Ex-husband stealing and opening sister's mail

Foggyboy

Please help with any advice here as it will be greatly appreciated.

My sister has been separated from her ex-husband for the last 11months as they separated in September 2021. She moved out that same month and the house sold (funds held in trust by solicitors).

She has now discovered that her ex-husband put a mail redirection in place back in September 2021 so ALL mail, including hers, went to him at his new flat. Her solicitor has received an email yesterday from his solicitor asking for details of an online savings account and it's value for divorce purposes. The problem is the account was opened in December 2021 after the separation and after she moved out of the house.

She knows of several letters that have gone missing and her friend was handed a letter by her ex-husband (from her life assurance company) once day in Tesco when they met addressed to her, opened with his new address. He said he came to his flat "by mistake" but the redirection label was still attached.

The ex-husband is claiming hardship but yet she has a photo of £52,000 that was in his bank account in January 2021 (she found it amongst her stuff when she moved out). She believes he is hiding his assets whilst blaming her for his hardship. He rarely paid for anything.

Can she go to the police for him stealing her mail? Can he be arrested and charged for mail theft?

Many thanks and any advice greatly appreciated.

marcia_

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/289/~/protect-yourself-from-identity-theft

https://www.royalmail.com/d8/help/redirection#paragraph-9444

Cancel the redirection and report it as fraud to action fraud and royal mail

Caz3121

Foggyboy said:

the account was opened in December 2021 after the separation and after she moved out of the house.

has she given the bank her current address or is she still using the old address?
did she arrange her own redirect for mail in her name?
when I left my ex-husband many years ago he remained in the property and I had a redirect for my name to cover anything I had missed informing of address change. A couple of times they redirected mail in his name in error.

Retireby40

Surely your friend would have contacted all important authories/companies and informed them of her new address? No?

elsien

Retireby40 said:

Surely your friend would have contacted all important authories/companies and informed them of her new address? No?

Yes, you have to wonder why she’d use an address she’d already moved out of when setting up a new savings account. 

Had she set up anything in her own name to get her post redirected? 

tealady

Your sister needs to tell everyone ASAP of her new address.
Also check her credit files in case the ex tries to get credit in her name.
Dont forget people like DVLA (if she has a driving licence). Someone I know moved, then lost their licence. DVLA  would only send the replacement to the address on their database. 

TripleH

Two wrongs here (possibly).

She should have changed her address with all organisations ASAP (even if temporarily to yours for example) / setup her own mail redirect.

He might not have done anything wrong depending on how the redirection was setup. If you can show he included her name on the redirection then that is wrong. If however he can be shown to gave opened mail not addressed for him and obtained a benefit he has just handed your sister a helpful bargaining chip.

Exodi

Foggyboy said:

My sister <...> separated <...> in September 2021. 

She has now discovered that her ex-husband put a mail redirection in place back in September 2021 so ALL mail, including hers, went to him at his new flat. Her solicitor has received an email yesterday from his solicitor asking for details of an online savings account and it's value for divorce purposes. The problem is the account was opened in December 2021 after the separation and after she moved out of the house.

So your sister presumably did not update her address with the savings account or many other companies (I'm presuming she opened a savings account with a bank she held an existing account with, which is why the address is outdated - rather than physically entering her old address which would be odd).

To be honest I also find it strange that you comdemn the ex-husband for trying to hide assets, when the whole reason for this thread is that a savings account your sister was trying to keep secret has come to light.

They're not currently divorced so it's probably of little relevance that she opened it after she seperated/moved out. As I'm presuming she didn't just stumble into a suitcase of money, I'd expect she had some cash somewhere to put in it? She probably wouldn't be as bothered if he discovered an empty savings account.

On the face of it, it sounds like they're both trying to stitch eachother up in the divorce.

TBagpuss

Did she arrange to redirect her own post?
 
With post redirections, it's a human being who ultimately has to spot the relavant letters and stick labels on - some do slip through - for instnace if the address is unclear, or if the postie makes a mistake.

Step one would seem to be to check with the post office whether there is in fact a redirection set up in her name, or just his. If it is in her name then she can report it but unless she that it resulted in further harm, such as opening credit cards in her name or something of that kind I suspect it will not result in any action except to stop the redirection. 

Meanwhile, she needs to check that she has contacted all organisations to ensure that they have her correct, current address, and check out her credit record to check for any issues.

She would have had to disclose the account regardless of when it was opened so while of course he should not have opened post aaddressed to her, he hasn't seen anything that she would not have been required to disclose, in any event. 

tightauldgit

Foggyboy said:

Please help with any advice here as it will be greatly appreciated.

My sister has been separated from her ex-husband for the last 11months as they separated in September 2021. She moved out that same month and the house sold (funds held in trust by solicitors).

She has now discovered that her ex-husband put a mail redirection in place back in September 2021 so ALL mail, including hers, went to him at his new flat. Her solicitor has received an email yesterday from his solicitor asking for details of an online savings account and it's value for divorce purposes. The problem is the account was opened in December 2021 after the separation and after she moved out of the house.

She knows of several letters that have gone missing and her friend was handed a letter by her ex-husband (from her life assurance company) once day in Tesco when they met addressed to her, opened with his new address. He said he came to his flat "by mistake" but the redirection label was still attached.

The ex-husband is claiming hardship but yet she has a photo of £52,000 that was in his bank account in January 2021 (she found it amongst her stuff when she moved out). She believes he is hiding his assets whilst blaming her for his hardship. He rarely paid for anything.

Can she go to the police for him stealing her mail? Can he be arrested and charged for mail theft?

Many thanks and any advice greatly appreciated.

This part is completely irrelevant. As part of the proceedings you are required to disclose all bank accounts currently held and the financial hearing is based on the declaration at the time of the proceedings not at time of separation. Why did she open an account with an old address surely she should update her details rather than have important documents sent to an address connected a former partner?

I don't see any theft here and it's entirely possible that the redirect is mistakenly sending him her stuff. The solution is to update her address details on important documents to where she is currently living. 

Exodi

tightauldgit said:
<...> Why did she open an account with an old address surely she should update her details rather than have important documents sent to an address connected a former partner?

A lot of people seem to suggest she actively entered her old address when opening her account, but I think it's much more likely she opened a savings account with a bank she already held another account with (so her personal details weren't entered). Yes she forgot to update her address with the bank, but opening a savings account wouldn't prompt you to do this. I don't think it's as outrageous as people suggest.

But as you say in the bottom half of your post - it would be a lot quicker, easier and less confrontational to just update her details with her various accounts. Can't redirect mail that doesn't get posted to the old address in the first place.