What the Law Says When Your Neighbor Won’t Help With Fencing?

By: John Schwarz

The old adage, “Good fences make good neighbors,” has stood the test of time. A good boundary fence, also called a partition fence, has many benefits, especially marking the property line, as people generally stay on their side.

I coined the phrase, “Bad (or no) fences make even worse neighbors,” because when a boundary fence falls into disrepair, is removed, or simply rusts away, the boundary line becomes unclear and leads to misunderstandings, which generally leads to lawsuits. Simply, people are more apt to enter onto your farm when a fence is not present, farm over the property line, and just about everything else in between. Based on personal experience with a fence that I had constructed last year, fencing is costly. However, knowing the fence law in your state can help spread the cost out, because in most instances the benefits too are spread out.