A Hostile Neighbor

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Tamrend

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My wife and I have a daughter and my wife has a son by a prior marriage. Until recently, my wife's ex had primary physical custody of him, but they recently came to a new agreement of alternating each year, which is really the best solution for everyone under the circumstances. We brought her son down to our home two weeks ago.

Several weeks ago, we had a falling-out with a next-door neighbor, who used to be a friend. Since that time, she has called child protective services to come to our house and has phoned my wife's ex-husband to tell him that his son should not be here, that my wife is not properly caring for him and that the house is messy all of the time. She only called CPS once (probably because they found no cause for concern) but called the ex on three separate occasions in the last two weeks. Fortunately, the ex-husband has chosen not to believe her lies, but it has caused my wife an enormous amount of stress in what has otherwise been a very happy time for her. We have given her no motive for continued hostility, simply choosing to stay away and not speak to her.

Is there anything we can do to put a stop to this?
 
You can try to file a report of harrasment to your local police. Lucky for you, the ex is being smart and not buying into it. If the neighbor continues to make phone calls to your ex, I think the only thing that can be done in that matter would be that your ex would have to file harrasment charges. You really cant stop someone from calling someone else if it is not you that they are calling even though they are telling lies about you. Have you tried speaking to your neighbor and asking why he is doing all of this.
Talk to your neighbor and be polite. If it doesnt work, file a report.
 
These are good points but do know that you will need to press charges. If you don't, this might look very bad for you -- you have to do what you have to do in order to protect your reputation. If you don't, it could come back later to haunt you. If your neighbor does not want to retract the statements and admit she made false calls -- which does carry a serious charge -- you have to do what you need to do to protect yourself. What happens later if there is a problem and your record is brought up to speak for the truth therein?
 
You seem to be wondering about our neighbor's motives. As far as I can tell, she just wants to cause my wife hardship. We were friends with her for nearly a year, but a series of incidents several weeks ago ended it. It basically comes down to us not being willing to lie for her to cover up a breach of contract with our landlord, who already had reason for suspicion. She called CPS basically the next day after that incident.

I'm glad to know that there is more I can do in this situation. I intend to give her a warning to stop what she is doing immediately or we will press charges for harrassment (or by extension, asking my wife's ex to do so). I'm pretty sure she will not continue.

Thank you.
 
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