At least in Maryland the general rule is anything that falls from a tree on one side of the line to property on the other side of the line is the problem/responsibility of the receiving owner.

Surprised me.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, trees are naturally occurring. But there is nothing natural about a 100 year old giant oak or maple in a yard with nothing around it as a windbreak. They grow naturally like that in forests. They grow and self prune based on light availability from competing surrounding trees, and are not subjected to wind forces as a single standing tree. If you’re going to grow a giant tree by itself and mow everything around it, that’s not “naturally occurring”…and you’ll have problems that affect neighbors, thus the required maintenance. Forests don’t require “maintenance.” Urban, singular, enormous trees do. Suckers should be removed, the canopy thinned etc etc. Get read.

Maintaining a tree so it looks nice is one thing, but there is no obligation to keep a tree from dropping debris and there is no obligation to even keep the tree healthy. You are not obliged to spend 1 dollar maintaining a tree - but you do need to remove a sick or dying tree if it poses a threat to life or property.

I don’t know how some people here live in society.

Anonymous wrote:If the neighbor is “regularly” picking up all the debris, then it sounds like you aren’t maintaining your trees. When’s the last time you had an arborist remove dead branches and thin the crown? If it’s dropping that many branches and sticks, there’s a problem that you are responsible for. A branch falling “by an act of God” is a high wind speed storm that happens to randomly break a branch. Not constant “regular” falling of branches and debris. Furthermore, if they are throwing them on your side, take the social cue. They’re done with your mess. You’re lucky no one has been hit in the head yet. Who cares that the tree was there before you. If I bought a property with a sink hole, I can’t say it was there before me and let people fall into it. It’s your tree. You bought it. Fix the problem and be a decent person.

Some trees, like birches, often drop smaller branches. There isn't anything to maintain. The part of the tree that is the neighbor's yard is the neighbor's responsibility. It is unlikely that this situation involves large branches that are dangerous. I had a neighbor do exactly this for a birch tree. On occasion I threw a few back but mostly ignored him. He was an azz and also cut back several of my trees on my property over a foot in to my fence.

Yes, trees are naturally occurring. But there is nothing natural about a 100 year old giant oak or maple in a yard with nothing around it as a windbreak. They grow naturally like that in forests. They grow and self prune based on light availability from competing surrounding trees, and are not subjected to wind forces as a single standing tree. If you’re going to grow a giant tree by itself and mow everything around it, that’s not “naturally occurring”…and you’ll have problems that affect neighbors, thus the required maintenance. Forests don’t require “maintenance.” Urban, singular, enormous trees do. Suckers should be removed, the canopy thinned etc etc. Get read.

There’s no obligation for a tree owner to engage in costly tree “maintenance”. Trees are naturally occurring and, short of removing a clearly diseased tree posing an obvious danger to life or property, the owner has no actual obligation. Certainly none to reduce the number of twigs falling on the other side of the fence. Get real.

Anonymous wrote:She sounds like a piece of work. Doesnt matter what the rule is, she is bitter about that tree!

+1 this is a totally bizarre neighbor

You are right on the law but probably not worth making that relationship worse

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Branches and sticks shouldn’t be falling regularly from healthy trees, unless it’s right after a storm.

It depends on the tree. River birches for example drop small (but often long) branches quite frequently.

same with sycamore trees- they are the worse. lose leaves and twigs all year long.

I have a sycamore and a river birch, I am positive the river birch is worst. It drops branches all year, but drops pods, leaves, sap during various seasons. Beautiful but mess trees. Sycamores are bad too, but babies are cleaner than river birches

Anonymous wrote:We had neighbors like this. One who actually did blow the leaves from his property into our yard and another who in the midst of an epic storm that took out power to the whole area lugged large branches from his yard into ours. We had a newborn at the time and I couldn't believe someone would be so obnoxious. There's not much you can do OP - the neighbor has shown you what kind of person they are, so treat them accordingly.

Yep. We have one of those neighbors. Yet it doesn't go both ways. He doesn't take care of his stuff that impacts us. Annoying but nothing to do about it except feel like the bigger person for not starting a justified war.

OP here. Thank you for sharing thoughts. Will ignore rude responses.
The trees are 100 feet tall, here for a century I’m guessing and sit on our property. They are on the edge to neighbor’s property. No intention to take them down as they are healthy and beautiful.
This is not a pruning issue. They are maintained. No low hanging limbs and debris is never major limbs. The debris is simple twigs and branches that come down all year which happens to both our yards trees and all over the neighborhood.
Advice was needed on the intrepation of debris is “act of god” therefore you. Collect and remove what falls in your propert line. Tossing back to our yard, by MC law, is not legal. I do not do this to neighbor on other side.
Not worth raising argument with neighbor as she is not worth it. Just trying to understand county rule.