiden Name

jonesMUFCforever

Voyager2002 wrote: »

My sister recently faced a similar issue...

While her bank (Lloyds) have a copy of her marriage certificate on file since she opened the account before her marriage, they made it clear that under no circumstances could they accept a cheque made out to her in her maiden name. Eventually she had to get a certified copy of her marriage certificate and send that to the people who owed her money, so that the cheque could be sent using her married name.

Banks are great... at giving their customers lots of trouble!

Banks don't keep certificates in branch just in case many years later somebody decides to bring in cheques in their maiden name. You don't say how much the cheque was for but it is the customer's job to change their name with any existing clients.
If this is a problem to some people keep an account in their maiden name.

firefox1956

mrs.butler wrote: »

Oh no that's disappointing to hear. I have always found them really helpful.

Yes until now !!

The simple things like asking for two letters from your password & your postcode they are great at.
One off things they make a right song & dance about these days I am afraid.

Anthorn

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Banking law relating to the acceptance of cheques crossed "account payee only" disagrees with you about there being a problem or not.

If it's a small amount the bank would probably take it. If it isn't then they probably won't. Either way, they don't have to if the name they hold for their customer is the married one. That's at their discretion, and in this case then the right thing for OP to do is call FD.

No woman is forced to change their name to that of their partner but if they do and open a bank account on that basis then realistically only cheques in that name should go into it.

No. It's something of a common fallacy that "Account Payee" applies to the name of the account which has to match the name of the payee. In fact "Account Payee" refers to the person the cheque is addressed to. So therefore Miss Jones who marries and becomes Mrs Smith who receives a cheque addressed to Miss Jones can still deposit it into their Mrs Smith account because they can prove that they are Miss Jones.

jonesMUFCforever

Anthorn wrote: »

No. It's something of a common fallacy that "Account Payee" applies to the name of the account which has to match the name of the payee. In fact "Account Payee" refers to the person the cheque is addressed to. So therefore Miss Jones who marries and becomes Mrs Smith who receives a cheque addressed to Miss Jones can still deposit it into their Mrs Smith account because they can prove that they are Miss Jones.

But if they have gone through a legal process such as marriage or a deed poll then IMO your argument fails.

Anthorn

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

But if they have gone through a legal process such as marriage or a deed poll then IMO your argument fails.

No. There is no legal process which forces a woman to take her husband's name. In fact if a marriage certificate records both the maiden name and the husband's name that is evidence of the change of name and therefore evidence that the correct person is banking the correct cheque if crossed "AC PAYEE" and payable to the maiden name.

JuicyJesus

Anthorn wrote: »

No. There is no legal process which forces a woman to take her husband's name. In fact if a marriage certificate records both the maiden name and the husband's name that is evidence of the change of name and therefore evidence that the correct person is banking the correct cheque if crossed "AC PAYEE" and payable to the maiden name.

Here is what the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company say about the crossing (emphasis mine).

Adding a crossing to a cheque increases its security in that it cannot be cashed at a bank counter but must be paid into an account in exactly the same name as that which appears on the ‘payee’ line of the cheque (i.e. the person who has received the cheque, who is legally the “payee” and “holder” of the cheque).

So you are wrong. The account must be in the same name as that on the cheque. If the account has been opened in the married name then it is not in the maiden name. Ergo, rightfully, a cheque in the maiden name should not be paid into that account. However, banks as noted do use their discretion if this happens infrequently and for small amounts, as often happens. In my banking career I did frequently, especially if the woman had changed names to her married one, look through the bank's records and accept cheques for small amounts if we could tie the maiden name up with the married name and it was a one off. But it is and was always at the bank's discretion.

This has nothing to do with what a woman must and must not do after marriage and everything to do with what name she has used when opening a bank account. The only point that that is relevant is if she was to open a new bank account with a different institution, at which point she would be able to use her maiden name or married name as she saw fit. She does not get to be able to flit between names with the same institution in the way she sees most convenient.

Jones is right that a deed poll in particular involves the total renunciation of the previous name, although in the case of marriage this is not relevant.

jonesMUFCforever

Anthorn wrote: »

No. There is no legal process which forces a woman to take her husband's name. In fact if a marriage certificate records both the maiden name and the husband's name that is evidence of the change of name and therefore evidence that the correct person is banking the correct cheque if crossed "AC PAYEE" and payable to the maiden name.

I did not state anybody was 'forced' to do anything.

Anthorn

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Here is what the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company say about the crossing (emphasis mine).



So you are wrong. The account must be in the same name as that on the cheque. If the account has been opened in the married name then it is not in the maiden name. Ergo, rightfully, a cheque in the maiden name should not be paid into that account. However, banks as noted do use their discretion if this happens infrequently and for small amounts, as often happens. In my banking career I did frequently, especially if the woman had changed names to her married one, look through the bank's records and accept cheques for small amounts if we could tie the maiden name up with the married name and it was a one off. But it is and was always at the bank's discretion.

This has nothing to do with what a woman must and must not do after marriage and everything to do with what name she has used when opening a bank account. The only point that that is relevant is if she was to open a new bank account with a different institution, at which point she would be able to use her maiden name or married name as she saw fit. She does not get to be able to flit between names with the same institution in the way she sees most convenient.

Jones is right that a deed poll in particular involves the total renunciation of the previous name, although in the case of marriage this is not relevant.

You miss the point lol. Paying a cheque which is crossed "AC PAYEE" and payable to a woman's maiden name and paid into an account bearing that same woman's married name is the same person and arguably the same name and the marriage certificate proves it. A woman's maiden name is not rendered null and void if she decides to apply her married name. If your argument were true James Bloggs would not be able to pay a cheque made payable to him and crossed "AC PAYEE" into an account bearing the name Jim Bloggs or J. Bloggs and a woman who applies her married name would not be able to revert to her maiden name if she is divorced from her husband.

JuicyJesus

Anthorn wrote: »

You miss the point lol. Paying a cheque which is crossed "AC PAYEE" and payable to a woman's maiden name and paid into an account bearing that same woman's married name is the same person and arguably the same name and the marriage certificate proves it.

That's nice. The account's still in the married name though.

If your argument were true James Bloggs would not be able to pay a cheque made payable to him and crossed "AC PAYEE" into an account bearing the name Jim Bloggs or J. Bloggs and a woman who applies her married name would not be able to revert to her maiden name if she is divorced from her husband.

Strictly, they don't, and banks only tend to ignore this because it would be thoroughly unreasonable and onerous to insist on an absolute exact match, but it's not the same thing anyway. If it was J Bloggs versus J Smith then they wouldn't take it, as is the case here.

Of course, the real issue is that even if you were right (and you're not) the bank is entitled to have its own policies about what cheques it accepts into what accounts. And the legal position is such that they don't have to accept maiden name cheques into married name accounts if they don't want to.

Badger50

Coming a bit late to this. What I would do is go into a branch of HSBC with my First Direct bank card and birth and marriage certificates. Maybe driving licence or passport as well to be on the safe side. There's a good chance they will accept the cheque - but if they can't or won't ask them to open a new account in the maiden name.

My wife successfully paid into her own account a cheque made out to her deceased mother several years after the estate had been wound up and the executor account closed.. The amount was £250 and it was Lloyds but it shows that the people in bank branches do have considerable discretion.