Insurance claim questions
Hi everyone,
My mother passed away last May and since then I have been living in the home. I am paying her mortgage and am going through the Probate process right now. The house will be transferred to my name. I have questions regarding an insurance claim I want to file.
Within the mortage's Escrow account I pay taxes and home insurance as part of the mortgage. When the house transfers to my name, am I able to make an insurance claim if I am not on the mortgage? The mortgage is a second mortgage with not very much left to be paid.
Do I have to get own home owners insurance to file a claim?
Could anyone provide me with any insight in this matter? If you need any more information, please ask.
Thanks!
I don't have definitive advice. But I can tell you that I recently did a claim on one of my dad's rental properties. I initiated the claim, I did everything. They never once spoke to my dad. But the check did get made out to him at the end. So you can certainly initiate a claim, just not sure who they will pay out to. Can you be added on the policy as co-insured? After probate the title will be in your name, so you will be able to insure it yourself.
@Rick H. may have better knowledge.
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Being n the mortgage is not relevant, you're not the named on the insurance policy. You could likely file the claim on behalf of your mother's estate, and perhaps have it paid to the estate. Perhaps more importantly, what is the nature of the claim, and do you have any idea if your mother's policy covers it? And, have the payments been kept current, so you're sure that policy is still in effect?
I'm not sure who the insurance company actually is through though. The mortgage is through a credit union. I didn't know if submitting a claim when my mother is deceased if that would be insurance fraud. One of the reasons I didn't want to open insurance in my name at this point is because it would have been nice to get around any kind of rate hike, especially if I open the insurance policy and then file a claim shortly after.
Originally posted by @Wayne Brooks:
Being n the mortgage is not relevant, you're not the named on the insurance policy. You could likely file the claim on behalf of your mother's estate, and perhaps have it paid to the estate. Perhaps more importantly, what is the nature of the claim, and do you have any idea if your mother's policy covers it? And, have the payments been kept current, so you're sure that policy is still in effect?
There is pretty bad window damage from a storm. I'm not positive if the insurance covers it or not. I don't know too much about her insurance and to be honest, I don't know who the insurance is from.
The payments have been paid on time since her death last May. I just received a statement from the credit union about a month ago that shows payments are being taken out and applied to the insurance.
The insurance company will deny a claim made by someone who is not the owner. If you make a claim as the exec. or admin of the estate, they may pay it. But the payment will be to the estate. Be mindful that the insurance company will look for every way to get out of a claim. The estate is supposed to notify the insurance company of the death of the primary resident and policy holder. The current policy doesn't cover the property as a rental or as the primary residence of a future owner (you).
If you want a claim paid out to you, you need to own it and buy your own policy. The policy won't be retroactive. What kind of claim do you want to make and what is the date of the incident?
Insurance automatically moves to the "In the estate of" if the insured is deceased. Call the credit union to find out who the insurer is. The check will be made out to the estate of your mother, they will not change that.
As the court appointed exec or admin you can get info from the lender about who the insurer is and then talk to them about making a claim. You may find that the deductible is $5K, in which case you decide if the cost of the repairs is less than the deductible. You would also ask about storm damage coverage, if any.
So I should do this:
1. Contact the credit union and finding out who the insurance company is.
2. See if storm damage is on the insurance policy.
3. Find out how much the deductible is.
Say it would cost $7,000 for the repair and the deductible is $1,000. If I I file the claim they would put $6,000 towards the estate?
The estate can file a claim. Submit the claim and see what happens. If it was a window leak from a long time ago you may run into a denial but you won't know until you go through the motions. Insurance policies are designed for sudden and accidential exposures, they are not called maintenance policies... if this leak has been ongoing and you cannot point to a specific incident then it is a bit of an uphill battle.
Paul please ignore KMarie's advice. I've worked as a claims adjuster for 11 years and in regards to property/casualty claims if a company looks for "every" reason to not pay a claim they would get sued and lose for "bad faith" in the court room. Health Insurance companies on the other hand have a different reputation. I know what KMarie typed out seems to be the word on the street, however this simply could not be further from the truth. More often than not, when someone is saying this they've had a negative experience due to customer service, or something was not covered due to language in their policy they did not understand. The policy always will spell out what is or is not covered. There really is not much grey area at all.
That being said, if your mother had a reputable company insuring her home, their job as the claims adjuster is to look and find coverage if there is an active policy in place. If they do not do this they are not doing their job.
