Which Greenville County office was responsible for acting on a returned check first received by the register of deeds?

Plain-English summary

In 2007, the South Carolina Attorney General concluded that the Greenville County deed office had responsibility for initiating action on a check returned for insufficient funds. The deed office collected recording fees and deed stamps, then submitted its receipts to the county treasurer the next morning. The AG reasoned that the check had been delivered to the deed office first, so the deed office was the relevant recipient under the bad-check offense described in the opinion.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2007. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Which county office had to initiate action on the returned check? A: The AG concluded that the deed office did, because the check was first issued or delivered to that office.

Q: Did sending the receipts to the county treasurer transfer that responsibility? A: Not in the circumstances described. The opinion focused on which office initially received the check.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion described Greenville County's daily practice of balancing the deed office's registers and submitting money to the treasurer the following morning. It then quoted the state's fraudulent-check offense, which covered a check drawn or delivered with intent to defraud when the maker lacked an account or sufficient funds. The AG treated the initial delivery of the check as decisive for identifying the office that would initiate action.

Citations and references

Prior AG opinions: October 4, 2000; August 10, 1999; January 23, 1997. The extracted text of this opinion renders the bad-check statute number without its normal separator; the official PDF is the authority for its exact citation.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/april-11-2007/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/nanney-t-l-4-11-07-os-8369-returned-check-for-lack-of-payment.pdf

Original opinion text

April 11, 2007

The Honorable Timothy L. Nanney
Register of Deeds, County of Greenville
301 University Ridge, Suite 1300
Greenville, South Carolina 29601
Dear Mr. Nanney:
In a letter to this office you indicated that in Greenville County, the Register of Deeds collects payments for recording fees and deed stamps. You stated that as part of its regular routine, each day the deed office balances and closes its registers. The following morning the deed office submits the money to the county treasurer. You indicated that occasionally a check will be returned by the bank for lack of payment. I presume that this is a check that was initially received by the deed office prior to it being submitted by that office to the treasurer’s office. You have questioned which office, the deed office or the treasurer’s office, has the responsibility with regard to the bad check. The criminal offense of issuing a fraudulent or bad check is set forth in S.C. Code Ann. § 3411-60. Such statute provides that
[i]t is unlawful for a person, with intent to defraud, in his own name or in any other capacity, to draw, make, utter, issue, or deliver to another a check, draft, or other written order on a bank or depository for the payment of money or its equivalent...when at the time of drawing, making, uttering, issuing, or delivering the check...the maker or drawer does not have an account in the bank or depository or does not have sufficient funds on deposit with the bank or depository to pay the same on presentation.... Therefore, the offense is drawing, making, uttering, issuing or delivering to another a fraudulent check. See: Ops. Atty. Gen. dated October 4, 2000 ; August 10, 1999; January 23, 1997. In the circumstances described by you, inasmuch as it appears that the deed office actually receives the check initially, i.e., the check is uttered, issued or delivered to the deed office, in the opinion of this office, the deed office would have the responsibility of initiating any action on the check.

The Honorable Timothy L. Nanney
Page 2
April 11, 2007
If there are any questions, please advise.
Sincerely,
Henry McMaster
Attorney General

By:

REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY:

______
Robert D. Cook
Assistant Deputy Attorney General

Charles H. Richardson
Senior Assistant Attorney General