Think your sinkhole claim is just about what’s happening under your home? Think again! Sometimes sinkhole claims become more about what kind of documents you have! Some insurance companies demand that homeowners produce piles and piles of paperwork – most of it completely irrelevant and useless. Is this an example of an insurance company being diligent, or simply a means to harass a homeowner and delay a claim?

Citizens Property Insurance Company is one of the insurers who regularly resorts to this type of potentially shady activity. It is not uncommon for Citizens to demand potentially hundreds of pages of documents, supposedly so they can property investigate your claim for sinkhole activity. That the type of documents they often request have nothing to do with sinkhole activity seems to be a moot point – they still claim to need:

• Copies of your closing documents
• Copies of appraisals for your home
• Copies of disclosure statements
• Copies of your mortgage
• Bank statements
• Tax returns
• Property records
• Documents and receipts about any and all repairs or renovations to your home
• Copies of all prior insurance policies
• Information about all prior insurance claims
• Photographs of your home
• Information about other properties and previously owned homes
• Repair estimates

These are just some of the documents many insurers will request. The problem is, many homeowners don’t have some or all of the documents requested. Homeowners don’t know what to do if the documents can’t be located, and the insurance adjusters just keep sending form letter after form letters saying all the documents are necessary to properly process your sinkhole claim.

DUTY TO COOPERATE
As a general condition of your insurance policy, homeowners often have a duty to cooperate with reasonable requests by insurance companies. The key term is “reasonable.” If a homeowner has copies of the documents that an insurance company requests, it may be reasonable and appropriate to turn the documents over to the insurance adjuster. On the other hand, it may not be reasonable for a homeowner to have to go out and obtain document he or she doesn’t have possession of.

A general rule of thumb that may be worth following is to comply with reasonable requests, but don’t be afraid to push back when you can’t. If you don’t have all the documents an insurance adjuster requests, don’t sweat it – just tell them you don’t have the documents! Many homeowners will write response letters back to the insurance adjusters saying, essentially, “here are the documents that I have, I can’t locate anything else, but I’d be happy to sign an authorization letter authorizing the insurance company to go get whatever documents they think they need themselves.” What this does is shift the burden for locating documents from the homeowner to the insurer – where it belongs.

DON’T BE INTIMIDATED
Insurance adjusters deal with hundreds of claims every year – but the average homeowner deals with perhaps one or two claim in their entire life. The insurance adjusters have the knowledge advantage over the average homeowner. Level the playing field – call SinkTeam today to discuss your questions and learn about the insurance claim process. A FREE consultation with SinkTeam is just a phone call away at 813-435-1616!