D.C. Code § 28:4-404
A bank is under no obligation to a customer having a checking account to pay a check, other than a certified check, which is presented more than 6 months after its date, but it may charge its customer’s account for a payment made thereafter in good faith.
Certified checks are excluded from the section because they are the primary obligation of the certifying bank ( Sections 3-409 and 3-413). The obligation runs directly to the holder of the check. The customer’s account was presumably charged when the check was certified.
This section incorporates a type of statute that had been adopted in 26 jurisdictions before the Code. The time limit is set at six months because banking and commercial practice regards a check outstanding for longer than that period as stale, and a bank will normally not pay such a check without consulting the depositor. It is therefore not required to do so, but is given the option to pay because it may be in a position to know, as in the case of dividend checks, that the drawer wants payment made.
Dec. 30, 1963, 77 Stat. 706, Pub. L. 88-243, § 1
Mar. 23, 1995, D.C. Law 10-249, § 2(e), 42 DCR 467
1973 Ed., § 28:4-404.
1981 Ed., § 28:4-404.