There's nothing harder than dealing with the loss of someone you care about. Whether it's a spouse, friend, or family member, you need time to mourn and honor your loved one's life.
But how do you block correspondence from a deceased person?
The executor of the deceased person's estate must notify the post office of the death. After the executor completes the probate process, you can personally deliver or mail a copy of the probate order to your loved one's local post office. The executor must then register the loved one on the Contactless Deceased List.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has an efficient system where almost nothing stops the delivery of mail, even the death of the recipients. Therefore, the deceased person's loved ones are responsible for blocking the mail or forwarding it to another address.
In today's in-depth guide, you'll learn:
What happens to correspondence when a person dies?
How to stop mail from a deceased person
If you can stop all correspondence for the deceased
How to Plan Ahead with Trustworthy
What happens to correspondence when a person dies?
When someone dies, mail continues to be delivered to the last registered address until someone notifies the post office. Therefore, it is the survivors' or executors' responsibility to deal with these notifications.
While the Social Security Administration handles some notices, such as pensions, mailing for subscriptions, credit cards, and utilities, it must be handled by the executor of the deceased's estate.
While there are no estate planning laws or rules that require you to stop correspondence from a deceased person, letters can be a constant and painful reminder of their loss. Also, if the mail falls into the hands of the wrong person, they can use the information to impersonate the deceased with malicious intent.
However, receiving mail from a deceased loved one can be important for a temporary period while you pay bills and close certain accounts. Once all outstanding issues are resolved, it is in your best interest to stop all mail deliveries for the deceased.
How to stop mail from a deceased person
Let's delve into how to stop mail from a loved one who has passed away. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as calling your local post office to tell them about the death. However, the process of stopping mail delivery for a deceased person is relatively easy if you know what to do and what steps to take.
Before you begin, you should know that only the executor of the deceased's estate has the authority to block correspondence. The executor is the person appointed by the probate court to handle the foreclosure of the deceased person's estate.
This includes closing all of your personal businesses and notifying the United States Postal Service, Social Security Administration, and credit bureaus.
If you currently receive correspondence from your loved one, but you are not the executor of the estate, you must forward the correspondence to the executor's address. The executor is the only person legally authorized to open, manage, and stop correspondence on behalf of the deceased loved one.
Here are the five steps you need to take to stop correspondence from a deceased person:
Step 1: Notify the post office
Your first task is to notify the post office of the death of your loved one. Then, once the estate has handled and completed the probate process, you can mail or hand-deliver a copy of the probate order to your local post office.
The court order must declare the estate closed and release you from executor duties. For this reason, you do not need to open and read the deceased person's correspondence.
You must also include a letter requesting that all courier services stop immediately. However, it's important to remember that there are no exceptions for certain types of mail, so you must wait until the probate process is complete to cancel mail delivery entirely.
The process for canceling mail also varies from post office to post office. Some post offices have aonline formyou can fill out to notify them of the death. Also, you may need to physically visit the post office to fill out a form.
Our best recommendation is to call the post office for exact instructions for your specific case. That way, you'll know for sure what steps you need to take to stop your deceased loved one's mail.
Step 2: Sign up for the Deceased Do Not Contact List (DDNC)
After requesting the post office to stop delivering mail, your second task is to submit a request to stop all mail, phone calls, and emails from marketing agencies.
You can do this by contacting DMA Choice, which is a non-profit organization that manages the contactless deceased person list. As a member of the National Advertisers Association, the DMA manages a list of direct marketing agencies.
Once you register on the DMA's DDNC list, you can reduce unnecessary messages from most advertisers. You can apply to the DDNC by visiting theWFD electionwebsite and filling out the form. DNCC members are removed from DMA Choice direct marketing lists.
However, you must understand that there are non-DMA Choice traders. Therefore, this step does not eliminate all marketing efforts, but significantly reduces them.
Step 3: Forward email to a new address
Instead of stopping mail immediately, you can forward all mail from your loved ones to a different address. For example, if you are a relative and executor of the deceased person, you can forward all correspondence to the surviving spouse.
That way, your loved one's spouse can receive essential information like bills and some notifications. However, you must obtain the other person's permission before forwarding the deceased's correspondence to the new address.
You can forward mail to a new address by filling out an application at your local USPS office. The USPS will require you to complete a change to the forwarding address order. When you're ready for this step, be prepared to prove that you're authorized to handle your deceased loved one's correspondence.
This proof is usually a court order stating that you are the designated trustee or executor of the deceased's estate.
Step 4: Cancel subscriptions
The fourth step is to cancel subscriptions and all recurring mail sent to your loved one's mailbox. This includes subscriptions to services such as magazines, newsletters or newspapers.
You can cancel these subscriptions by contacting the subscription company directly. It's important to cancel subscriptions as soon as possible so they don't continue to charge your deceased loved one's bank account.
It is also important to cancel non-physical subscriptions such as streaming services (Netflix, Spotify) and online media catalogs (Wall Street Journal).
Passo 5: Use Return to Sender
The last step you can take is to use the post office's "Return to Sender" feature. You can use this feature by writing "Deceased, return to sender" on all correspondence addressed to the deceased person.
Just put the letter back in your mailbox or another outbox, and the postman will pick it up and ship it the next business day.
However, you must understand that the systems for stopping correspondence from a deceased person are not perfect. It may take some time for your requests to be fulfilled. Therefore, expect to continue receiving mail for a reasonable amount of time.
Can I suspend all correspondence for the deceased?
Unfortunately, it is difficult to stop all correspondence for the deceased. This is because spam is nearly impossible to stop. However, you can stop most spam by signing up for DMA Choice following the steps above.
If you continue to receive emails from spammers, you should contact the sender and explain how the person died, and they should stop emailing the deceased person. You should also follow step five and write "Deceased, return to sender" on the original envelope and leave it in an outbox.
However, you can only use step five for first-class correspondence. There are two types of USPS mail: first class and non-first class. First Class Mail is stamped First Class, Metered, Priority and Special Endorsed. Mail that is not first class usually contains marketing letters and spam.
Unlike First Class Mail, Non-First Class Mail does not provide free automatic returns or mail forwarding. So your best course of action is to contact the spammers directly to stop all messages being sent to the deceased.
Planning Ahead with Trustworthy
ONETrustworthy, we understand how difficult it is to deal with the loss of someone we love and love. However, in the midst of your mourning and remembrance, you must also handle all aspects of managing the deceased person's estate.
Trustworthy is an innovative digital storage and collaboration platform dedicated to storing and protecting confidential information. You can use Trustworthy as a comprehensive estate planning tool to plan ahead.
With Trustworthy, we will help you with all yourestate planning procedures🇧🇷 This includes creating a Will, Power of Attorney, and Living Will (Advance Care Guidelines).
In this way, the executor of a deceased person's estate knows the specific wishes of the deceased person and how to carry out the final steps.
You can use Reliable(Click here to start your free trial period) as a centralized storage platform for all your family's important documents, passwords, and files. You can share access with trusted loved ones, so they have everything they need to complete end-of-life tasks like managing the probate process.
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