Thank you for the information. Is there anything I can do to fix this situation?

It is hard to tell if there is a significant lean on the tree, because of the many angles. From the car it looks like the tree is on a slope. The perspective angles do not help.

To determine if the tree is leaning use a weight on a string and hold it near the branches, and determine how far the weight is from the trunk near the ground. A few inches is probably normal. With the size of the tree there is not much you can do about the lean. I doubt you could pull it upright with a guy wire, even if it were left there for some time. You may try to keep the house side trimmed and let the street side grow, hoping the off center weight will straighten it.

It looks like there is a street light on a pole near the drive. Will this tree be in the wires, if there are any, as it grows.

Because of its location it will some day interfere with the house, and have to be remove.

See the following link for your future problems

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5960976/keep-it-or-cut-the-tree-down-too-large#n=28

if you use the garage walls as plumb ... you will note the slight lean to the lower trunk .. but you will see a leader trunk in the middle that has grown to offset that slight lean ...

hard to tell without being there.. but properly pruning the lower one growing toward the house.. which you should do anyway ... and the second one doing the same .. MIGHT bring it back to basically upright .. but again.. its hard to really say.. not standing there looking at it ...

hire a ASA certified arborist to come look at it.. and make recommendations.. and let us know ...

with trees we talk of tree time.. counted in decades ... and it is usually best off to avoid instant gratification.. and buy smaller.. and choose better stock ... and save money ... it would have been easier to move it home.. plant it.. get it set up for the future ... etc ...

except for pruning.. there really isnt anything you can do .. and proper pruning is CODB of buying a tree ... cost of doing business ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=ASA+certified+arborist&ia=web

It is common for trees to lean and if you look around the neighborhood, I'm sure you'll find countless of them doing it. However, if the tree finishes out primarily upright and balanced, it's acceptable. (If a whole tree leans, it looks like something's wrong with it.) There's not too much lean to this tree, and when it's large it will not be something anyone pays attention to or notices. However, what will look bad is its branching structure ... that it breaks into a half dozen or so trunks below ones chest height. Personally, I think it's a horrible look when it's aged. By then it would be permanent. Excuse the crude tree, but I'm only trying to illustrate the trunk structure...

This is curable by removing a couple of the lowest side-leaning trunks every year auntil leaving the most central trunk as the sole main leader. The tree will continue to grow and branch out at ever higher levels, developing just as large and full of a canopy as it would have otherwise done. It will look much better in the end if the trunks don't break until they are several (or many) feet above one's head.

In case there is any question about it, the location of where the trunk breaks will never move up. It is where it is and will remain there permanently. The trunks will only thicken.

if the tree is young you still train the tree with minimal trimming

If you jack the back end of the car up, the tree will look a lot better. :-)

Many of the trees I've planted in full sun, tend to send out more branches on the side away from the sun, causing that 'look' of being top heavy on one side (usually the north side).

Unless there is a compounded root problem, where the roots haven't built a full, radial root system near the surface, leaving the tree 'loose' in the ground, the tree should be fine.

All trees may need some type of pruning, even if just for aesthetic reasons, so don't be afraid to 'mold' the trees structure while still able to do so.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of the help. Here are a few more photos. The driveway is on a significant lean so it’s hard to show in the photos.i didn’t know that buying small trees was better until now. Sadly I just purchased more large trees that still need to be planted. 😬 What about digging up the roots and checking for girdling roots and cutting those off the main leader branch. DIY root excavation. (Just researched this a bit last night). Do you think it’s possible to dig up most or some of the roots and lean it back in the right direction? I have another large tree that was planted 2 years ago that is showing signs of stress. I should have done my research sooner. 😢 I wanted some nice large shade trees and was hoping to live long enough to see some shade.

The main trunk itself is leaning, not just the branches. It's not severe, but it is leaning towards the house. This tree is beautiful, healthy, has grown nicely and is doing better than any tree we've planted. I really don't want to lose it. But of course I also don't want it falling on my house. We live in Houston - we do see our share of hurricanes and tropical storms. I want to do anything I can to save the situation. This tree was expensive and it's already providing some desperately needed shade.

After a tornado went through the town where I now live, many trees that were tipped by the high winds, were straightened again by driving stakes and using ratchet straps to pull the trees back upright. They kept the straps on for a couple to three years. but most turned out good.

I don't know how that would work on a stable tree that isn't loose in the ground, I'm just telling you this for FYI.

It's too late to do significant root repairs, your tree is too far along in development. Also the way all the main branches come from the same point on the trunk is not structurally desirable. In addition it looks like your tree may have a fork with included bark right in the center - it is impossible to be sure at the distance from which the photo was taken. But if there is a section of included bark it means the tree is forming an area where it is not well held together. This can result in part of the tree splitting open at some future time.

Here are a few more photos of the trunk structure. Should I trim all of the branches except for the main V shape? This is a live oak. We see all sorts of knarly shapes around here for the main branches of live oaks and they can be quite beautiful in their many forms. You typically see all sorts of main branches coming off which are thinned out so only the branches show. I’ve kept it trimmed regularly but of course I am no expert, or even a novice clearly. Just a homeowner doing my best.

that means you got one with bad genetics

though u may have gotten a live oak with bad genetics dosen't mean you prune and trim it to look good

Your tree has already gotten fairly large. I am surrounded by live oaks in SW Florida and they are enormous! It is a constant upkeep of trimming and cutting of branches to keep them off of the roof. I’m sure you know by now about the leaves and pollen. That being said they are magnificent but I would have an arborist take a look just to be sure. Here’s what you can expect in the future but I’m sure you’ve already taken that into consideration!

let some tree specialist look at the live oak and he can give much better approach than I

We trimmed up the tree. What do you guys think? It looks like Embothrium may be right. We dug up some of the roots and found some wrapped around the tree. We removed several but we still have more as you can see. I am scared to cut too many. Any advice on what to do next? How much deeper do we need to dig?

good the extra weight of it will reshape it self

IMHO you are asking for trouble planting a live oak that close to the house. Even if the rooting wasn't an issue, eventually the thing will encroach on your foundation and overhang the house. Now some folks LIKE that, because they want the shade. It is a trade off... the risk to the house vs the aesthetics and shade. I would say you still have 10-20 years before it becomes a real issue though. And even if it doesn't fall over in a hurricane, it is very common for live oak to drop significant sized branches.

The tree looks very nice trimmed. Interestingly I looked up tree straightening in my area and there is a company that does that. You may want to check that out in you area; it may involve staking and moving those at intervals to slowly coax it but may be worth trying before this gets much larger.

That root system looks terrible and most likely has issues you can't see further down.

Probably why the tree was tipped at some point during a wind storm or the like.

The tree has possibly stabilized itself somewhat over time but I highly doubt will ever have the strength of a tree with a well structured root system.

I agree that as a larger tree, it will be much more likely to be toppled by a high wind sometime in the future.

live oaks can live for hundreds of years

Yes, if they don't fall in wind storm.

Yup, this what we are doing today in anticipation of the storm. Cutting back everything that overhangs the roof. Danielle would have been better of planting a different type tree as that live oak is really too close to the house!

Iknow they do need some balance to help stabilize them