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Homeowners are usually not responsible for trees that fall on power lines. Power companies usually have utility easements around power lines, which give them the responsibility to maintain any trees within about 15 to 20 feet of the lines.

A tree can grow back from its stump, but full regrowth is unlikely (especially for more stubborn conifer trees). Instead, trees are more likely to send up a number of shoots from the dead stump, which will try to develop into primary stems over time. In other words, it will start to look increasingly bushy. The goal of killing and drying out a tree stump is to prevent that from happening, as well as make the stump easier to completely remove.

Often, it’s the homeowner’s responsibility to handle the aftermath when a neighbor’s tree falls on their property. But if a tree has been obviously dead for a significant period of time and caused damage when it fell, a case can be made that the owner should have removed it, especially if the neighbor wrote you a letter about the tree or asked you to take it down. This can be grounds for a successful lawsuit in claims court and is a good reason to always pay attention to your trees and remove dead trees before they fall.

You can use a chainsaw, but it won’t remove the entire stump or root ball and is not a recommended method. It takes quite a bit of physical work to achieve and will likely dull or ruin your chainsaw. Instead, consider using salt, herbicide, light deprivation, boiling water, stump grinding, or burning to kill a tree stump. These methods allow you to kill a stump using minimal machinery and physical exertion.