We have a neighbor here that has "borrowed" hay from us, and corn silege from another neighbor to feed some cattle he had on his place. It was with the understanding that he would replace both the hay and the corn silege as soon as the truck he had ordered with hay came. I believe he told the other neighbor the same thing. Well, then he up and got a place in New Mexico. Left his wife here and young daughter with the promise that he was going to move her down there as soon as this place sold. The truck never arrived with the hay or the corn silege. He told us to be patient as he had ordered another truck load. Well, we waited...and waited. No truck, no neighbor. The wife had to borrow more hay and more silege to feed the cattle because he wasn't sending her any money. We also gave her some groceries. It's been ten MONTHS now since he moved down there and still no replacement hay or corn silege, and he hasn't shown back up. The wife found out that he hasn't been making any payments on the place and legally belongs to the lean holder. Also found out he's got another girlfriend down there so now she has left. Someone came and got the cattle but it wasn't the neighbor that he owed the corn silege to or us. We also found out that he really has no intention of coming back here. The man that had lent him the corn silege really can't afford to let the bill go. He is over there right now taking apart the head stantions from where the cows were being fed. That is about all that is of any value there but it is "real property". I'm 99.9 per cent sure that is illegal but understand why he's doing it. Problem is, it devalues the property that really doesn't belong the the neighbor. I think they need to take him to court and then get a "blanket lein" on him. What I don't know is if a blanket lein is good all over the U.S. or just in the state it was issued in...which wouldn't really do us any good. What do we do?

How much does hay or corn silege cost? How much was borrowed?

I don't think you can do much of anything without a contract. You can't do anything about helping his wife. That was charity. (A very sweet thing for you to do BTW) Basically you helped someone who screwed you. He obviously doesn't have anything. I wouldn't get involved with the man stealing the head stantions since that has nothing to do with you. The best you can hope for is him or his wife repaying you someday. You shouldn't count on it. A blanket lein is only good if there was a contract. I don't believe that verbal agreement will hold up in court. Even if it did, you can't take blood from a turnip.

I'm so sorry this happened to you

I agree that there probably isn't anything you can do about it, unless you want to try small claims court - even a verbal agreement is a strong case if you present it well. But then again, as clare said, if he has nothing, that's probably what you'll end up with for the trouble.

I also think it was wonderful of you to help his wife, obviously she's a victim as well

A blanket lien is normally obtained when the credit is granted, not once the debtor is in default. The court may judge against him, but this does not guarantee that he will pay. A bankruptcy may be forced, but as unsecured creditors your likelihood of collecting any money is very low.

And the other neighbors, while their actions are understandable, have no legal rights to the property.

Yes, when we didn't see the hay show up when it was suppose to, we suspected something was wrong but you can't let the cattle starve because you have a idiot for a neighbor and you can't let the wife and child starve because she is married to the idiot. There really wasn't a choice as far as we are concerned. The blanket lein would put a lein on anything that he would try to buy or sell that would need a clear title to it. That means cars, trucks, tractors, house, etc. That's why I was wondering if it would work on him out of state. The cloud would show up on the title the minute he tried to sell it and our lein would have to be paid off first.