Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The date written on a check has little legal significance in determining whether a payment is late. The party writing the check might have backdated it by a day, a week, a month, or ???? The timeliness of a mailed payment would depend upon what the contract says (if anything), e.g., does the mailing date govern, or the date of actual receipt? If the contract is silent on this, the old "mailbox rule" may apply; this rule basically says that when the parties have been doing business by mail, they have appointed the postal service to act as their agent for receipt and delivery of messages, so placing a payment in the hands of the postal service constitutes legal delivery to the addressee. This may help explain why income taxes are considered paid when postmarked, not when received by the IRS. In any event, the date on a check does not establish when it was mailed. The date on a check might affect whether the bank will honor it. They have the right to refuse to honor checks bearing very old dates.......but the date on a check has no meaning re the timeliness of payment.