Archive: July 2018

In late May, Coastal Breeze News featured an important article discussing when homeowners have tried for long enough to settle their Hurricane Irma claims with their insurance carriers, and whether there has been insurance bad faith. Below, we discuss this issue in greater detail.

Florida Homeowner Claims Bill of Rights

Florida has what’s known as the Homeowner Claims Bill of Rights, which every insurance company providing residential property insurance policies must provide to homeowners within 14 days of receiving any initial communication related to a claim (with the exception of any “state of emergency” declared by the Governor).

Specifically, the Bill of Rights provides that you have the right to:

The Bill of Rights also provides a number of recommendations, including:

Note, however, that the Bill of Rights does not create a civil cause of action against an insurer. When an insurance company acts in bad faith, a separate law in Florida creates a statutory bad faith cause of action against the insurance company which allows homeowners to recover costs and attorneys’ fees if they prevail. Still, it is wise to work with an experienced attorney to first file a Civil Remedy Notice with the Florida Department of Financial Services that the insurance company is acting in bad faith.

Sadly, many Florida homeowners and condominium associations are being given the same disappointing answer from their insurance companies after suffering significant damage from Hurricane Irma: the insurance company thinks that patchwork repairs are enough to fix the problem, while contractors indicate that a complete replacement is necessary.

Unfortunately, these battles are now preventing many from moving forward and getting property damage addressed, leading to many to turn to attorneys to assist with ensuring that the insured’s rights under the insurance policy are enforced.

One of the most common issues we hear about is being provided different instructions by different people from the insurance companies, and having to resend flood insurance claims several times as a result. Although many insurance agents sell these flood policies, a lot of them still do not have experience with the national flood insurance, which can lead to issues later on in getting claims addressed.

One of the biggest concerns that many couples who share children have is how divorce could possibly affect their children; specifically, whether pursuing a divorce could interfere with their child’s ability to afford a college education. Below, we discuss how you can prevent your divorce from interfering with this important aspect of your family’s life.

Everyone Should Have a Plan

According to a recent study by Ameritrade, two-thirds of married couples do not have a financial plan in place, even in the event of a spouse’s death. With college costs increasing approximately three percent per year and four out of 10 marriages ending in divorce, this is beyond shocking. The average cost to attend a public, in-state school is $20,770 per year, and a private college costs approximately $46,950. Thus, even without the prospect of divorce, parents need to plan in order to afford college, especially because immediate family costs usually trump saving funds for a college education.