LetterAgent
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Stopping a deceased person's mail takes two moves. In the US, an executor or authorized family member files a change-of-address marked "deceased" at a post office in person. In Canada, the executor buys Canada Post's deceased mail-forwarding service with a death certificate and proof of authority. Then you kill the junk mail separately.
| United States (USPS) | Canada (Canada Post) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can act | Executor, administrator, or authorized family member | Executor, administrator, or liquidator |
| What to file | Change-of-address marked "deceased," in person at a post office | Mail Forwarding for the deceased, online or at a post office |
| Proof needed | Photo ID plus proof of authority | Death certificate plus proof of authority (will, probate papers) |
| How long it lasts | Standard forwarding period | 12 months, renewable |
Not just anyone can redirect someone else's mail, and that is by design. Both countries limit this to the person legally responsible for the estate: the executor named in the will, the court-appointed administrator, or in some cases a surviving spouse or next of kin handling affairs. If you are a friend, neighbour, or distant relative with no legal role, the post office will turn you away. Bring proof of your authority, because clerks do check.
Here is the part that trips people up: you cannot file a change-of-address for a deceased person online. USPS requires it to be done in person at a post office, with photo ID and documentation showing you are authorized. The clerk marks the order as being for a deceased individual, and mail starts forwarding to the address you give, usually the executor's.
A few practical notes. First, do this sooner rather than later, because mail keeps arriving until the order is active, and an overflowing mailbox is both a sadness and a signal to thieves. Second, cancel the person's USPS Informed Delivery if they had it, so daily email previews of their mail stop landing in an inbox nobody monitors. Third, notify the big senders directly: banks, insurers, government agencies, and subscription services all have deceased-notification processes that are faster than waiting for forwarding to catch everything.
Canada Post sells a Mail Forwarding service specifically for deceased persons. The executor applies with a copy of the death certificate and proof of authority, such as the will or probate documents. It runs for 12 months at a time and can be renewed, which matters because estate paperwork routinely takes longer than a year.
Forwarding catches the important mail, but it does not stop anything. Senders keep mailing to the old address; the pieces just get rerouted to you. So the second job is telling senders to stop. Work through the mail as it arrives, contact each sender, and ask to close the account or remove the name. For government mail like tax slips and benefit statements, Service Canada and the CRA each need direct notification.
This is the part nobody warns you about: the credit card offers and catalogues keep coming for months, because forwarding and sender notification do not touch marketing lists. In the US, the Direct Marketing Association runs a deceased do-not-contact registry that suppresses most direct mail to the name. In Canada, contact the Canadian Marketing Association about its do-not-contact options, and tell individual catalogue companies directly, which works faster than any registry.
One more move that pays off quietly: ask the credit bureaus (Equifax and TransUnion in Canada, the three bureaus in the US) to flag the file as deceased. That single flag does more than stop pre-approved offers. It makes it much harder for anyone to open accounts in the person's name, which is a real risk in the months after a death when nobody is watching the mailbox.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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