WHAT IS A NOTICE?
A notice is a communication—written or electronic—intended to inform a recipient of a right, claim, obligation, action, or change in status. In business, government, and financial contexts, notices are used to:
• Inform clients of debts, overpayments, balances due, or delinquencies
• Provide pre-litigation warnings
• Notify a party of contractual changes or regulatory compliance requirements
• Provide statutorily required disclosures — such as the existence of surplus funds after a foreclosure sale; the date, location and time for a probate hearing; adverse action notices; etc.
Legal Elements of a Notice
A valid notice generally must:
1. Identify the sender
2. Identify the recipient
3. Describe the obligation, event, or action
4. Provide sufficient detail to allow the recipient to respond or contest
5. Be delivered by a method reasonably calculated to provide actual notice (mail, electronic, etc.)
Notice does not automatically create new obligations—it generally communicates obligations that already exist under contract or law.
Not All Notices Are What They Seem
Most of us receive notices via the mail or email on a regular basis. These notices are generally from government agencies and corporations with whom we have done business in the past or where we are a current client of the organization. However, we live in a predatory world and some of the notices that we receive may be scams, outright fraud, trickery or based on incorrect information.
Each notice that you receive in the mail must be examined very carefully. A notice from a government agency that you have done business with, such as the IRS, may have the correct logo and format but may be missing key details. Also, there may be some small print at the bottom that states that the sender is not affiliated with the US government. That small print is a CYA for the scammer who hopes you do not read it.
Is Your Notice Valid?
Schedule a Free Consultation to see if the current Notice you received is valid and what actions you can take if it is.
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Legal Definitions
Notice — Information; the result of observation, whether by the senses or the mind; knowledge of the existence of a fact or state of affairs; the means of knowledge. Intelligence by whatever means communicated.
Koehn v. Central Nat. Ins. Co. of Omaha, Neb., 187 Kan. 192, 354 P.2d 352, 358.
Notice — A person “notifies” or “gives” a notice or notification to another by taking such steps as may be reasonably required to inform the other in ordinary course whether or not such other actually comes to know of it. A person “receives” a notice or notification when: (a) it comes to his attention; or (b) it is duly delivered at the place of business through which the contract was made or at any other place held out by him as the place for receipt of such communications.
Black’s Law Dictionary – Sixth Edition, West Publishing Co. 1990, p. 1062.
Item (b) in the second Notice definition above has caused many people to lose administrative hearings as well as state and federal court cases. Here is the key language: “or at any other place held out by him as the place for receipt of such communications”. When you sign up for Social Security or you fill out your address on an IRS W-4 form, you are telling that government agency where to send a notice. If you move and don’t update that address with that government agency, then you will never receive their notices. Because of this you won’t be able to properly respond to their allegations, but that agency will be legally compliant that they gave you notice, since the address on file (the legal notification address) is where they sent the notice.
Government Regulations
Certain governmental or regulatory notices are binding because:
• Statutes require them
• Agencies have rule-making authority
• Failure to respond may trigger statutory penalties
Examples:
• IRS deficiency notices
• Unemployment overpayment notices
• FHA/FDCPA debt validation notices
• DMV suspension notices
• Administrative law proceedings and hearing notices
Government notices are binding not because silence equals consent, but because state or federal statutes impose obligations irrespective of silence.
Know Your Obligations
To get an understanding of what obligations are attached to the latest notice you received, click on the Free Consultation button and talk to an expert to see how agents will pursue their course and what remedies are at your disposal.