It is very stressful to be involved in a lawsuit against someone who lives next door. It is not difficult to avoid as long as disputes with the neighbors are avoided from the start. According to Zillow, a common scenario in disputes between neighbors involves trees. It may sound like a joke but it was said that many lawsuits have ensued when a tree grows and straddles the boundary line. Furthermore, a conflict can escalate when the tree causes damage when one neighbor trims it back to the property line. It was advised that neighbors should negotiate ownership in writing while the tree is still a sapling but appearing to be a potential problem. Another common source of dispute involves the ownership, maintenance and upkeep, of water sources that straddle property lines. It was said that a riparian rights attorney might be the best bet for reaching a solution, as water disputes can be extremely impactful.
What becomes a source of dispute here is not really the tree or the water source that straddles the property line but rather the boundary lines itself. Zillow advises a property owner against "making an educated guess about legal boundary lines, as a slight misjudgment may end up requiring the fence to be relocated at his expense or quarrelling with the owners next door, which is so "un-neighborly". Furthermore it was advised that a surveyor who can conclusively determine the exact boundary line can be a big help here. One should also not forget to establish a buffer zone, it would not hurt to be a little considerate towards your neighbor.
It is really important to settle these disputes in the most harmonious way possible. In an example or a dispute gone wrong cited by the source, a North Carolina man cemented over a drainage ditch, resulting in significant overflow into the neighbor's property. The neighbor, enraged, confronted the man and ultimately shot him over the dispute. Nobody wants something like this to happen.
