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While breakups can cause extreme emotions and mess with our decision-making skills, none of that will hold up in the court of law if you do something truly destructive following a breakup. “Sorry officer, I was just heartbroken” doesn’t usually get you out of fines and even imprisonment for illegal and dangerous activities. The jury may take some pity on you because they’ve all gone through breakups too, but they won’t take so much pity that they let you off the hook for something truly sinister. Part of being a grownup is not letting our emotions get the best of us, and not letting our feelings cause us to do things with serious and life-long consequences—for us and other people. Here is post breakup behavior with severe repercussions that you’ll regret.
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Slandering the ex
Slandering a private individual is an action for which someone can sue you. While public figures are often slandered, they are in the public eye and that comes with the job. So while you can say what you want about a celebrity, you can’t do that about your ex—he could take legal action. Think twice before posting that rant about him on your blog.
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Interfering with his work
You might seek revenge by calling his work and telling them things he said (or you’re pretending he said) about the company, to get him fired. This, however, is something else for which he can take legal action against you. You’re interfering with his livelihood, after all.
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Sex with the ex
Maybe you just want to immediately hop into bed with a different ex at a twisted attempt to mend your wounds. But then you’ll just have two emotionally complicated messes to clean up.
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Unprotected sex with the ex
Some truly unstable individuals go for unprotected sex with the ex, with the intention of getting pregnant. It’s the greatest escape of all from heartbreak—having a baby! Except that’s literally someone’s life you’re changing forever (the father to be) and a child who is coming into a messed up situation. Not okay.
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Breaking the lease
If you live with the ex, you may want to write a nasty letter to the landlord detailing the ways your partner broke the rules in the apartment. You may want to break the lease. But, you were a tenant too so any resulting lawsuits could follow you around, too.
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Eloping with an ex
Here’s another very irresponsible thing a lot of people do after a breakup: they call up a different ex—one who they know is pining after them—and get them to elope. That night. What a financial headache. What a roller coaster for the families.
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Getting a tattoo
Don’t get a tattoo after a breakup. There are a few times you shouldn’t get a tattoo including when you’re drunk, when you’re on drugs, and when you’re heartbroken—it’s pretty much the same as being drunk or on drugs.
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Changing the locks
If your partner is on the lease and you change the locks on him, he could take legal action against you. At the very least, he could hold you responsible for paying for the expensive locksmith.
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Stealing his…anything
Don’t steal his car, his computer, or even his nice watch. He can take legal action against you for all of these.
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Filing a restraining order
In a twisted way to turn the story around, sometimes, when someone is dumped, she files a restraining order against the dumper as some deranged way to prove she wanted the breakup. But once it’s on public record that you filed a restraining order, anyone can look that up, and it tarnishes your reputation.
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Faking a pregnancy
Faking a pregnancy to get someone back is never okay. Remember that they’re going to tell their families. They’re going to make financial arrangements for this baby. They’re going to, oh yeah, expect a baby in nine months.
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Faking infidelity
You may make up a story that you cheated, in order to make the person jealous. But then the rumor will spread that you’re unfaithful, and future partners won’t want to date you.
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Releasing raunchy images
Depending on the circumstances and the state in which you live, someone can sue you for posting private photos (aka nudes) in a public forum. Or, he may just post your private photos to get back at you. Neither result is good.
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Hacking his email
Reading someone’s email without his consent is illegal just like reading someone’s mail is. So if you hack into his email to send out false and incriminating messages from it, you could be on the receiving end of some legal action.
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Sleeping with this ex
And, of course, there’s the classic choice of sleeping with this ex that you just broke up with. Maybe the sex was just so good you wanted one more lay. But if this results in a real pregnancy then you’re in a real pickle. At the very least, you get to have these scary thoughts.
