General Purpose Cease and Desist Letter

A Cease and Desist is a letter sent to an individual or business that is engaging in unwelcome or illegal behavior. The Cease and Desist acts as a formal request that the recipient stop ("cease") and not continue ("desist") this behavior. If the recipient of the letter fails to comply with these demands, the sender should be prepared to take further legal action to stop the behavior that is harming or interfering with the sender's rights and abilities to conduct business.

This Cease and Desist can be used by a sender to demand that any offensive or unwanted behavior stop. This website also has specialized documents for the following situations:

• Intellectual Property Cease and Desist letter tailored to demand that some form of intellectual property infringement stop
• Harassment Cease and Desist letter tailored to demand that a party stop harassment
• Debt Collection Cease and Desist letter tailored to demand that creditors and debt collectors stop their aggressive communications in an attempt to collect a debt

How to use this document

A Cease and Desist letter includes the following basic elements:

• Sender: an individual or business who is requesting that a behavior stop
• Recipient: an individual or business who is being asked to stop a behavior
• A detailed description of the offending behavior and the negative effects the behavior has had
• A warning that a lawsuit will result if the offending behavior does not stop
• A deadline by which the offending behavior must stop or else further legal action will be taken

This Cease and Desist letter is general purpose and can be used as a request that a business or individual stop any offensive or unwanted behavior. This letter allows the sender to provide a detailed description of the offensive behavior and the harm that the behavior has caused.

Once the letter has been completed, it should be sent via certified mail to the individual or business that has been conducting the offensive behavior.

Applicable law

There are no laws outlining what must be included in a Cease and Desist letter. However, best practices dictate that a Cease and Desist include a detailed description of the offending behavior and a clear demand that the behavior stop or else legal action will be taken. Further, Cease and Desist letters are often used in later court cases to show that the Defendant was put on notice about their offending behavior, so the more detailed the letter, the better.

How to modify the template

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