It's amazing what folks will do these days.

I'm pretty sure that those sorts of laws are local/state laws, so what's true in NC may or may not be the same in SC, FL, TX, CA, etc....

Most of what I remember hearing in the last 10-20 years has been similar, tree falling is the responsibility of the folks that it landed on, but I do remember hearing in the past that your tree falling on neighbors property is your responsibility. It may also depend upon whose property the tree was over before it fell, eg, a branch from a tree on your property that extends over the neighbors drive way and lands on their car is their problem.

I think it depends upon the local laws.

Cutting down the trees was more than neighborly, I would think they have diminished the property value by doing so. Do your parents have a pool as well? If no then I would think the responsibility to maintain a fence for the purpose of protecting the public from the pool rests solely on the pool owner. I have split fencing costs with both of my side neighbors w no pools on any of our properties, neighbor behind me has a pool and called to let me know that he wanted to replace the fence that we had been maintaining. I questioned him about cost and he said he had it covered as it was a want more than need, I suspected he was paying for it so that he could put the finished looking side towards his yard and pool. Came home after the work was completed and the finished boards were still on my side. Good fences make good neighbors. As an aside I don’t mind the unfinished side as you can put a beer, water, tools, etc., on the framing when working in the yard.

As for paying for pool repairs, would be interesting to hear the answer to the question above, what was there first, the pool or the trees? I’m friendly w the neighbors, have been in their houses or spoken by phone to all of them in the past couple of weeks, they know better than to suggest that I would be participating in their pool repairs.

No to both fence and pool repairs. Arborists were a neighborly gesture, that is the extent of your parents responsibility.

If the neighbors want other people to chip in on their repairs they should seek a neighborhood with an HOA.

How do you go about sharing a fence? On whose property is it set?

The fence goes on one property or the other.

No (reputable) fence company puts a fence up without a survey and locating the survey stakes.

If cost is to be shared - that is when the decision is also made whose property the fence goes on. All in agreement AHEAD of time.

It's called communicating and COLLABORATION. The polar opposite is COMPETING.

Usually the decision to put up a fence is done by the property owner who wants the fence in the first place, and theirs is the property the fence is installed on.

I put one up on my property by myself and later on the neighbor to my south thanked me and offered the pay half, which I declined. I told him next fence is on him! ;)

BTW....local code here, is if one side of the fence is better looking - it goes on the OUTSIDE facing OUT, that is. Mine is that way and as Hads930 wrote: "As an aside I don’t mind the unfinished side as you can put a beer, water, tools, etc., on the framing when working in the yard."

I’m thinking the insurance companies have a lot to do with it too. In Va we had a large tulip poplar come out of the ground and fall toward the back door neighbors but didn’t hit them. Insurance there said same thing…live tree falls from my yard it’s the neighbor’s insurance. If the tree is dead and does damage to neighbor’s house, then I’m negligent and my insurance pays.
Whatever, I wouldn’t be paying for the neighbor’s problem with my tree roots any more than I would expect him to pay for my problem with his tree roots.

But it was your job to tell the tree where to grow it's roots. You were supposed to tell it to only grow them on your property!

A phone call to the city building department could tell you what year the pool was installed. I am surprised that a root could damage a good condition plastic pipe, the times I have seen that was old clay pipe with leaks at the joints.

I agree with every other response here and the trees were never a problem for your parents, only for the neighbors. They did them a real favor removing them at their expense. If it was me and I liked the trees, they might have had to find a different solution for their pool issues.

The counter argument. Maybe they had a small leak in their pipe causing the roots to grow that way due to the water source. So, its on them. They should have saved the pipes to proof to your folks that it never leaked and that's the root's fault for growing over that way.

I looked up the city records. The neighbors' pool was built (permitted, at least) in 1977. My parents' rental house was also built in 1977; they bought it new, and that was the transaction date. Presumably the three now-removed trees have been there since the house was purchased. There aren't too many renters who are going to go to the expense/effort of planting trees.

Then, I looked at the satellite images of the two houses, and while my parents' backyard is fairly barren, the neighbors with the pool have all sorts of landscaping with multiple mature trees throughout their oasis-style backyard.

What should happen is that the neighbors submit a homeowners claim for the pool repair and let their ins co and your parents ins. co fight it out in subrogation.
As to the fence, nfw unless it was agreed to in advance.

That would be a hell no. We would have never took down the trees either they can move their crappy pool.

if there is any lumber left, you can count the years.
If the trees are older than the pool, fwiw I'de tell em to pound sand for the pool cause clearly they would have seen the trees and should have assumed they had roots when they built the frigging pool.

This is the law in California. You also have to have the finished side facing out so it is harder to climb. You can finish both sides, but the outside must be

I think the neighbours are trying to take advantage of the nice elderly people next door.