We often have clients who need access to another’s mail. That applies to with the mail of a deceased loved one through the estate administration process. It also applies when the client is assisting a person who is not able to manage his or her own affairs. The latter may involve a guardianship, conservatorship or simply the use of a power of attorney. In any event, we see some of those clients make the common mistake of quickly getting that mail forwarded to the client’s own, home address.
If you choose to forward someone else’s mail to your own address, understand you are likely to receive junk mail in that person’s name forever. Unless you are interested in getting offers and solicitations in that person’s name forever (or maybe it will only seem like forever), take a different approach. We have our clients establish a Post Office Box to which the mail gets forwarded. That way, when the forwarding is no longer needed, the box may be closed and there is a “dead end” created for the mail that prevents the client from receiving that junk mail into the future. It may be a small step but it is one you will be glad you took.