My family member probably forgot to deposit the check. The bank knew it had been illegal to honor the check for over a year, because all checks expire. They admitted they honored the check illegally, but they claimed I had defrauded them. Which I had not, neither in intent nor their own rules, nor the law. They still put a black mark on me that limited how I could operate financially that wouldn’t expire for a decade even though they knew they broke the law. I didn’t have any recourse. Hope that helps you understand.
Edit: and the fines were too much to afford at the time but were not nearly as harmful as a decade record of “fraud” I didn’t commit. Maybe people here don’t realize it but when you have a record of fraud you can’t… do the things you all think are normal? Having a record of fraud because a bank told you they don’t care they know you didn’t commit fraud is ten years of recovering your financial reputation.