Kimberton Law advises landowners and businesses whose work is tied to the land, from woodlots and timber operations to neighboring farms and rural properties. We pair practical business counsel with a working knowledge of how forests and working lands are managed, so our clients can make decisions that protect both the value of their property and their long-term goals.
Choices about timber, access, conservation, leases, improvements, and ownership carry legal and financial consequences that can last for generations. We help clients understand those consequences and plan around them.
A Forestry Background Behind the Advice
Before founding Kimberton Law, Elias Kohn earned a master’s degree in environmental management from the Yale School of the Environment, where his work included silviculture, soil science, and forest management planning. That background informs how the firm approaches matters tied to forests, farms, and natural resources, and it lets us connect land-management goals with the contracts, ownership structures, and disputes that determine whether those goals hold up in practice.
We do not replace your consulting forester, surveyor, or environmental consultant. We work alongside them and bring the right professionals into a matter when a question calls for their expertise.
Timber Sales and Harvest Agreements
Timber harvest agreements set payment, access, liability, and the condition of the land after the harvest. We draft and negotiate them for landowners, consulting foresters, loggers, and forestry businesses. Our work covers:
- Timber sale and harvesting contracts
- Contractor and vendor agreements
- Access and right-of-way agreements
- Boundary and easement questions
- Liability and insurance considerations
- Business formation and ownership structures
Timber Trespass and Boundary Disputes
Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8311, a landowner can recover three times the market value of timber taken by a deliberate cut and two times its value for a negligent one, along with the costs of establishing the timber’s value and any surveys obtained for the case. These claims turn on evidence such as surveys, stump counts, and timber valuations, so they are best addressed quickly. We work with surveyors and foresters to document the loss and pursue recovery, and we also represent loggers and landowners who face these claims.
Woodland Ownership, Entities, and Succession
Woodland is owned in many ways: by one person, by an LLC, by siblings who inherited it together, or alongside a farming or logging business. How the land is held affects who is liable, who makes decisions, how the property can be financed, and whether it can pass to the next generation without a dispute. We form entities, draft operating and co-ownership agreements, and plan transfers and succession for family woodlands and forestry businesses.
Easements, Access, and Conservation
Whether you can harvest, sell, or protect your land often depends on rights recorded in a deed, or missing from one. We handle easements, rights-of-way, deed restrictions, conservation agreements, land sales, and leases that govern how a property can be accessed, managed, preserved, or used. For conservation easements and land trust work, see our Conservation & Land Trusts page.
Advice for Woodland and Rural Landowners
We work with owners of woodlots, farms, and rural land in Chester County and across Pennsylvania on ownership structures, recreational and hunting leases, liability, property use, succession planning, and sales.
Protecting the Land and the Business Behind It
Whether you are managing a family woodlot, weighing an offer for your timber, restructuring ownership of rural land, or responding to a cut over the property line, we can help you identify the issues and chart a practical path forward. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and discuss your woodland, timber sale, or land-management goals.
