Help with a rule.

[Anemon86]

The inspector wanted us to add an access hatch to a crawl space we cannot reach. We have gotten as far as in the picture. We are now unsure about the importance of the beam I have circled. The beam detector only indicates the beams that are horizontal, not the vertical one that we found later. Hence the placement of the hole. Can we cut the beam?

 

[maah]

It depends a bit on what we are seeing in the picture.
Is the hole taken in a wall?

If that's the case, just frame up around the hole just like when you're making a hole for a window.