Affidavit and proof of mailing that survives examination.
Two or three years after a mailing, the only thing left is the documentation. If it was created at the time of mailing and the numbers reconcile, the question closes quickly. If it was assembled later from memory and partial records, it becomes the story. This page is what we hand you and why each piece is in it.
Exactly what documentation do we receive, and will it hold up with a regulator or in litigation?
Six documents, delivered at mailing.
Not on request, not after a follow-up email. The package is a deliverable of the mailing, and it arrives when the mail does.
Affidavit of mailing
SignedA sworn statement by the person responsible for the production, describing what was mailed, to how many recipients, in what class, on what date. Notarized on request. This is the document that gets attached to a filing or a response to a regulator.
Mailing manifest
Per recordA record-level list showing, for each intended recipient, the address as mailed and the letter version mailed — keyed on your own record identifier. This answers the question an affidavit cannot: was this specific individual notified, and what did their letter say?
USPS acceptance documentation
Third partyRecords captured at the point of deposit, which is what makes the mail date something other than our own assertion. For Certified mailings this includes the accountable-mail acceptance record; for First-Class, the postage statement and acceptance record for the mailing.
Address hygiene summary
Process recordWhat was run against the file — CASS with delivery-point validation, NCOALink move update, de-duplication, deceased suppression — with counts at each stage, plus the exception report and the dispositions you gave. This is the diligence record for address currency.
Version control record
Multi-populationWhich letter version each population received, with a specimen of every version as mailed and the count per version reconciling to the total. Essential on any matter with more than one letter, and the first thing questioned when populations differ.
Certified & delivery records
Where electedFor Certified mailings, the reconciled per-record outcome — delivered, attempted, refused, unclaimed — and signature records where return receipt was elected. See Certified Mail.
Return-mail reporting follows on its own schedule over the 60–90 day window and closes with a final undeliverable report, which becomes the seventh document in the matter file. See return-mail management.
What the affidavit states.
A useful affidavit is specific and bounded. It asserts what the declarant knows from the production record, and nothing beyond it.
- Declarant identity and basis of knowledge. Name, role, employer, and the reason this person is competent to speak to the mailing — that they supervised or performed it, and that the statements come from records made in the ordinary course of business at the time.
- Identification of the mailing party and the client on whose behalf the mailing was performed.
- Matter identification — matter number and your reference, without incident detail beyond what identifies the mailing.
- What was mailed. Each letter version by title or identifier, with a specimen attached as an exhibit.
- Counts. Records received, records suppressed and on what basis, records mailed — per version and in total, arithmetic closing.
- Address source and processing. That addresses came from the client-supplied file, and what hygiene was applied before mailing.
- Class of mail and any special services elected.
- Date of deposit with USPS, and the facility of deposit. Where a mailing ran across more than one day or site, each is stated separately rather than averaged.
- Exhibits. Letter specimens, manifest, acceptance documentation, hygiene summary.
- Execution. Signed under penalty of perjury, dated, notarized on request.
What it deliberately does not say
- That recipients received the letters. A First-Class affidavit attests to mailing. Delivery evidence requires Certified with tracking, and even then, delivery is not proof of reading.
- That the notice was legally sufficient. That is counsel's determination. An affidavit that wanders into legal conclusions weakens the parts that matter.
- That the recipient list was complete or correct. We attest to mailing what we were given. Who belonged on the list is upstream of us, and saying otherwise would be attesting to something we cannot know.
That last boundary is a feature. An affidavit is credible in proportion to how carefully it stays inside the declarant's knowledge.
Why the numbers have to close.
The most common weakness in a mailing record is not a missing document — it is counts that do not add up. An examiner who finds an unexplained gap of 214 records stops reading everything else.
| Stage | What it counts | Where it is documented |
|---|---|---|
| Received | Records in the file as delivered to us | Intake receipt |
| Duplicates removed | Exact and near-duplicate records, per your instruction | Hygiene summary |
| Suppressed | Deceased, foreign, or client-directed suppressions | Exception report + your disposition |
| Mailable | Records eligible for production | Hygiene summary |
| Mailed, by version | Pieces produced and deposited per version | Manifest + affidavit |
| Total mailed | Sum across versions and waves | AffidavitReceived − duplicates − suppressed = mailed. Every time, or we explain the difference in writing. |
| Returned | Undeliverable pieces, by reason code | Return-mail reports |
| Re-mailed | Corrected addresses re-sent on your approval | Supplemental manifest + affidavit |
Waves and supplements
Matters rarely mail once. Late-identified individuals, corrected addresses, and jurisdiction splits all produce additional mailings — and each gets its own manifest and its own affidavit rather than a revision of the first. Restating an earlier affidavit to fold in later work damages the thing you want most: a contemporaneous record of what was true on the date it was signed. A short affidavit per wave, plus a summary reconciliation across waves, is stronger than one document rewritten three times.
Getting it again in three years.
Retention
Recipient data is destroyed or returned after the return-mail window closes, per the BAA and engagement — but the records evidencing the mailing are retained on a defined schedule, because destroying them would defeat the purpose of creating them. The manifest is the sensitive artifact here: it contains names and addresses, so its retention period is set deliberately at engagement rather than by default.
Extended retention and litigation holds
If a matter carries long-tail exposure, ask for an extended retention setting when you engage. A written litigation hold from the firm suspends destruction indefinitely. Neither can be applied retroactively — once data is destroyed on schedule, it is gone, which is the correct behavior and also an irreversible one.
How to request it
By matter number, from an authorized contact on the engagement. We re-issue the package as it existed, not reconstructed. Where a declaration is needed for a filing, we will execute a current declaration referencing the original records and, if required, provide a witness who can speak to the production from personal knowledge.
Who can ask
Only the party that engaged us, or someone they authorize in writing. A request from the affected organization on a matter where the firm engaged us routes to the firm first — a rule that occasionally annoys people and has never once been the wrong call.
See a sample package
A redacted affidavit, manifest excerpt, and hygiene summary from a representative matter — so you can put it in front of a client or a risk reviewer before you have a matter with us.
Evidence questions
Is the affidavit notarized?
On request, and we recommend it where the document may be filed or produced. The substantive weight comes from the declarant's personal knowledge and the attached records; notarization addresses the execution formality some filings require.
Who signs it?
The production manager of record for the matter — someone who supervised the work and can speak to it from personal knowledge. Not a sales contact, and not a signature block belonging to no identifiable person.
Can you attest that a specific individual was mailed?
Yes — that is the manifest's job. We can produce a record-level extract confirming the address and version mailed for a named individual, supported by the affidavit for the mailing that record was part of. This is the single most common post-mailing request we get.
Does the affidavit prove delivery?
No, and it should not claim to. It proves mailing. Delivery evidence comes from Certified tracking or return receipt, and appears in the package as a separate document where those services were elected.
Will you complete our affidavit template instead of yours?
Usually. Send it and we will complete it, or tell you which assertions we cannot make from our records — which is more useful than signing something with a sentence in it we cannot support. That conversation is best had before mailing, not after.
Does the manifest contain the affected individuals' data?
It contains names, addresses as mailed, and version identifiers — not the underlying exposure detail, which we do not receive. Treat it as sensitive; it is a list of notification recipients and should be handled accordingly in your file.