Barbed Wire

[mnmthunting]

For a fence to go on the property line both parties must agree and usually is a cost share. Traditionally that's the way it was done. Times have changed. Now, often the rural land owners cash crop or are recreational and have no use for a boundary fence. So much of the time a fence will be put in a couple feet into the fencers property line. And no, the fence is not co owned and it would be trespassing on that foot or so on the other side of the fence. And the person owning the fence still has ownership rights to the legal survey.

 

[landman]

For a fence to go on the property line both parties must agree and usually is a cost share. Traditionally that's the way it was done. Times have changed. Now, often the rural land owners cash crop or are recreational and have no use for a boundary fence. So much of the time a fence will be put in a couple feet into the fencers property line. And no, the fence is not co owned and it would be trespassing on that foot or so on the other side of the fence. And the person owning the fence still has ownership rights to the legal survey.

I don't know the fencing laws in other states such as Minnesota but in SD it works a little differently. In SD either owner on a boundary may put up a fence but once it is up it is jointly owned by both parties. In rural areas it is impossible to know exactly (within feet) where the boundary is located in the absence of an expensive survey so its impractical to say that the fence is one foot or even ten feet inside or outside the legal boundary. Futhermore few landowners would put up a fence just inside their property for fear of an eminent domain claim later on. I've had one survey so far, for a WRP, and the existing fence was not on the actual boundary, it crossed it like an X and was as much as 7 feet from actual at the ends.

There is a law about putting up a fence. Let's say that a landowner wants to put up a border fence so he asks his neighbor to help pay for half of it. If they agree then the fence goes up and each pays for half. If the neighbor refuses then the landowner can erect the fence himself. If there is cattle on either side then the landower can demand that the neighbor pay half. If he refuses then the landower may erect half of the fence, the half on the right facing the fence. Once finished then the landowner can give notice to he neighbor to put up the other half, once that happens then the neighbor must put the other half up within 30 days, not counting winter months. The neighbor must put up a fence at least the same quality as the landowner did up to the standard of four strands with two steel and one wood post alternating. If the neighbor fails to erect the fence then the landowner may erect the other half and seek reimbursement for time, materials and court costs through small claims court. Again this only applies only if one of the landowners grazes livestock. If livestock is not involved then the landowner may still put up a fence but he cannot force his neighbor to pay for half.

Once the fence is up then the fence is owned jointly and may only be removed if both agree. If livestock was not involved I guess one neighbor could remove an old dilapidated fence without neighbor approval but he would run the risk of being sued in court and having to put it back up.

I want to add that I'm not a big fan of fences or the fencing laws. Most of the fences on my property are removed and I have a few that border neighbors with livestock, which cannot be removed.