| It really depends on what kind of check you have, and the bank/state in which it is drawn.
I am guessing that your husband had a small overdraft on his account and abandoned the account for a period of time. In this instance the bank will usually freeze the account, and/or "charge off" the deficit (take as a loss) - in this case, it seems the account is frozen and requires a payment to reinstate the account.
This can take a while, as the bank will require that the check is paid by the paying bank. "In state" checks still usually take 3-5 days to clear, even if usually your bank makes the funds available to you sooner. The reason your bank is stating such a long period, is that they will actually physically ship the check to that department, image the check and then forward the physical check to the paying bank for payment. They will then do some account maintenance requests to reopen the account.
If you need the money in a hurry, you could feasibly ask the check maker to stop the original check and issue you a new one. You could then cash the check at the paying bank in person with I.D and normally pay a small fee. The old check would then bounce, and you could pay off the balance at a later date.
It is a good idea to pay off the overdraft though, as the bank may report this to a bureau ie - Chexsystems and this will make it nigh on impossible to open a bank account anywhere else regardless of the institution. | 
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