If I sign a check that is made out to my wife with her permission is there a problem?

I looked at the laws of several states when researching this for another thread. Every state whose laws I looked at specifically stated that the intent to defraud had to be involved before signing another's name to a check can be considered forgery.

Missouri Revised Statutes
Chapter 570
Stealing and Related Offenses
Section 570.090

Forgery.

570.090. 1. A person commits the crime of forgery if, with the purpose to defraud, the person:

(1) Makes, completes, alters or authenticates any writing so that it purports to have been made by another or at another time or place or in a numbered sequence other than was in fact the case or with different terms or by authority of one who did not give such authority; or

(2) Erases, obliterates or destroys any writing; or

(3) Makes or alters anything other than a writing, including receipts and universal product codes, so that it purports to have a genuineness, antiquity, rarity, ownership or authorship which it does not possess; or

(4) Uses as genuine, or possesses for the purpose of using as genuine, or transfers with the knowledge or belief that it will be used as genuine, any writing or other thing including receipts and universal product codes, which the actor knows has been made or altered in the manner described in this section.

2. Forgery is a class C felony.

(L. 1977 S.B. 60, A.L. 2002 H.B. 1888)

http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/c500-599/5700000090.htm

The short answer is, it depends on how your wife feels about you at the present time.

Because:

It is wrong to sign someone else's name to anything, where the person to whom the signature is presented is not aware that the signor is not the person whose name he/she signs. In other words, it's wrong because it's a lie.

But for it to become a criminal offense (fraud) it would take a complaint laid with the bank or directly with the police.

Who would complain? If it's just between you and your wife, and she gave you her consent, she's not likely to report it as a fraud, is she?

It was probably just one of those awkward things, she's out of town, an urgent bill is presented to you, phone service will be cut off unless paid immediately, but your account is tapped out, etc, etc.

So she just says, "Sure, just take a check out of my checkbook and sign it. They never check signatures."

She's right. Unless there's a complaint.

But who would complain? Certainly not the phone company. It's in their interest that the check is good. Certainly not her, since she wants the phone to continue to be in service as much as you do.

So you're home free.

BUT

If you wrote a check for a gambling debt you owed, or payable to yourself, or your girlfriend, on her account, and she later challenged it, you would not look very good claiming she verbally authorized you to sign, if she denied it.

And even if she did authorize it but later denid it. It would not look good. For you. Others
(such as the judge) might doubt your sincerity that she verbally approved.

So. She knows this. That is why I say that it depends on how your wife feels about you at the present time.

Also that is why it is not a good idea to do it.

If said check was being deposited into a checking or savings account there would probably not even be an eyebrow raised, especially if it's an account with both of your names on it. Just sign her name with your initials, and write "For Deposit Only" under it. This would be accepted when the account at the bank is under both of your names, or even just hers. You could only do this if depositing the funds if the account is in her name only. If in both your names, you could do "less cash", but of course they get your signature on the deposit slip for that too. (There just needs to be a paper trail in case of a later dispute.)

I'm assuming that is what the situation is, since if a check is made out in your wifes name, even if she did really endorse it, the bank wouldn't let YOU cash it, only her.