On September 2, 2006, Levine executed a mortgage bond under which she promised to pay the Mykoffs a preexisting obligation of $54,000. On October 14, 2009, the Mykoffs transferred the mortgage to Bankers Trust Co., indorsing the instrument with the words ‘‘Pay to the Order of Bankers Trust Company Without Recourse.''
The Lincoln First Bank, N.A., brought this action asserting that the Mykoffs' mortgage is a nonnegotiable instrument because it is not payable to order or bearer; thus it is subject to Lincoln's defense that the mortgage was not supported by consideration because an antecedent debt is not consideration. Is the instrument payable to order or bearer? Discuss.