If someone is in a predicament like hospital or jail where they can't cash their own checks but have money in the bank and receives more checks, is it legal for someone else to sign and deposit it with the owner's permission? Also, it it legal to write out more checks on that account with the owner's permission?

I believe that the only rock-solid legal way to act financially on someone else's behalf is by having them execute a Power of Attorney giving you that authority. Other methods might be accepted in practice, but they could also have consequences of their own.

I'm sure that we have an attorney who can answer this more concretely.

Don't need an attorney.... As long as the person is alive, then a "Power of Attorney" is what is needed...

A Power of Attorney is a very powerful legal document, and is totally useful untill the death of the person....

Fredpuli
Might be able to tell you the legal position about this.(He's a Barrister(Attorney)in the UK)
Should be universal?
My sister dealt with a lot of arrangements when I was in Hospital (KO'ed ) under this arrangement.
I think she had to obtain a "covering "letter from the Hospital

When I was in the hospital, my daughter wrote out checks for me and signed my name, and I thought it was okay. However, another situation just came to my attention, and I was told that it could be illegal, even if you have permission.
It's surprising how small things can be so important. Honest people can be doing illegal things and don't even know it.

Truth is, I've been put in this situation, and it's a little more perplexed than when my daughter was doing this for me. It appears that I might need permission in writing. Thanks.

Checks may be deposited to an account of the payee's name (but not to a joint acount, unless otherwise authorized by the payee) with no difficulty. If an endorsement is needed, this one should work nicely: "Deposit Only To Account of Within Named Payee."

Getting it out is the problem! The Power of Attorney suggested previously should do the trick; however, the authorized individual should present themselves to the bank and provide the Power of Attorney documents before proceeding.

I found this link which tells you about the North American legal Postion on this subject
www.eaglelink.com/law-review/poa-pet.htm
As regards other countries they follow similar guidelines but I think the best way is to type
"Power of attorney" and add UK for British pages on this subject (change to whatever your countries name is)

Thanks everyone. I understand much better now.

yep a power of attorney is all you need. my old crippled friend has me write checks for him all the time and withdraw from his account.
We've never had any problems.