Many years ago my folks had a new neighbor move in above them. He didn’t like that some of their pine trees on the slope blocked his view. He didn’t bother to ask if he could top them. Instead he waited until they were both at work, sent a crew over to cut the top 10–12 feet off of their pine trees. Then he sued them for blocking his view. We counter sued for the destruction of private property. He lost and had to pay them $37,000. The judge was pissed. Especially when he learned that my brother who was 16 and had come home and told them to stop and get off the property. His crew ignored him. He called the police and they had to put a stop to it. This was in 1990.
You may end up having to replace the tree with one the same size. Full grown trees are expensive.
