Even though a lot of things are sent electronically these days, there are still things that come through the mail. Especially if you’re considering a divorce, you’re probably starting to grow concerned about your documents – credit card bills, retirement account statements, mortgage interest statements, communications from the IRS, etc – that may come through the postal service.
I’ve worked on plenty of cases where my clients didn’t really know a whole heck of a lot about their financial situation and, in many of those cases, they’ve depended on gathering statements from the mail to figure out what’s going on. Similarly, husbands who prefer to keep their wives in the dark may start opting for electronic statements or attempting to nab the mail as soon as it arrives to prevent the information from getting to their spouse.
It’s not necessarily so nefarious, but in the early stages of a divorce, everything seems sinister. And, anyway, it’s always possible that it is sinister, in which case you sort of probably want to adopt the mantra, “the more you know”, right? That’s especially true as it relates to your financial situation, never more so than when you’re more or less in the dark.
I, personally, am a mail enthusiast. I enjoy getting the mail every single day. Since I work from home a good bit of the time, it’s not uncommon for me to take a break (or three) to check to see whether the mail has arrived yet. It’s not just because I’m waiting for the latest Amazon package to arrive (though, admittedly, sometimes I am), but just that I really, really like the mail. I always have. I can’t explain it. Even when it’s just bills, I still, for whatever reason, kind of enjoy the process of getting it.
I like to send mail, too. I send postcards when I travel (from my kids, of course), and I frequently mail small gifts to my out-of-town niece and nephew. I guess I assume that, since I enjoy it so much, other people do, too. I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case, but, at any rate, I love the mail.
I recently signed up for a new service with the USPS called informed delivery. Now, as a run of the mill mail enthusiast, that may not thrill you: the surprise, after all, is a bit spoiled. But if you’re facing a divorce and you’re concerned either about whether you need to be home in order to grab something before your husband has a chance, or whether you just want to more or less keep an inventory of the items that are arriving on a particular day (so that you know whether they’ve disappeared), Informed Delivery is definitely a service you should consider signing up for.
When you sign up for Informed Delivery, which you can do easily on the USPS website, you get an email every morning with scanned pictures of each piece of mail that you’re going to receive that day. It’s a pretty convenient way to get the scoop BEFORE the mailman arrives.
If your mailman is like my mailman (who is a treasure, by the way – he sings as he works and it is just so pleasant to hear him come up my front steps), the mail delivery can arrive at any point during the course of the afternoon, so it’s hard to be ‘on call’ all afternoon every afternoon to be the first to pick it up.
I definitely recommend the service, especially if the mail is a source of information that you need for your upcoming divorce case.
For more information or to schedule a consultation with a licensed and experienced Virginia divorce and custody attorney, give our office a call at 757-425-5200.