Can you make a neighbor help pay for a new fence?

Question: In a recent Q&A, you said if the wooden fence with your neighbor needed replacement, your neighbor would not need to share the extra cost of an upgraded fence, even if the upgraded fence would improve the value of your neighbor’s home.

We live in Show Low in the summers, and recently asked our neighbors to share the cost of replacing the deteriorating wooden fence between us with a new, wooden fence. They refused, and said they would only share the cost of an upgraded iron fence.

We paid for a new wooden fence by ourselves rather than battle a part-time neighbor.

Do we have the right to get our neighbor to pay for one-half of the cost of the new wooden fence?

Answer: Probably. If you replaced the deteriorating wooden fence with a diamond-inlay fence, your neighbor would only have to pay for one-half of the cost of a wooden fence, even if the diamond-inlay fence doubled the value of both homes.