[MvOnAlready]

While we were married, my ex-wife forged my signature on two checks she wrote to herself. The account was a home equity line of credit and was in my name only. I was out of town and unaware of these transactions totaling more than $20,000. My ex-wife deposited the forged checks into her business account. This was in 2004.

Since then we have divorced, our meager assets divided, she sold her business and is filing for personal bankruptcy. She is also engaged to be married once her bankruptcy is completed. My ex-wife has a serious spending/money problem which I have paid dearly for over the years.

There have been recent developments which have made me consider pressing charges against her for the forged checks from 2004. What is the statute of limitations for such charges in Michigan? What is the likelyhood that I even have a case now, if I chose not to press charges when I initially found out about what she had done? Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Mr. Knowitall]

The statute of limitations is generally six years, but don't expect the police to be interested. You chose not to press charges when this first happened, you should have resolved the financial end of this as part of your divorce, and the police and prosecutor are unlikely to have any interest in picking this up after four years.