I had a tenant text me that his wife has been killed by a falling tree in the back yard and at this point in time, that's all of the information that I have. They've only lived in the property for six months and when they moved in, I took pictures of everything-including several of the back yard which shows all of the trees are healthy, with no dead branches to be seen.

I believe this was just due to high winds that we experienced and nothing more. I'm extremely empathetic for the husband, but I don't know what my next move should be. Should I contact the insurance company just to let them know about the situation? Should I contact the police to see if it's legit?

Fortunately no damage was done to the property, but I'd prefer that over an injury of any kind.

My lease does have an indemnity clause and in my heart of hearts I know that this was just an act of god, but I haven't experienced anything like this before.

Definitely insurance: if you know of a potential claim, you have to let them know or they can refuse to defend. They will want to send their own adjusters, etc.

Once I had a tenant who had a large tree in his front yard. A dead limb fell, and I saw his kid dragged it into the back yard. About a week later, he mentioned that a large limb had fallen on his visiting friend's vehicle, and did I have insurance.

I expressed my surprise. "Another one? I saw the one that had fallen last week, that you moved to the back yard. But I haven't seen anything else that looked dangerous. Send me photos of this one."

No photos were forthcoming, and I never heard from anyone again on the subject, because it had never actually happened.

But the point being--- take photos of the fallen limb, of the place on the tree where the limb fell from, of the broken end of the branch if it's a live branch, any other debris from the windstorm, etc. You want to have your own evidence independent of relying on his version of the narrative, even though it's a random tragedy.

Jason, so sorry top hear about your tenant's death.

I hope that the husband realizes it was not because of you.

Myself, I would talk to your insurance agent. Asked for guidance on this. Seems like the underwriter/insurance company would want to be on notice....

This was a completely freak accident. We had high winds on Friday, but this happened Sunday evening. The tree looked 100% healthy from the outside but it snapped about 8' from the ground. All of the leaves are still green.

They were both working in the flower bed and they had her vehicle backed up to the area so they could offload mulch. He said they heard popping off and on for 15-30 minutes but didn't know what it was but when it started to fall, it was too late. The husband was able to get away, but unfortunately the wife was not. It totaled her car as well.

I'm thinking the same at T... tenant appears to have made the unwise decision to be outside during bad weather.

I would wait for a week and see what happens. If nothing, then consider calling your lawyer for a consult. $100 for a 15 minute chat would be money well-spent. If he/she says to contact your insurance, then go ahead and do it. The lawyer will be well-versed in this kind of issue and have better answers than us.

Last year I had a tree out by the road come and just my luck - it hit a passing car. Tree was healthy and the driver not injured. The car was totaled out.

I know this is hindsight but the very first thing we do when we get a property is remove all trees. Yeah they are "lovely to look at and provide shade" but it just takes one good windstorm or lightning strike to have a liability on your hands despite insurance.

Our own property was surrounded by so many trees that we were cancelled by insurance. One had literally fallen on an old out building about 20 feet away from the actual house.

I am sorry you are having the stress and Anxiety dealing with this. It’s an act of G-d. It is not your fault or something that you could have prevented.

After talking with my insurance agent, they said pretty much not to worry. I have evidence that the tree appeared healthy in every way when we signed the lease in October, and even still so today. My concern was regarding the legal defense, but they would foot the bill for that as well if it came to that.

The first words out of the agent’s mouth was “that was the story I saw on facebook”. Apparently it’s all over social media because it truly was a one in a million type incident.

An act of Nature is correct.

God did not pick this time and place for this tree

to fall and kill someone.

Lots of trees here----lots and lots

Can't cut them in town unles they have a problem---dead or dying.

Jason,

Rule #1: KEEPA YOU MOUTH SHUT!!!

Let the ins co handle ALL communications.

A casual comment from you can cost you a FORTUNE.

Stop talking to others about it too.

What Brad 20,000 said.

We have a dying tree in the front yard of our private residence. Due to the on going strong storms we have been having here one week after another, big heavy chunks of dead limbs are being blown down onto our side walk from the house out to the public sidewalk. We had contracted with a tree company but had not set up a date. Then another storm hit hard all the surrounding counties and the tree guys took off to help out of town. So I put up CAUTION tape across the entrance to our sidewalk for the mean time. However, people ignore it and step over it ! The

U.P.S. guy delivered a package one day and I caught him stepping over the caution tape. I pointed out the nearby dead limbs about 24 inches long that might of weighted