WR: How to address check to new Mr & Mrs?

I would address to both their names (as they are now), then one of them can endorse it over if they are putting it in one of their accounts. They may want to cash it before the wedding.

I always write the "mr & mrs _____" figuring how exciting it is to see your new names joined and your first name together. I guess i never thought about them cashing it...though no one has ever waited to long to do so to my knowledge, so it must not be too tidious.

Sahron is probably right in all honesty though.

Sharon has it right. My friend got married a few weeks ago and couldn't cash any checks since her name wasn't changed yet and they were made out to Mr & Mrs X. Her hubby was able to do it, but she was a little peeved about wasting time going to the bank.

I had this same questions! So I should put Mr. John Doe and Ms. Lisa Simpson so either one of them could cash it?

You can, but they both have to be there to cash or deposit. As they both have to sign the chheque.

You can put Mr. & Mrs.____ when they cash the check they just need there marriage papers

If you put both, one can sign the back endorsing it over, so only one needs to be there to deposit it in their account.

I agree with the above suggestions of both names for mow I recall vaguely from Commercial Law if you put both of the names on the check as they are now; either person can deposit it without the others endorsement, that may be safest and avoid the check being sent back for a proper endorsement.

Lol at my typos I hadnt finished a cup of coffee yet. OBVIOUSLY...Who was confused by "..how exciting it is to see your new names joined and your first name together.." what I meant was... your names joined & first MONEY together.

*blushing*

Also, "Sahron" is really..

..wait for it..

.. Sharon

The correct form for a check is John Doe or Lisa Simpson. No titles, and use "or" between the two names.

"And" means the two of them have to act together to cash it. "Or" allows either one to cash it.

Thanks for everyone's comments! Since it's my male cousin's wedding, I'm just going to play it safe and write his name only- but address the card to Mr. & Mrs :-)

What would I do without you all!!!!

I agree with 2nd bride. If you want to have his new wife's name on the check put their names how they are now and put "or" between the two. I can't tell you how annoying it was to have to take all of our checks and figure out who had to sign which. Some of our checks had our names as "Mr. & Mrs. Ian McK", "Ian and Felisha McK" was a favorite too, there were ones to just him, and there were ones to just me.

2d Bride: Thanks for the tip--I had no idea you actually could do "or." Cool.

Fortunately, DS & I already had a joint account, so when we got checks made out to both of us, either of us could go alone and deposit it into the account that had both names.

It's your cousin, so you probably know, but the other issue is that you should keep in mind that not all women change their names. If someone had made out a check to DS & me with only DS's last name for both of us, we might actually have run into some problems.

Very good question because before my wedding I never would have thought about this one. But we had a LOT of problems cashing checks because of this. Many people wrote checks out to Mr. and Mrs. K___ and of course it took at least a month to get my name legally changed and then changed on my account so we could not cash the checks. People called us annoyed that we hadn't cashed them yet! What if I hadn't changed my name? Big trouble then! Writing it to both using the bride's maiden name was ok, but still kinda a pain in the ass really. The easiest ones to cash were just written in my husband's name so from now on if we write a check for a wedding gift that's how we'll do it. They know the gift is for both of them, that just makes it super easy for ANY scenario

I'm a bank teller and I run into this all the time. I work at a credit union and we have a "member's only policy" It depends on the banks policies, some will accept a check if the second party has signed it over, but to be on the safe side make it out to just one of them and just put something nice in the memo line if you want. If you make it out to the bride, make it out in her maiden name because she most likely hasn't changed her name at the bank yet. I can't tell you how often I have to reject checks for that reason. Feel bad, but gotta keep my job!

2d bride is correct - its mary smith OR tom murphy; then either can cash it.

Both names, Jane Doe- John Doe

Very informative...love the and/or option...good info to have.

That "and/or" is really, really important in my job. Imagine if we gave a seller a check for hundreds of thousands of dollars for the sale of their home and it said OR, yep Mr could go cash it and run off leaving the wife screwed. So our checks are always AND in my business, that way both parties have to endorse it to cash it. For this the scenario the OR is perfect.