Famous poet Robert Frost once opined that “good fences make good neighbors”. That’s especially true in rural Indiana where the Indiana Fence Law states there is a joint duty to build and maintain a fence if one side of the fence is agricultural land.
John Schwarz is a third-generation farmer in Cass County and he’s a lawyer who focuses on agricultural law. He says there are a lot of misconceptions about the Indiana Fence Law. One of them is about the “Right Hand Rule”.
“The right hand rule basically says that if there are two sections, or two parcels, of property separated by a fence, and one of them is used for agricultural purposes, the owner on one side stands at the middle looking across at the other owner and the whole right hand section from the center of the fence down to where it meets the fence perpendicular is that land owners responsibility to build and maintain.”
And the other neighbor would do the same on their side of the fence.
“A lot of times, we see that someone doesn’t want to build their half of the fence. In that case, there’s a process under the statute where you can ask the township trustee and you have to put the person on notice. And then basically, the township trustee can have the fence built and basically it goes on their tax roll to pay for the fence.”
It can get especially tricky when livestock is involved. Schwarz says there is a case that looked at what side of the fence livestock “escaped” from.
“And it turned out that they’d actually come through the neighbors’ side and that basically puts an adjoining landowner potentially liable for someone else’s livestock getting out, which is a little counterintuitive. But again, there’s this joint duty. We want good fences and both neighbors are going to benefit from having a good fence along the property line.”
Hear the full interview with Schwarz on Indiana Fence Law below. Visit him online with legal questions for the farm at TheFarmLawyer.com.
