Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)

A set of model commercial laws, drafted by legal bodies and adopted in some form by every U.S. state, that standardizes rules for business transactions. Its Article 3 (negotiable instruments) and Article 4 (bank deposits and collections) govern checks — including endorsements, a bank's duty to pay, and liability for forged or altered checks. Among other things, the UCC frames how stop-payment orders work and provides that a bank is not obligated to pay a check presented more than six months after its date (a stale-dated check), though it may choose to. Because each state enacts its own version, details can vary slightly by state.