Harassment 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 letter should be used by someone who is being harassed by a coworker, neighbor, or other individual or business.

This website also has Cease and Desist documents for the following situations:

• Intellectual Property Cease and Desist letter tailored to demand that some form of intellectual property infringement stop
• 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
• General Purpose Cease and Desist letter that can be used to demand any unwanted behavior stop

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 specifically tailored to be sent as a demand that an offending party stop harassing behavior that is causing physical, mental, emotional, or monetary harm to someone. This letter allows the sender to provide a detailed description of the harassment and specify the ways in which they have been harmed.

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

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.