I'm planning on fencing in my yard in the next few weeks. I had it all planned out but my fathers input has me questioning my plan for a 100' span of the fence between my yard and my next door neighbors yard. The property line is just under 3' from the side of my house. My plan was to run the fence to the corner of my house giving up that 3' and run the fence on a straight line to the back corner of the yard which would by right on the property line. I don't think the fact that it would by somewhat diagonal would be all that noticeable and it avoids me having to deal with a very large tree that would otherwise by directly in my path. My back yard is roughly 100'x50'.

My thought was that it would look better and be easier to do than to follow the property line directly and have to deal with the tree. He states that I'm making a mess for myself if myself or my neighbor should sell our houses in the future. Neither of us have any real experience in fencing so I'm asking what you would do. If my descriptions are a bit rough I could put together a crude drawing to show the example.

The fence will be wood 4'x8' panels to match my neighbors fence on the opposite side of my yard. I've already ran my plans by both neighbors who have no issues at all with the fence. The neighbor on the side in question is very excited about me putting up a fence because then his yard will be almost completely fenced in without him having to do anything.

Your neighbor is probably excited that his yard will be bigger too.

Is the tree right on the property line? I would consider taking the tree out if it were me, not sure if that is feasible in your situation though.

Get an actual survey, check local laws, run it ON the line.

A tree ON a line is generally owned by both parties.
And requires agreement to remove from both parties.

Your house being so close to the property line definitely makes things tougher.  

Simply from a home maintenance standpoint, with your original plan you'd have to enter your "neighbor's" fenced area to do maintenance on that side of your house, which sucks.  With your dad's plan, you don't have to go in the "neighbor's" fenced area, but now you have less than 3' to work.  That would really suck for power washing, painting, replacing siding, etc. (if any of those activities are applicable).

Maintenance aside, the closer a fence can be to the real, surveyed property line, generally the less long term headaches.

In any case, I would want to stay in the good graces of the neighbor since you may need to use his property to access that side of your house at some point in the future.

Directly on it. It's a huge tree too. Would love to take it down, just not possible right now.

First, typical give on installing a fence is 3” to 6” from the property line. Otherwise a fence much farther than that will hurt your property resale. Plus you want access to your exterior house wall for painting, etc. Just run the fence to terminate one one side of the tree, and resume on the other. If it is for keeping animals in or out you can always fabricate an adjustable section that fits next to the trunk. I’ve done that before, with an agreement with the neighbor on upkeep of the tree after storms or general care of the tree.

Another idea is just form a half a box around the tree, and pick up the property line on either side.

The other side of my yard I have a lot more room to do a larger gate. Would just like to have a gate on his side for people to get through. We help each other out alot and our kids play together.

Did the survey so we're good on that. You guys talked me into following ther property line. Appreciate all of the input.

By putting the fence 3' from the property line, your are forfeiting that land to your neighbor.
There are laws pertaining to property ownership and rights that essentially strip you of ownership even though you will still be paying taxes on it.

Laws vary by state. In Missouri , it is 10 years. I went through all this 4 years ago.  Neighbor was going to tear my fence down that he said was on his property. At that time I had been in the house for 10 years and the fence had been up for quite some time before that. He had his lot surveyed and the fence was 3 inches on his side according to the survey. Since the fence had been in place for 10 years or more, it became the established property boundary/line as far as the courts were concerned. Needless to say the judge said it was my fence and and it was the property line.

Large trees are often worth a lot as part of the landscaping.
Fence almost right up to it, do not fasten anything to the tree.
Count on having to slowly alter the fence as the tree continues to grow.

I often put a post at about 3 feet from the tree, and then have almost a gate like structure that goes up to about 1/2 inch off the tree.
Make that section easy to remove and trim down.

Even 3 feet can be tough to make a post hole sometimes, so take what you
can get and use extra horizontals from the NEXT post away to strengthen everything.

You might even need some diagonals on that section.