I have a client who wants to only allow her secretary to sign checks while she is out of town... and to add to my angst, she wants her to endorse the checks like this:

Mary Doe by Jane Doe

Is this a legal endorsement? The person actually signing the check is "forging" the real owners signature and signing her own... Help! Thanks!

I don't know if it's a "legal endorsement" nor can I say if it would be classified as a "forgery" since the Secretary is also including her name (maybe a Guru will advise).

That being said, I think you allow this to occur, it may be challenging for the bank to defend itself if your customer claims the Secretary signed checks and the owner wasn't out of town. My reply to the customer would be "If you trust the Secretary to sign checks while you are out of town, why would you not have the Secretary on the account as an authorized agent when you are in town?"

Let's get our players straight here. A check is signed on the front and endorsed on the back. In either case, it's not a forgery if the person whose name is used gave permission. It is not the best way to do it, though.

The account owner/business should put the secretary on the bank's signature cards (new cards if bank requires that) and provide whatever authorization documentation (board resolution, for a corporation) the bank requires to accomplish that. If the customer doesn't want the secretary to remain as a signer, new instructions and authorizations can be delivered later.

If your bank doesn't offer a limited POA that can be granted temporarily and then removed, the best course of action would be to add the secretary as a singer, and then remove her later, even though that would involve excessive paperwork...