Dan wrote in :


has anyone ever thought that the new neighbor should have come over
and offered the guy something for saving him some money? fences can
be expensive. that's what i would have done.

That's why I think he should take down the portion of his own fence.
Once the neighbor pays to up a replacement, they both will have paid
an equal amount for that portion of the fence.

Uh, no. The OP will have paid for the entire section of fence, plus the
additional trouble/expense of removing 1/2 of it. The neighbor, if he's
dumb enough to engage in this childishness, would only pay the cost of
installing 1/2 the segment.