We have a short retaining wall separating our property from our
neighbor's (concrete block, about 3 feet high).  Our property is
higher than their's.  The wall is tilting over onto their property. 
According to the property survey stakes the wall is clearly on their
property, although in it's original, upright
condition the line may have run along the center of the wall.  They
want us to fix the wall.  We don't want to.  It's behind our garage
and we can't even see it.  If they remove the wall and don't put
another back, it may undermine the foundation of our garage.  Who is
legally responsible for the wall?

There are too many unknown variables. Any Answer would have to take
into account local ordinances where you live, deed restrictions,
easements, covenants, who built the wall originally, permits issued,
etc.

hlabadie-ga

Without knowing the ordinances, etc, here are some observations ... 

If the wall was established directly between the two properties then
doesn't that mean that you should each have a 50 percent interest in
maintaining it?

And yet, bear in mind that if the land that the wall is retaining is,
in fact, your land and subsidence of your land or the weight of your
garage or whatever has caused the retaining wall to lean over into
their property, then isn't that something for which you should be
responsible?

Even if you can't see the wall, you still have a vested interest in
its functionality (i.e. your garage) so it's in your better interest
to do the thing that keeps your garage intact, allows your neighbour
some reassurance that your garage and backyard are not going to
collapse into their place and to know that what goes around comes
around.

At the very least, a 50/50 arrangement seems fair -- I know I'd be
pretty peeved if the retaining wall supporting my neighbour's garage
was threatening to land in my backyard and they wouldn't accept
responsibility.

Why not give yourself the satisfaction of knowing you've done the
right thing by everyone, including yourself, and work *with* your
neighbour to provide a safe retaining wall for both of you. Win, win
all around, I would have thought.

lmbh,

You say you have a short retaining wall.  Does it only run a short
-straight- length, or does a __matching__ wall turn 90 degrees and
extend alongside your property, leading towards your house and the
street?  Does it do this on both sides?  Or, does the matching wall
lead towards their property?

I had a similar situation with my neighbor while I resided in Las
Vegas.  I did some research and found that I was responsible.  I had a
tree that when young posed no problem, but as the base of the palm
tree grew, it was pushing the wall onto my neighbors property.

I found that anything that was originally my property, which over time
encroached on my neighbors property, in essence, became theirs.  Same
as a tree's branches, they could legally cut the branches hanging over
their "air-space" if I failed to trim them back.  I also had visible
survey stakes in view of my wall.  The majority of the wall was on MY
property.  It matched the rest of the wall surrounding my property. 
If I was negligent, they could take action and remove the portion of
my wall that was encroaching on their property.  That was my
experience in Las Vegas though, and things are likely to be different
in your location.

I would go to the city permit office where you live and find out who
originally built the wall(if you can't tell by looking at it).  That
at least will determine a portion of responsibility.  Regardless, if
the wall is in the center of the survey line, I think you have a good
case for splitting the cost.

Armed with the permit information, and anything the city can tell you,
I recommend going to your local Yellow Pages and getting one of those
free 1/2 hour consultations with a local attorney.  You can get some
great advice and kinow how to proceed from there.

~~Cynthia