NSW Is Anything Better Than Registered Post?

[Ian Curtis]

I sent a very important email to my sibling and Cc'd to our family lawyer (a relative whom I no longer trust). Sibling hasn't even clicked to send me the "read receipt" in the last five days so I am worried the sibling will perhaps be able to deny ever reading the email.

Registered post can get me a receipt signature however that would still not prove the sibling read the document or prove the contents of what was sent.

Would doing so via a trusted lawyer solve the issue? It is important enough to pay $500 legal fees but is there a simpler non-lawyer way to do it?

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

Having it read isn't something you can guarantee. You can place it directly in front of them, in person, and it still won't guarantee they've read it. All you can do is prove delivery. Signature on delivery post is pretty much the second best method. The best is to have it physically handed to them by a process server or similar.

 

[Ian Curtis]

The best is to have it physically handed to them by a process server or similar.

Thanks Rob, I just looked up "process server". So I can employ one independently of my lawyer?

My scenario is not one of "due process" though (as seems to be the primary concern of process servers). It is just to make sure my sibling has seen the figures in a financial matter.

I might first, however, try asking our old family lawyer (our cousin actually) if he can contact my sibling and verify in email to me that the sibling has read the document. Nothing to lose there if (?) such an email would be as good as evidence from a process server.

 

[Scruff]

No one, including a process server, will be able to provide "evidence" that your sibling "read" a document or email. They will only be able to provide evidence that it was or wasn't "delivered".

You shouldn't worry about if it is actually read or not - it's not your responsibility.