A tree on the house turns one storm into several repair jobs at once. We're property damage attorneys for Indiana homeowners with tree damage claims, and we go through the policy and the insurer's estimate line by line to find what the payment leaves out.
One impact can touch the frame of the house, the finished rooms and everything stored in them. Policies handle those pieces separately, which is how a claim ends up partly paid.
Before you signA release, or a check described as full and final payment, can affect what you can still recover. Send it to us first. The review is free.
What we handle
From our Carmel office, we handle tree claims across Indiana, where spring and summer storm lines drop limbs on roofs from Evansville to Fort Wayne and tornadoes take whole trees with them.
Insurers tend to price what they can photograph from a ladder. When a trunk or a large limb breaks through, we want the estimate to account for the framing, the ceiling below and the cleanup, and we question a scope that only replaces the roof covering.
A tree from the lot next door is still, in most cases, a claim under your own homeowners policy. That coverage generally doesn't turn on who owned the tree. If your insurer believes the neighbor should bear the cost, it can take that up with the neighbor's carrier once your loss is handled.
The claim file may describe the tree as diseased, dead or neglected. Tree health is chiefly relevant to whether a neighbor had reason to act. For your own house, what counts is the policy wording, and a tree falling on a home is ordinarily the kind of sudden event homeowners insurance is written for. We test the insurer's reasoning against the policy.
On March 10, 2026 an EF-3 tornado struck Lake Village in Newton County, and more severe storms crossed northern Indiana on March 26, 2026. Straight-line winds do the same work on a smaller scale in many spring storms. If a tree from one of those storms hit your home and the claim is unresolved, send it to us.
Emergency work comes first: a tarp over the hole, a brace under a cracked rafter, a boarded window. Policies commonly reimburse reasonable steps like these, and photos taken before the temporary repair help show what the tree did.
Indiana law lists claim-handling practices insurers are expected to avoid, such as failing to investigate fairly or dragging a claim out to pressure a lower settlement. Indiana courts also recognize that an insurer owes its policyholder a duty of good faith.
How it works
Most Indiana property owners are surprised how little they have to do once an attorney is involved — even with carriers used to taking advantage of policyholders without representation.
Free, confidential conversation. Bring your policy, the carrier's denial letter or estimate, and any photos you took before repairs began. If you've filed FEMA paperwork or a complaint with the Indiana Department of Insurance, bring those records too.
We send our own adjusters and engineers to document the real scope of damage, often the moment things change.
We send the carrier a documented demand that lays out where its handling falls short of Indiana's claim-practice standards. Many cases resolve here — once a carrier sees the bad-faith exposure under Erie Insurance Co. v. Hickman laid out, the offer changes.
If they still won't pay fairly, we file suit in Indiana state court or federal court, with the resources to take it all the way.
Common questions
Generally yours to file. Your homeowners policy is usually what pays to repair your home, even when the tree stood on someone else's land. If there's a basis to hold the neighbor responsible, your insurance company can seek reimbursement from the neighbor's insurer. That process happens behind your claim, not in front of it.
For a tree resting on a covered structure, most policies contribute, usually subject to a dollar limit written into the policy. Clearing a tree that missed every structure is commonly excluded or tightly limited. Check the debris-removal provision, or send us the policy and we'll check it.
It shouldn't by itself. An insurer that wants to rely on wear, decay or neglect has to point to an exclusion that actually applies to what happened. In many claims a tree's poor health changes nothing about coverage for the house it landed on. Get the reason in writing and have it reviewed.
Request the adjuster's full line-item estimate. If the ceiling, insulation, wiring or contents are missing, they can usually be claimed in addition to the roof, with photos and a contractor's or engineer's findings to back them up. We prepare that documentation and deal with the insurer.
Not with the vehicle. A tree on a car or truck is handled by the auto insurer, normally as a comprehensive claim. We don't handle car or auto accident claims. Our work is the property claim for a house, garage or other building the tree damaged.
No fee unless we win. We walk you through exactly how fees and case costs work before you sign anything. The first review is free.
Ready to talk?
Call (844) 776-7364 or send the form for a free review of your Indiana claim.
