How long does some one have to change their mailing address before Return to Sender can be put on it?

[chaysemanhattan]

My current mailing address is an ex- boyfriends address, for personal reasons, per a mutual verbal agreement. All the sudden he is claiming after 2 years, he is going to put Return to Sender on my mail with out any prior notice to me. Is this legal? I did live there for a couple of months, but this was 3 years before the agreement was made. He knows how to get in contact with me via my phone, work, email, Facebook, p.o. box and where I am currently staying. Due to a very unhealthy relationship, I recently decided to end it, and am trying to obtain property he also has stored at his address with no success. He is now threatening me with the above, because I said if I was unable to obtain my property, I would have to take legal action. He has not given me any time to address the matter above, and claims he does not have too. He currently has mail of mine, and refuses to give it to me. I know I need to address this matter right away, but what about the 4 to 6 weeks it could take per the USPS before that happens. Can he put Return to Sender on my mail till then. This could be problematic for me, and I know that is why he is threatening to do it.

[ctsmrvn]

Your question is about his right to put "return to sender" on your mail, and the direct answer is that he can choose to do so at any time. Mail which comes to his address can be marked "return to sender" whenever he decides, dropped back into the mail system, and sent back. So what should you do? First, take the time to contact all of your creditors, such as credit card accounts, and notify them directly of your new address. Naturally, you will submit a "change of address" to the post office, but call the credit cards companies and write to them directly. Notify your friends in writing of your new address. You cannot stop the old boyfriend from sending your mail back if he is determined to be a jerk, but you can limit how much of it he gets in the first place. The second thing you need to do is decide whether the "property" you left at the old address is worth the cost and effort of legal action. You made the threat (and, of course, you should never make a threat you are not prepared to carry out), but taking him to court might prove expensive, and will certainly take time. If the "property" has real value, then you might want to follow through and get a lawyer working on it. If you consider the matter carefully and decide you can live without the stuff, and your real motivation is simply to force him to submit to you and turn it over, it might be cheaper and quicker to abandon it, forget about it, and rise above it all. Only you can make that choice, though.

[nascar88gyrl]

Go to the post office and file a change of address immediately. That will "delay' your mail for a couple of days--will take extra days to reach you at your new address. Notify your bank, credit card companies, magazines, etc. of your new address--you can do that online in most cases. He can write "Return to Sender" on your mail, but once you file the change of address, the post office will forward your mail to your PO box.