Tulsa residents who hunker down through major storms, tornadoes, hailstorms, and even earthquakes can emerge and find major damage to their homes and business properties. Families can also lose their possessions and homes to fire or have their belongings stolen.
Victims of disasters will have to depend on their homeowners insurance policies they’ve paid into for years. Sadly, insurance adjusters can shortchange victims and leave them without the support they need to rebuild and replace their properties. The way victims of tornadoes, floods, and other disasters prepare and present their damage claims can also affect the compensation they receive.
Filing a Damage Claim After Suffering Property Damage
After going through a rough night of weather or being the target of a robbery, homeowners might be a little shaken up. But once victims feel safe again, they should turn their thoughts to recovery as soon as possible.
The journey back to their normal lives starts with alerting their homeowners insurance providers of what happened. It begins the process of proving what has been lost or taken, the value of damages, and the negotiation over what victims should receive.
These are some of the main steps victims will complete while waiting to receive the support they need to rebuild their lives:
- Contact your homeowners insurance provider as soon as you can after damage has been discovered or the effects of a criminal act. Your policy will contain information on when you should reach out to your insurer, but most of the time it asks for “immediate notification.” When you are safe and have caught your breath, you can usually call a hotline, contact your personal agent, or notify the company online.
- Protect your property. The instructions in most policies ask you to take action if you can remain safe to prevent further damage to your property.
- Separate damaged and undamaged possessions.
- Provide an inventory of the property that’s been destroyed. Provide another list of the items that have been damaged or stolen. The policy may also ask you to note everything that’s not damaged, but this can be tricky. You may not realize something is damaged until further inspection later.
- Note the value of each damaged or lost item.
- Collect documents. Show proof of ownership on every possession you can. Gather any deeds, titles, contracts, and purchase receipts that survived the misfortune. You should save any receipts for repairs, estimates you’ve had done, and damage you’ve already had fixed.
- Submit a “proof of loss” document to the insurer. The insurer will tell you when this is due. Turn over your documents, any photos, and any video to the insurance company.
- An insurance adjuster will investigate the claim.
- Wait for notification of a rejection of benefits or a settlement offer. According to Oklahoma administrative code OAC 365:15, you should be notified of a decision within 45 days of receipt of your proof of loss. However, insurers can seek delays.
- Accepting a settlement offer. You can sign your settlement agreement and hopefully get a check in short order. But remember, once you sign, you can’t go back to the insurance company to ask for more money when you find more damage or find your compensation isn’t enough later. Contact a lawyer if you want to have your settlement checked out before you commit.
- Don’t accept a Rejection. If you are denied coverage for your damage, don’t feel like that’s the end. If you feel your policy guarantees you support, you can appeal the decision. Speak to a skilled lawyer about your case to find out how you can force insurers to do the right thing.
Unfortunately, for many victims, this entire process won’t result in a satisfactory outcome. Insurance companies are known for going on the defense after a disaster. They want to limit the compensation they pay out, no matter how badly the lives of policyholders have been affected. They may instruct their insurance adjusters on the scene to devalue the damage they record, simply to save the insurance company money.
In some cases, a skilled Tulsa Homeowners Claim Lawyer can help victims earn more for their claims. A lawyer would fully investigate the incident and make sure the adjusters found all of the damage and placed a reasonable price tag on it. An experienced lawyer can also take on giant insurance companies and through aggressive negotiation, win a maximum settlement check for victims and their families.
Contact a Tulsa Insurance Claims Lawyer
If you have major damage from a disaster like a storm or a fire and are worried about getting full support when you file your claim, contact Ylla|Gosney for a free case consultation. You should also speak to a lawyer if you’ve been underpaid for your damages or if your claim has already been unfairly rejected.
There’s no obligation for this free case review. We will sit down with any victim in Oklahoma and help them sort out their best options.
If you require our help to get the support you need, you won’t need any money to hire a Ylla|Gosney attorney. We don’t get paid unless we win your claim for you. Then our fee comes out of the support an insurer is forced to pay to you.
