Question about the laws for the US Mail

What is the name of your state?

Probably doesn't matter, but it's Florida.

Anyway, my question is where are the laws that regulate the US Mail, I'm mostly asking because somebody has returned an item of mail to me, claiming the person no longer lived at the address, when she really does. (It was another person who had the mail returned). I'm just wondering if that's any kind of crime or deception.

And I'm sorry if I'm being a little vague, so if anybody needs more information, I can probably provide more details. I'm probably more interested in knowing where to look for the laws though.

why the lack of details?

Is the intended recepient a guest at someone's house? Why not just send it UPS or FED/EX? Have your friend open a PO box and send it to the box.

Hmm ... the person being written to wouldn't happen to be a juvenile, would they? And the person returning the letter wouldn't happen to be a parent or guardian, would they?

If they are all adults, then do as was suggested - get this person to open a P.O. Box.

However, if this is an illicit affair or a relationship with a minor, things could get ugly.

Carl

No, the person isn't a minor, and this isn't an affair. It could still be the mother sending back the mail since they do live in the same house, but as the person is over 18, I don't think her parents can just send the mail back if she really lives there. And I can't get the person to open a PO box if I can't communicate with them, and well, gee, I can't send them mail since I'm reasonably sure it'll just get returned again. Besides, they wouldn't do it anyway, since I'm really trying to get the person to respond to certain legal matters, but I'd hate to have to ask a judge for a warrant or subpeona. I'm not even sure I can do that, let alone how. I sure as hell am not going to try to approach them face to face, that'd be asking for trouble.

And the reason I didn't want to get into details is because I figured everybody would assume this was some sort of romantic business which I just don't want to deal with. I suppose I should have said this is nothing of the sort, but I'm not sure I'd be believed anyway. I've had a lot of people go down that road about this whole problem, and I haven't found a way to convince anybody that this isn't the case. Really, not every dispute between a man and a woman involves sex.

Well, I think I'm ranting now, I should probably stop. Does anybody actually know where I can look for information about this? I hope I don't sound abrupt or anything, but I'd much prefer the actual information I want to telling you the whole story.

Hire a process server if you need legal papers delivered.

Yes, I know I could do that, but it'd be rather expensive to have to keep doing that time and time again. Plus they could just tell the process server the same thing, and then where would I be?

Well, it sounds like you are up a creek then. If you have to rely on voluntary compliance, it ain't gonna happen. I suppose it depends on how badly you need to correspond with the person. Or, find out where they work and contact them there. Try certified mail at both places if possible.

And since you don't have contact with the person, are you absolutely sure they live there? Some people may stay one place and officially live at another.

It all comes down to how important it is to you to contact them. The feds are not going to spend time investigating whether the person you are sending the letter to actually lives there.

I used to do process service ... and it's not all that expensive. Well, I received $20 for each served notice ... and I believe the client paid my employer $50. Yeah, I got rooked, but it wasn't that expensive. And I know people that still get paid $20 per served paper so the cost of the physical service apparently hasn't gone up in 16 years.

EDIT: Oh, and a good process server will be innovative! I once served someone in the guise of asking for petition signatures for an environmentalist movement. There are ways ... if the server wants to get paid.

Carl

Well, it's not really that important to me, it's just according to the laws of my state, I'm supposed to be sending her copies of the legal papers I file, so when they get returned, well, it just makes things a little harder for me.

Now, given that the court hasn't had anything returned, as far as I know anyway, the person should live there, or at least is receiving mail for that purpose. Either that, or her mother is keeping it herself, which I suppose would be a crime.

I'm not concerned I'll suffer any penalty, since I'll have the cancelled envelopes to show my good faith effort, but I just don't like having to deal with this crap.

Contact your local police department and see if they do paper service. Might cost anywhere from $25-$100, but you'll have to decide whether it's worth it or not.

Have you thought about trying to disguise it as much as possible? For example, putting it in a big white evelope, typing the address on the front, putting a friend's or relative's address as the return. . .that way, it has a bigger chance of being opened. And if it IS opened and then returned, well, then that would mean that someone opened someone else's mail. And isn't THAT an offense?