Check not honoured after death due to questionable signature?

Thanks, I should add that the other possible beneficiaries of the trust he left in his will have already written letters testifying to their knowledge of this cheque.

The trust is set up whereby every payout is at the trustee's (the bank's) discretion. In his letter of wishes, it asks that the bank 'take into account financial, fiscal, and family circumstances at the date of my death in the disposition of my estate'. In regards to his sons: 'Payments should only be made to my children at an ad hoc basis and at the trustees discretion'. The other possible beneficiaries are his other son, his ex-wife and his grandchild, all of whom were aware of my father-in-law's intentions to give us this cheque.

Thanks for your answers. I suppose we will have to wait till probate then.

However, the bank is not currently admitting any obligation to pay us even at that time in the future, I guess because the reason the cheque wasn't paid in to begin with was because they thought it was suspicious (it was paid in and credited to our bank account before my father-in-law's account was frozen, but then taken back out the next day).

Can we threaten legal action if they don't honour the amount of that check after probate? It doesn't seem like the bank has any interest in acting on what were clearly my father-in-law's wishes.

He was supposed to mail us that cheque on the day he had his accident. Instead he signed it in hospital. He suffered no brain damage, just a few broken ribs. Unfortunately he died of cancer a few days later. I understand anyone's concern as to his being of sound mind when he signed it etc, but if this cheque was to anyone else who was owed a debt (an electricity bill, etc etc) - surely there must be a way to collect the debt after he's died?