I’m aware that the liability for forgery is on the drawee bank if they try to return it after the 24 hour return timeframe. However, If our customer deposited multiple checks over a month’s time in which the maker’s endorsement was forged, but unbeknownst to us at the time our customer appears to be a willing participant to the scam, does the liability still fall back on the drawee bank?

The “maker” has been deceased for some time, which the payor bank knew when we called to verify funds on one of the deposits. The payor bank returned the checks “refer to maker”, weeks beyond the 24 hour timeframe. This is the first time I’ve dealt with the maker being deceased on a forgery issue, they obviously can’t sign an affidavit so I’m at a loss on how this is handled.

We’ve shown it as a loss at this point, but is there anything we can try to recoup some of this?

Sue them if they will not take the loss like they should.

https://www.bankersonline.com/qa/handling-refer-maker-return-items