Bad Check Laws in Tennessee: Penalties, Notice, and Treble Damages

Under Tennessee bad check laws, writing a check you know will bounce can be prosecuted as theft and sued over in civil court, with the criminal grade keyed to the face amount of the check and the civil penalty capped by a specific formula. A $900 bad check is a Class A misdemeanor; a check over $250,000 is a Class A felony carrying up to 60 years. The person who received the check can pursue criminal charges or a civil lawsuit, but not both for the same check.

When a Bounced Check Becomes a Crime

A bounced check is not automatically criminal in Tennessee. The statute reaches people who wrote or passed a check knowing the account lacked sufficient funds, or who stopped payment on a check after receiving goods or services that were as represented.¹ A simple arithmetic mistake in your checkbook does not meet that standard.

Because intent is hard to prove, the law supplies a shortcut. Fraudulent intent is presumed when the bank refuses payment within 30 days for insufficient funds or a closed account and the writer fails to pay the full amount within 10 days of receiving written notice. Intent is also presumed if the writer had no account at the bank at all.²

Two situations fall outside the criminal statute entirely. Post-dated checks are excluded, because a post-dated check is a promise to pay later rather than a representation that funds are available now. The statute also does not reach a recipient who knew or had good reason to believe the account could not cover the check; in that case the recipient effectively extended credit.² A genuine dispute over the quality of goods or services is also not criminal; the stop-payment provision only applies when the goods or services were as represented.

Criminal Penalties by Check Amount

Tennessee prosecutes bad checks as theft, and the grading follows the face amount of the check, not the shortfall in the account. A $5,000 check written against an account with $4,900 is still a $5,000 offense.²

$1,000 or less — Class A misdemeanor: up to 11 months and 29 days in jail, a fine up to $2,500, or both.³⁴
Over $1,000 but under $2,500 — Class E felony: one to six years, a fine up to $3,000, or both.
$2,500 to under $10,000 — Class D felony: two to twelve years, a fine up to $5,000, or both.
$10,000 to under $60,000 — Class C felony: three to fifteen years, a fine up to $10,000, or both.
$60,000 to under $250,000 — Class B felony: eight to thirty years, a fine up to $25,000, or both.
$250,000 or more — Class A felony: fifteen to sixty years, a fine up to $50,000, or both.³⁴

How Long Prosecutors Have to File

The clock to prosecute a bad check runs from the date the check was written, not the date it bounced or the date the holder discovered it. Deadlines track the felony grade:

Class E felony ($1,000–$2,500): two years.
Class C or D felony ($2,500–$60,000): four years.
Class B felony ($60,000–$250,000): eight years.
Class A felony ($250,000 or more): fifteen years.⁵

Bad checks of $1,000 or less are Class A misdemeanors, and Tennessee generally allows 12 months to bring misdemeanor charges.

The Notice That Triggers Liability

Written notice is the hinge that turns a bounced check into either a prosecutable crime or an enforceable civil claim, and the rules differ for each.

For the criminal presumption of fraudulent intent, the check must have been presented to the bank within 30 days of being written. If the bank refuses payment, written notice must be sent by certified mail with return receipt requested, addressed to the address printed on the check or, if none is printed, the address on file with the bank. Notice is presumed received within five days of mailing, and the writer then has 10 days to pay in full. Miss that window and intent can be inferred.² Notice can be skipped altogether when the bank is outside Tennessee, when the writer is not a Tennessee resident or has left the state, or when the writer had no account at the bank.

The civil statute uses a looser standard for ordinary notice and a stricter one for enhanced penalties. For the basic 10-day safe harbor described below, notice counts as given once it is dropped in regular U.S. mail to the address on the check or an address the writer supplied in writing during the transaction. To pursue treble damages, the notice must go by certified mail and must specifically state that the check was dishonored and that treble damages will be sought; the writer then has 30 days from that certified mailing to pay and avoid the enhanced penalty.⁶

Civil Recovery and the 10-Day Safe Harbor

Separate from any criminal case, the holder of a bounced check can sue the writer directly. The civil statute covers checks dishonored for insufficient funds, a closed account, or a missing signature, along with stop-payments made with fraudulent intent.⁶ A successful plaintiff can recover the face amount of the check, 10 percent annual interest running from the date the check was written until paid, the bank’s returned-check fee and related costs, and reasonable court costs and attorney’s fees.

The writer gets one clean exit. If the full face amount is paid within 10 days after the holder sends notice that the check was dishonored, the civil liability statute no longer applies at all. No interest, no attorney’s fees, no treble damages. For someone who wrote a bad check unintentionally, this is the single most important deadline in Tennessee law.⁶

Treble Damages

When fraudulent intent is proven in civil court and the writer has not paid within 30 days of the required certified notice, the court must award treble damages, meaning three times the face amount. The multiplier has a cap: the amount above the face value cannot exceed $500. On a $100 check, treble damages come to $300. On a $400 check, the formula would produce $1,200, but the extra $800 is reduced to $500, making the total $900.⁶

Criminal or Civil, Not Both

Tennessee forces the person holding the check to choose. A criminal complaint and a civil lawsuit cannot both be pursued on the same check.⁶ Civil action tends to be faster for actually recovering money. Criminal prosecution can lead to jail time and a conviction on the writer’s record, but it does not guarantee the holder gets paid back.

Pretrial Diversion for First-Time Offenders

A first-time offender facing bad check charges may be eligible for pretrial diversion. The prosecution is suspended under a written agreement with the district attorney; if the defendant meets the conditions, the charge is dismissed and no conviction results. If the defendant does not comply, the case resumes.⁷ For bad check cases, those conditions typically include full restitution to the holder plus administrative fees. Eligibility depends on criminal history and the facts of the offense, and diversion is not available in every case.

Can Bankruptcy Wipe Out Bad Check Debt?

Usually not. Federal bankruptcy law excludes debts obtained through false pretenses, false representation, or actual fraud from discharge.⁸ Writing a check you knew would bounce fits that exception, and a civil judgment that already found fraudulent intent will typically carry that finding into bankruptcy court. Criminal restitution ordered as part of a sentence is even harder to shed; federal courts have treated it as a penalty rather than an ordinary debt, so a bankruptcy filing generally leaves the restitution obligation standing.

1
Justia. Tennessee Code 39-14-121 – Worthless Checks
2
FindLaw. Tennessee Code 39-14-121 – Bad and Worthless Check Laws
3
Justia. Tennessee Code 39-14-105 – Grading of Theft
4
Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-111 – Authorized Terms of Imprisonment and Fines
5
Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. Statutes of Limitations Appendix B
6
Justia. Tennessee Code 47-29-101 – Liability for Dishonored Check – Damages
7
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Judicial Diversion or Pretrial Diversion
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge