The problem is, the bank may not honor them, even if signed. In my wife's case, she was a signer on her aunt's account and the bank would not honor her signature in the immediate period after her aunts death. IIRC, the bank froze ALL transactions into or out of the accounts upon learning of the death. Doesn't matter who was signing what, every transaction was stopped.

So you should probably instruct those who you expect to be cashing your checks to cash them FAST after your death, before the bank becomes aware that you have passed. I would still rely on speed as my first defense against banking bureaucracy.

When my wife's dad died, she remembered the aunt's banking ordeal, and immediately withdrew $20k from her dad's accounts. No problem - she got the money out before the bank started in with another account freeze. Nothing illegal there - she had all Powers of XXX and was a legal signer on the account. She just beat the bank bureaucracy at its own game in this second go-round, that's all.

It might be instructional to call your bank, before you die, and ask them exactly what will happen to your account, and for how long, after they are notified of your death. Including how they will handle checks that were signed before your death. What they say might be an eye-opener. Or maybe you're lucky enough to have a good bank. Asking first would be a good first step to knowing the details. What I'm betting you'll find, might be that having blank signed checks sitting around is a huge risk for you while you're still alive, but useless to anyone after you're dead. That's just my hunch.