Lawyer Reddit sent me here.

I am not in the HOA. My house was here before the subdivision was developed.

I woke up yesterday morning to a group of men in my backyard trying to cut down a healthy sweet gum tree. The tree is on my property but the upper branches reached over into the neighbors yard. The man cutting the tree said he was asked to come cut the tree down because it was a nuisance to the neighbor because it dropped sweet gum seeds into her yard. No one has ever asked us to do something with the tree.

I repeatedly told them to get off of my property and to stop messing with the tree. I had to call the cops to make them stop cutting at the tree. They cut the branches all the way back to the trunk but left the very top and bottom of the branches. Now it looks like shit and has dead, broken and cut branches just hanging from it. I’ve called a few lawyers but they’ve not been able to help me at all.

Now with hurricane season here I’m worried about the tree dying and being blown down or the dead branches they left hanging causing property damage. I’m assuming I’ll just have to pay someone to cut the tree down? Can I recoup the money we will have to spend to cut it down? Do I sue the HOA or the neighbor? How can I keep this from happening again?

Thanks so much.