What is a cease and desist letter for harassment?

It is a formal written demand that all unwanted contact and intimidating conduct stop immediately. It sets out the incidents, the law relied on, a compliance deadline, and the consequence of further contact.

Does it work against harassment?

It resolves many situations where the person has something to lose, and where it does not, it converts later contact into knowing conduct after notice, which strengthens a police complaint or protective-order application.

Do I need a lawyer to send one?

No. What matters is documentation and precision: a dated incident log, an unambiguous demand, and provable delivery.

Should I call the police as well?

Yes, where there are threats, stalking, weapons, or escalation. A letter is a civil step and does not replace law enforcement in a safety situation.

What if the harassment is happening online?

Preserve everything with URLs and timestamps, report to the platform, and send the letter to any identifiable person. Anonymous accounts usually require platform action or a police report first.

What do I do if contact continues after the letter?

Keep logging, keep the certified-mail receipt, and take the whole file to the police or to a court for a protective order. Post-notice contact is the strongest part of the record.

Letter type

Cease and desist letter for harassment

One formal notice covering repeated calls, messages, following, and intimidation, with the documentation that makes it usable in a protective-order application.

For U.S. residentsMade in USALast reviewed: January 2026Reviewed by the StopAndDesist legal content team

Key takeaways

Harassment is a course of conduct, so the incident log matters more than any single event.
Written notice removes any claim that the contact was welcome or ambiguous.
Contact after notice supports both criminal complaints and a protective order.
Where there is a safety risk, call the police first and use the letter as a supplement.

What a harassment cease and desist letter does

Harassment statutes in most states turn on a course of conduct that serves no legitimate purpose and that a reasonable person would find alarming or distressing. A cease and desist letter creates the moment at which the other person is formally told the contact is unwanted, which is the fact that police, prosecutors, and judges look for first.

It also protects you from the common defence that the contact was mutual or misread.

Build the incident log first

Date, time, and location of every incident
Method: call, text, DM, email, in person, or through a third party
Exactly what was said or done, quoted where possible
Any witnesses, with contact details
Screenshots, call logs, voicemails, and photographs, stored in two places
Any police report or case number already generated

What the letter should demand

State that all contact must stop: direct, indirect, through friends or family, and across every platform and phone number. Demand that the person not attend your home, workplace, or the places you regularly go. Include an evidence preservation instruction and state that any further contact will be reported and used in support of a protective order.

Keep the tone flat and factual. Anger in the letter gives the other side something to quote; a clinical chronology does not.

When a letter is not the right first step

If there have been threats of violence, weapons, stalking behaviour, or escalation after previous requests to stop, contact law enforcement and seek a protective order rather than relying on correspondence alone. Your documentation and the letter still help: they show the court a clear pattern and a documented request that the conduct stop.

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StopAndDesist provides self-help templates and is not a law firm. This page is information, not legal advice.