Emergency Tree Service in Fort Worth for Trees on Homes and Cars

We are a tree service, so we cannot give legal or insurance advice. Ask your insurer about your policy, or a Texas attorney about a dispute with a neighbor.

In Texas, your own homeowners policy usually pays first, even when the tree grew next door. The State Bar of Texas disaster manual on Texas Law Help says a neighbor is not legally liable for an act of nature, such as a healthy tree blown over in a storm. You make the claim under your own policy if the storm is a peril your policy covers.

The answer can change when the neighbor was careless. The same manual says that if the tree was dead, the neighbor may be responsible for the damage to your home. Your insurer can then try to get its money back from the neighbor's insurer.

If a storm drops a tree on open lawn and it hits nothing, the manual says insurers usually do not have to pay to remove it.

What to record before the wood is moved

• Take one wide photo that shows where the trunk stands and the fence or property line.
• Photograph the broken end of the trunk if you can reach it safely from the ground.
• Save any texts, emails or letters you sent the neighbor about the tree, with their dates.
• Write down the neighbor's name and address, and their insurer if they will share it.

Tell your neighbor and share your photos. Our written work plan names the tree and the damage, so it can go into both claim files.

Branches from a neighbor's tree before it falls

The Texas State Law Library says courts have let people trim branches that cross onto their side, up to the property line. You may not cut past the line, harm the tree or go onto the neighbor's land without permission. It suggests you talk to your neighbor first.

Texas Law Help: Disaster Manual, Section 9, Insurance Issues. Texas State Law Library: a neighbor's tree branches and roots.

Most trees that break in a storm had a weak spot before the wind came. Wood strength matters too. These are the trees in Fort Worth and DFW yards to watch before ice or high wind.

• Silver maple. Texas A&M Forest Service calls it somewhat undesirable as a shade tree because of its brittleness. Its wood is soft and weak, and it decays readily.
• Hackberry and sugarberry. The Forest Service describes both woods as soft and weak. Hackberry wood decays rapidly once it is exposed.
• Cottonwood. It grows thick, heavy branches on soft, light wood.
• Pecan. The wood is heavy, hard and brittle. A split pecan limb weighs more than it looks, so we lower it by rope.
• Bradford pear. The Forest Service lists Callery pear, which includes Bradford pear, as an invasive plant in North Texas. Check it for tight forks with bark pinched inside them.
• Live oak and post oak. These usually hold. The Forest Service calls live oak wood very heavy, hard, strong and tough. A long limb reaching far over a roof can still break.

Warning signs to check on a calm day

• A tight V-shaped fork with bark pinched inside it. University of Florida research on hurricanes calls these weak unions very likely to break.
• Roots cut by a trench, a sidewalk or a new driveway.

Cracks, big dead limbs, a new lean and soft wood at the base are on the full checklist in our guide on how to tell if a tree is dead.

A storm-damaged tree with at least half of its crown still in place is a good candidate to recover, according to Texas A&M Forest Service. We cut off the broken limbs, and you can decide on the rest later.

Texas A&M Forest Service: Trees of Texas. Texas A&M Forest Service: Invasive Plants in North Texas. UF/IFAS Extension: Wind and Trees, Lessons Learned from Hurricanes. Texas A&M Forest Service: Can My Tree Be Saved.