Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Agreed Boundary Doctrine

You may have an easement across his property because of the length of time that the fence has been there (has it been there for over 20 years?)

You also may want to contact the local Grass Valley city council and try to have the trees named as historic landmarks (as well as your home), but be advised that if they do so, repairs, etc., will have to be made with authentic time-period parts or receive city approval to use newer identical parts.

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Re: Agreed Boundary Doctrine

I would not assume that the prior owners ever agreed upon a property line. I am hesitant to get into an extended analysis on the facts presented in this forum. What will probably be a real bottom line, unfortunately, is money. You can go into court for an emergency temporary injunction to keep the tree from being cut down. That would only be the beginning of a legal bill as these neighbor disputes can get ugly. Since neighbor disputes always involve relationship issues as well as the "thing" you're in disagreement over, if there is a chance of participating in mediation it would be a good direction. There are numerous places you can get free mediation, often with a mediator with significant legal knowledge. The difficulty is in getting everyone to agree to the process. Sometimes a temporary restraining order pushes it that direction and sometimes it just creates really bad feelings and entrenched positions. If you're going to approach this from the direction of the courts, I would be prepared to realized that the tree probably involves a large invoice. (Sorry for the tough love there.) I would see if your neighbor would agree to settling this matter through alternative dispute resolution methods.