Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

Very interesting question. Not knowing much about how cattle farms operate, I would ask if the cattle could wander over onto your neighbor's land if there was no fence? Also, does the hedge sit totally on your land, the neighbor's land or both? If the trees are yours, I don't know of any reason that you would be required to remove trees on your land unless it would create some type of hazard for the public.

Depends.... Generally you don't have to participate in a neighbor's new fence and usually the rule (local ordinance) is that the "good side" is supposed to face you, which is why some folks try to get neighbor participation..... But here is a link to an article that may help depending on whether the trees are actually "ON" the border or not. Once you determine "where" the trees really are (and a survey may or may not help), you may be faced with your neighbor putting a fence up that could damage your trees and then all you wind up with is a lawsuit. See a local attorney with the results who can help guide you through this situation; in the interim if the attorney concurs my thought is to tell your neighbor what you will have an arborist come in to evaluate the health of the trees to see if instead they might be trimmed instead - and it might be really interesting if you asked the neighbor whether he would participate in the cost of the evaluation......:

http://cmetro.ctic.com/TitleIssues/v4n6.pdf