Cheapest way to prove the contents of a letter I will send?

How about getting it notarized? Notary Public

Fax it through a service like myfax.com.

I do that for work, and myfax keeps an image of the fax andtime & date stamps.

Update: @gailcalled is right, notarize it.

I am a notary DOH!

Thanks, but a notary public doesn’t certify or keep records of the contents of a document. I need to be able to prove I’ve said specific things to this person (not, for example, sent something to a fax number because that doesn’t at all prove he himself was handed the document). A way to prove he was handed the document would be a physical letter sent restricted delivery (recipient must show ID to the postal worker), but restricted delivery doesn’t prove what the letter says.

If faxing and certified mail are not sufficient, you need to file a lawsuit and have the defendant served. The courts have standards of service, and you will have to meet them, and if you want to pursue that you probably need a lawyer.

Make two copies of the letter, have them both notarized. Have it stated in the letter that you are keeping a copy that is notarized for your records. Then send the letter certified mail with return receipt.

Why can’t you just have the document notarized with the statement, :I certify, under penalty of perjury that on “this ” date I mailed the attached document to “this” person via registered mail.

Do they not have those “aeromail” envelopes anymore? It cost a bit more than a regular envelope. The envelope itself is meant to be written on. And you send it registered and that is all. Unless by content you are talking about items in the envelope.

(Added) If you need the proof immediately as opposed to waiting to see if the recipient denies receiving it and then showing the proof of sending it registered, then I don’t know.

How odd. In general, what kind of letter is this? Or what kind of content? Other than using a lawyer, you could hire a camera crew and hand-deliver the letter, while being filmed.

Note: Some countries/locations only allow lawyers to be a notary public.

Two copies of each page – one for you, one for the recipient, the letter, plus and inventory list of what is being mailed. Have the notary notarize each sheet, including the content page. Each page and the letter will have the notary signature and the notary stamp. The sheets then can be compared back against the notarized inventory list, which will confirm the validity of the content of the envelope.

How much does a notary cost?

If you go to your bank, it’s usually free.

Google notaries in your city or community. Fees vary but they are cheap, cheap, cheap compared to any attorney.

I don’t understand the point of the question.

People ship goods all the time with packing lists and bills of lading. This seems to be essentially what you’re doing here: sending a package of documents. So include a document index that the person must acknowledge and return in order to complete delivery.

Alternatively, the documents can be sent individually via certified mail, return receipt required, with each document holder (envelope) clearly marked as to content.

Of course you can’t prove what the letter “says”. The ‘proof’ of a letter is the content itself. Even if you can prove what it ‘says’, you can’t possibly prove what it ‘means’. This discussion is turning away from a practical means to send and verify specific content and more into epistemology and meaning.

What is so all-fired special about this letter / document, over the hundreds of millions of other pieces of mail that run through the US Postal Service every day of the week?

Through a lawyer or a public notary it’s more expensive than sending it.

But let’s be serious .. if it’s only a letter it costs less than 20 dollars to send it anywhere on the globe.

Now if you can hand deliver something you could make a photo copy of the document, hand over the original and get a “receiving” on the photocopy from the person you have in mind. Get the signature and date of the person on the front of the document or each and every page.