Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I have a large (~80 year old) tree in my backyard. The tree is huge, and brushes up against a renovated 2nd story of my neighbor's house (the 2nd story was added in the 90s, before I bought my house).

the house sat empty for a couple of years before I bought it, and they never had the tree trimmed during that time (even just on their side of their property, as they are entitled to).

The first couple of days after moving in, the neighbors were at my front door yelling that I trim or cut down my tree (that was how they introduced themselves), and they have been similarly nasty about the subject since. They're certain that the tree is the cause of regular ant infestations in their house. There are ants everywhere in this neighborhood, including occasional infestations into my own house, even though I don't have any trees touching my property, so I'm dubious of their logic.

In the past, I've acquiesced -- I was interested in getting the tree trimmed to provide more light for my backyard, and then once again after to keep the peace with the neighbor. Since the tree is huge, the cost to have it trimmed is not trivial.

They've never expressed gratitude or been neighborly in any way -- they've actually been nothing but nasty about this and other issues (a shared fenced that they refuse to contribute to, etc.).

Given their attitude, I'm less and less inclined to keep paying to keep the tree trimmed, but it's not clear to me if I'm responsible. I'm curious to know if I'm legally required to pay to trim the tree, or if I can just tell them that all I'm willing to do is to give them permission to have the tree trimmed themselves, on their side of the property line.

I've poked around the internet, but could not find an answer.

Thank you very much!

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