My friend lives outside a small town. All the local shysters appear to help each other. One(the lawyer my friend talked to) even said lawyers are like prostitutes, they will screw anyone for money. I never expected a lawyer to say that. I almost fell out of my chair. I guess honesty and integrity from anyone is a little much to ask.
Ha! At least he's honest about his profession.
Well, I wish your friend well. The only other thing I can suggest is that if he is truly poor, maybe he qualifies for state-funded legal aid (not that legal aid lawyers are likely to know much about land law, but they might be able to find someone who does).
What I did was call a lawyer referral service that was listed in the "attorneys" section of the yellow pages. I described the problem and they referred me to a lawyer who was (a) familiar with local property laws and (b) willing to help me represent myself on the cheap, instead of paying him a retainer.
Good luck.
From what I understand from this discussion is your friend needs to establish a non disputable record that he objects to the neighbors use of the land. In order to firmly establish that he needs to file with the local authorities a criminal trespass complaint. Insist on it. The papers will be filled out and signed by him and the authorities.
Now, the locals might not do anything about it but at least your friend has proof of trespass, dated, and signed.
Undisputable.
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In an early career in LE I ran into more than a couple of working girls. None of them would screw 'anybody' for money, they all drew the line somewhere...making them better than lawyers.