Checks wrote to me by deceased father

[Shostyfrosty]

My dad recently passed. He had lived with me the last two and a half years of his life. He has no will or executor and the only thing he owns is a car. Before he passed he gave me an envelope and told me to not open it until after. When I did I discovered to checks he wrote out to me that are predated. One is for $100000 and the other $30000. USAA bank which is a national bank but the other is from an out of state account. He also has 11 kids of which not many have anything to do with him. My question is since they are predated and wrote out to me can I take them to my bank for deposit or will that get me into legal trouble? Thank you for any advice

[des8]

Condolences on the loss of your father

As this is a UK site our advice might not apply in the USA.
Over here once a person passes away his bank account is frozen and checks cannot be cashed.
You would need to present them to the person who sorts out your father's estate and ask for the value from the estate as it is settled.
You are basically a creditor.

However might be slightly different your side of the pond!