Each state has its own rules/regulations as to the statue of limitations on filing a claim, in KS depending on the situation, it's typically 2 years, I'd guess Ohio is similar, but I do not know. If you look up your states insurance commission, they will probably have a number you can call and they should be able to provide you the specifics as to the statute of limitations on filing a storm claim. Having a policy holder pass away is nothing new to the insurance company and they will walk you through what you need to do in order to present a claim and in order for them to deal with you in regards to your mothers policy.
#1 which is obvious - find out who the insurance carrier is. I'm sure you can find paperwork somewhere or at least get a copy of the escrow statement from the CU that says where the bank has been sending payment for the insurance premium.
If your mother had an agent, probably best to go in their office - they should be able to walk you through the process.
If she had some sort of no name or small company, they will probably make it a bit tougher on you, however you'll still be entitled to file a claim. As has been alluded to, death certificates or obituary will likely be needed, and then executor of estate or a POA will be needed. They will more than likely issue payment to your mother, or to her estate and then it will be up to you to have the appropriate paperwork on your end in order to cash the draft or proceed with finding a contractor to perform repairs etc.
First and foremost - find out to the ins carrier is, if there is an agent, get in there and talk to them.
Secondly - at this point you would not be able to take out an insurance policy of your own as you do not "own" the property -- There are ways around this and it would take too much time to type out or explain. But the basic premise is if you are going to insure something, you either need to be the legal owner, or the legal owner needs to be on the insurance policy with you. You'd also be complicating matters as it appears there is already an active policy in place, and that would need to be canceled first etc.
Find the agent -- they should be able to help you. I'd be glad to assist with any other questions to the best of my ability.
Sorry for your loss.
If you have an idea when the storm occurred, you can try searching the NOAA website. Normally it is pretty accurate as far as reports of high winds/hail and flooding. This should help you nail down an exact date as this will be important, some ins companies place more importance on this than others. If your mother has had continuous coverage with the same company for years and minimal prior claims history, the exact date probably is not too important if the adjuster is looking at the big picture. If she's had coverage for a minimal amount of time, nailing the exact date of the loss is extremely important.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/online/
Also, if you go ahead and get the property in your name and take a policy out in your name with another company at a later date, it will not affect your ability to go back to the carrier that was insuring the house at the time of the loss. Just keep in mind, all that matters is what was in place coverage wise and ownership wise at the time the incident happened. Not 6 mos from then, a year from then etc.
@Shane H
Thank you for the great advise, I really appreciate it!
I have been working on this some. The first thing I did was contacted my attorney and summarized some of the estate things to see if it would pay through it and he confirmed. No offense to anyone on here, but with a legal matter like that, I wanted to be 100%.
I have found out the company is State Farm. I am having troubles getting the policy#, so that I can call State Farm and see what the insurance covered. The employee who handles this hasn't answered her phone for the last two days I've called.
So I am working to get this done and will keep updating this thread for possibly more advise and to maybe help someone else out sometime.
You should be good with State Farm -- Do you have the date of loss (date the storm happened)?
They'll want this when filing a claim -- as stated if your mother had the policy for years try and get as close as you can to when it happened, they can sort out the rest -- if your mother was not with State Farm very long - make darn sure you have the exact date nailed down before you turn it in.
Find out who your mothers agent is - they should be more than willing to walk you through the rest. Probably the easiest way for them to pay the claim right away is if you just ask for them to make the check payable to your mother/lien holder (credit union) unless you have a contractor picked out already.
You're also likely going to have to deal with something called recoverable depreciation depending on the type of policy she had. Again, Ohio may not allow recoverable depreciation, however most states do per my understanding. Dont worry when the check you get is far less than it will take to repair it -- If she had a "replacement" cost policy you'll get the rest later -- if you pick a contractor who has dealt with ins claims/companies before they can walk you through everything.
Find the agent - they can help you with the rest -- You shouldnt need the policy # is you have your mothers social sec # -- they can look it up that way, her address etc. Just be prepared to fax in a death cert, or POA/executor of the estate to the claims adjuster if you were not listed on the policy. If you have a probate atty they should be help you with this as well.
Find that agent - nail down the date of loss and they should be able to help you with the rest.
Ohio SOL is 2 years, yes they have r/d, so @Shane H is correct. With the date of loss being within the dates of the policy you won't have an issue with coverage (if the damages are from a covered loss). In Ohio -- as long as the damages aren't from a water source (plumbing, ac, fire sprinklers etc) leaking for more than 14 days and the water didn't touch the ground before coming into the home you shouldn't have any issues. Also, there will not be any coverage for improper installation or design.