We believe that you may reissue the cashier’s check, but only if the request comes from the company’s bankruptcy trustee or a successor-in-interest to the trustee.

The Illinois Supreme Court has recognized that the remitter of a cashier’s check remains the owner of the check until it has been remitted to the payee, and therefore the remitter may cancel the check before it is delivered to the payee. Here, the remitter of the check is the company, not the president, and since the company is (or was) in bankruptcy, the appropriate representative of the company would be the trustee or a successor-in-interest to the trustee. In other words, as we understand the facts, the president of the company has neither the right to cancel the cashier’s check or to receive a replacement check.  

We should note that there is no mechanism in the Uniform Commercial Code for stopping payment on a cashier’s check, except through the filing of a “declaration of loss.” The facts in this case do not meet the criteria for filing a declaration of loss. Consequently, we think that cancellation of the cashier’s check by the bankrupt company’s duly appointed representative (or successor) is the customer’s only recourse.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Gillespie v. Riley Management Corp., 59 Ill.2d 211, 217 (1974) (“. . . the purchaser of a cashier’s check remains the ‘owner’ thereof until such time as he delivers or negotiates it to the payee. Until such delivery, the purchaser retains the right to cancel.”)

• Uniform Commercial Code, 810 ILCS 5/3-312(a)(3) (“’Declaration of loss’ means a written statement, made under penalty of perjury, to the effect that . . . the declarer cannot reasonably obtain possession of the check because the check was destroyed, its whereabouts cannot be determined, or it is in the wrongful possession of an unknown person or a person that cannot be found or is not amenable to service of process.”)