Location: Wisconsin
How do I go about stopping my ex girlfriend from using the house we formerly lived in together as her primary address.
I have been renting a house from my Aunt and Uncle for over 16 years. My ex (K) moved in with me approximately 5 years ago, she’s not on a lease. Recently we broke up because she chose to go back with her ex and has basically abandoned all of her stuff because she has no where else to store it. Her new man lives in his parents basement and she would only have a couch to sleep on at her mom’s house.
How can I prevent her from using the house as her primary residence for mail and legal reasons. I have no way of getting ahold of her as she seems to be using drugs again and has isolated herself from all her friends and family besides her guy she’s with now. She has no phone service and blocked me on social media.
Comments
>How can I prevent her from using the house as her primary residence for mail and legal reasons.
There’s really no way to prevent her from giving people your address as her address.
What you can do, however, is return all such mail to sender and if people show up looking for her, tell them that she doesn’t live there anymore and hasn’t since [whenever she moved out].
There’s no real legal mechanism that you can do to stop her from using your address. What you can do is mark her mail as Return to Sender stating that she no longer lives at this address. If you do this long enough, they’ll eventually stop mailing things to your address.
You can’t stop someone from claiming an address as their residence, but you can take steps to legally protect yourself. Since she’s not on the lease and has moved out, you can treat her as having abandoned the property. Change the locks if you haven’t already (confirm with your landlord first). Notify the USPS in writing that she no longer resides there and return her mail marked “No longer at this address.” Document everything in case issues come up later. If you’re concerned about her coming back or trying to reassert tenancy, consult a local attorney. Wisconsin law generally favors actual occupancy, but it sounds like she has vacated.
You should decline mail with Return to Sender.
You should follow the abandoned property laws for your state. If she decides to pop back in and has her stuff there, it may be easier to claim you are preventing her from returning to her residence.
Document what she left behind, send to her along with notice that you will be no longer be storing her property and will be disposing of her property on x date
https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/704/05
Amazon makes a stamp that costs $10 that says return to sender. Its a worthy investment. Also go to your nearest Post Office and fill out the form they recommend to tell USPS she doesnt live there. Lastly, trash bag move her stuff to a storage facility – pay for 3 months storage and be sure to tell the storage place whats going on. Then send her, her mom, and anyone else who may have access to her a copy of the key and any gate instructions through some kind of sign for your package thing.
Just to add on to the other comments, I would suggest “not at this address” as what you write versus simply return to sender. This is what the USPS recommends via their website.
I would send a letter to the postmaster with copies to the attorneys to stipulate that she is not in residence there since whatever date and won’t be from now on. Mail it certified mail if that would be better. The post office can advise you as far as any forms that would need to be filled out there.