Florida Insurance Claim Deadlines Homeowners Often Miss
Critical deadlines every Florida policyholder should know after a loss
Living in the Sunshine State is no walk in the park. You pay your mortgage and insurance bills, keep your yard tidy in this subtropical environment and endure hurricane season. Property damage and insurance claims are all too common in Florida. In addition to the standard coverage requirements of most homeowners insurance policies, it’s important to note the deadlines in Florida that relate to the insurance claim process. Deadlines can vary from policy to policy, and as is often the case with fine print, some have significant consequences if missed. When a homeowner misses key claim deadlines, coverage can be reduced or voided entirely, and the ability to recover payment from your insurance company for a legitimate claim can be forfeited. As public adjusters who work exclusively with Florida homeowners, we see all too frequently how an insurance claim can be denied for a missed deadline that the policyholder wasn’t aware of. Below we discuss the most commonly missed insurance claim deadlines and important insurance company timelines, and how they can affect your coverage.
The most important deadline in any insurance policy is usually called a “prompt notice” requirement. Insurance policies for Florida homeowners generally require you to give “prompt notice” of damage to your insurer, or to give notice of damage “as soon as reasonably possible.” Florida courts generally interpret these notice deadlines strictly, despite the vague language. In most cases, this means giving notice within days or even hours, but certainly not weeks or months after damage occurs. Insurers are more lenient on the prompt notice requirement after large disasters like hurricanes, but they still reserve the right to deny a claim if given too little notice. The Proof of Loss deadline is another important but sometimes missed requirement. A Proof of Loss document is a sworn statement that details your damages, losses, and property values. Florida insurance policies generally give you 60 days from the date of loss to file a Proof of Loss, or 60 days from when your insurance company requests it. The Proof of Loss document is extensive and requires detailed inventories and information about the damaged property, description of losses, and the value of the damaged property. Homeowners often don’t realize how much time and effort is needed to provide a sworn Proof of Loss, resulting in missed deadlines. A third important and sometimes missed deadline is that of responding to document requests from your insurer. When your insurance company makes a formal request for documentation to support your claim, it will generally include a time frame by which you must provide that information. It is common to see 30-60 day deadlines to submit documentation included with document requests from insurers. Document requests must be responded to by the given deadline, or it is considered grounds for denial of the claim. An Examination Under Oath (EUO) is another requirement where time is of the essence. If an insurance company requests that you provide an EUO, you are required to submit to this when requested. An EUO is when an insurance company questions a policyholder under oath regarding a loss. Failing to provide an EUO or not properly preparing for an EUO can have significant negative impacts on a claim. The most important deadline for a policyholder to be aware of is the statute of limitations deadline for filing a lawsuit against your insurance company. In Florida, a homeowner generally has three years from the date of loss to file suit for property insurance claims. Some insurance policies even have language in them to try to shorten that limitations period to one year, which is not allowed under Florida law. Homeowners are often not aware of these important time constraints until it is too late to do anything about it.
Florida insurance law and regulations also include a number of state-specific provisions that can have important timing components. For example, under Florida law, an insurer is required to acknowledge receipt of a claim within 14 days of receiving it. Florida law also requires an insurer to make a decision on a policyholder’s claim within 90 days of receipt of notice, unless “the factors are beyond the control of the insurer.” As a policyholder, knowing these timeframes can help you hold your insurance company accountable for not abiding by these requirements. Florida Statute 627.70131 also specifically governs the timeframes by which insurers must make decisions on residential property insurance claims. This law requires insurers to pay or deny claims within 90 days of receipt of the claim, unless there are factors beyond the control of the insurer. This provision is intended to prevent insurers from stalling on claim decisions, but many homeowners are not aware that they can assert this statute when an insurer does not abide by these time limits. A further Florida-specific example of an insurance claim deadline involves supplemental claims. After an insurer has paid a claim and completed the property repair process, a policyholder may discover additional damage. In Florida, the general rule is that supplemental claims are allowed after an initial settlement, but the additional damage must be discovered in a timely manner after the initial loss. A common misconception by Florida homeowners is that they give up the right to additional damage after initially accepting a settlement from their insurance company. After 2022-2023 Florida legislative changes to insurance claims, some insurance company deadlines have gotten even shorter. As an example, the new law recently passed in Florida shortened the notification deadlines for claims related to named storms. In addition, the window to file supplemental or reopened claims for hurricane losses has changed in many insurance policies from three years to two years from the date of loss. Staying current on your specific policy requirements is more important than ever.
Missing claim deadlines can result in significant financial consequences for homeowners. For example, if you do not provide a prompt notice of loss to your insurer, the insurer can claim prejudice and say that the delay in receiving notice of loss affected their ability to properly investigate the claim. For example, if you have water damage to your home and do not report it to your insurance company in a timely manner, the insurer may claim that the mold damage that developed as a result of the delay was not caused by the water damage you originally reported. The result can be the exclusion of the mold damage from your claim payment. If a homeowner misses the Proof of Loss deadline, it can result in a delay in receiving payment, or even a denial of your entire claim. Insurers will claim that without a timely, detailed Proof of Loss, they are unable to properly investigate the claim. Missing the Proof of Loss deadline can result in a financial hardship while you wait for your claim to be paid, and that wait may cause additional property damage to occur, resulting in more financial loss. Homeowners often don’t realize the importance of timely responding to a document request, or of providing an Examination Under Oath to their insurance company. Failing to do so will result in denial of your claim, as courts in Florida have held that insurers can deny claims when a policyholder fails to follow these conditions of the insurance policy. These conditions are generally referred to as material conditions of the insurance policy, and failure to follow them is a breach of the insurance policy itself. Missing the deadline to file suit against an insurance company is perhaps the most serious deadline that a policyholder can miss. Even if your claim was denied in error or should have been paid in full, once the statute of limitations has run, you generally have no further legal recourse.
Florida homeowners need to be aware of and understand insurance claim deadlines in order to be fairly compensated for property damage. The deadlines we discussed above are more than just bureaucratic requirements put in place to make the insurance claims process more difficult – they are conditions of your contract with your insurance company. Missing these deadlines can and often does result in a loss of coverage and the ability to collect payment. Navigating insurance claim deadlines can be difficult for policyholders, especially when you’re also working to repair damage to your home or business. However, the first step to being aware of and following insurance deadlines is to know they exist. Public Adjusters have helped thousands of Florida homeowners understand insurance deadlines and requirements, and get the full value of their coverage when it matters most. If you have an open insurance claim, or are concerned about a potential claim you would like to discuss, we encourage you to schedule a free claim review to discuss your claim. Our team can help you understand the deadlines that apply to your policy and make sure you don’t miss important deadlines to protect your property investment. When it comes to insurance deadlines, time is of the essence.
Vanguard Claims Solutions is a trusted licensed public adjusting firm specializing in maximizing property insurance claims for residential and commercial policyholders.
