We regularly represent United States, Canadian, Australian, Swedish, and other citizens of other countries regarding issues relating to forest, sale of forest, or sale of timber.
Foreigners who own forest in Latvia must be especially careful, as all local forestry management companies, regardless of how nice they seen or how pretty their website is, will try to take advantage of you due to your lack of knowledge regarding timber valuation. Spigulis & Kukainis partner Matiss Kukainis has seen countless examples where local timber companies take advantage of foreign Latvians (arzemju latviesi), with losses not in tens of thousands of Euros, but also in hundreds of thousands of Euros
Spigulis & Kukainis Partner Matiss Kukainis has a vast amount of experience with forestry and timber matters, and is well known locally for his experience with such matters, being himself originally from the United States (Michigan) before moving to Latvia in 2006. Matiss manages his families reclaimed forest from A to Z, that belonged to his grandmother, before she left Latvia after WWII, thus his experience is not just theoretical, but practical as well.
Matiss Kukainis advises all forest owners to be extremely cautious, “Foreign forest owners are constantly cold-called and harassed via Facebook, Linked In, and email, by companies who pretend they want to help them. These companies are not your friends, regardless who nice they talk to you, or how pretty their website is. If you engaged or start working with these parties without an attorney you can trust, you WILL be taken advantage of and potentially ripped off. DO NOT enter into any type of conversation via phone or email with any timber company or forest management company without an attorney.”
Feel free to email Matiss to discuss any and all issues regarding Latvian forest and/or timber valuation at: matiss@ska.lv .