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What You Need To Know About California?s Bad Check Law ? California Penal Code Section 476(a)

By Walin & Klarich

If you write a bounced check in California, you can be criminally prosecuted. Under California Penal Code Section 476(a), it is a crime to write a check knowing that you have insufficient funds and the intent to defraud. If the prosecution can prove that you knowingly wrote a bad check with the intent to deceive another person out of money or property, you will be convicted. This crime does not require proof that you fabricated a false check or wrote false information. The crime is completed the minute you knowingly write a check for an amount you did not actually have. A knowledgeable criminal defense attorney can raise certain defenses on your behalf. Depending on the facts of your case, a defense attorney can argue that you did not have the necessary intent to defraud because you reasonably believed that there would be sufficient funds to pay for the check amount...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on May 13, 2010 (boomark / email).