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[Uncle]

I like this because there are a bunch of people in the replies laughing at the concept of "tree law," which in reality is really fascinating and wild and catches people off guard all the time

punitive compensation for cutting down a tree you don't have ownership over, especially very old trees, can be like $20,000 per tree

literally like life-ruining for cutting down the wrong tree


https://www.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/173gwtj/neighbor_cut_our_tree_and_expects_us_to_pay_the/

It sure is nice of your neighbor to give you a signed confession in the form of the bill.

They tresspassed and they killed your tree. Tree Law is fascinating because you are owed to be "made whole" which means a replacement tree of similar age and size. You may own your neighbor's house before this is all over.

Get a lawyer.

Get an arborist to write a report on the age/size/etc. of the tree.

Look for any old pictures you have of the tree.

A number of tree law statutes are written as triple damages.

Damages are defined by the cost it would be to purchase an equal size, diameter and height, same species of tree. The cost of moving it to your location, in your case renting a crane to lift it over your house. Keep in mind a tree as large as the one pictured could be 20-40 tones, when including the 20-40 foot root ball. So that’s a big crane, and then the cost of planting and maintaining the new tree for one year. That’s the damage.

Say all of that comes to $100,000.00 then triple damages would be a $300,000.00 payout to your family.

These statutes were written before lawyers fees were commonly included in a legal claim.

So, in theory:

$100,000.00 your actual damages to plant an identical tree. (You don’t have to plant one, that’s just what it would cost if you did plant one.)

$100,000.00 for the headache of having to deal with all of this.

$100,000.00 from which the lawyer would be paid. (It would not cost anywhere near this much, this is just a place holder for the $5,000-20,000 the lawyer is paid and you would keep the rest.

So yes, the choice to peruse legal action is up to your family.

However don’t be afraid of the cost associated with pursuing a legal claim.

Another comment said you are going to end up owning their house. The above math is why that could happen.

Also, many homeowners insurance policies cover damage to other persons property away from the policy holders personal residence. It’s like a small umbrella liability policy. So even if your neighbor was very poor, the insurance policy on their house maybe the one paying out the claim. This helps you all, because the person can’t claim they have no money and you will never collect anything from them.