I Got A Check From My Insurance Company... Now What? - YouTube

Hey everybody this is Your Insurance Attorney Anthony Lopez, from Marin Eljaiek

Lopez and Martinez, and today we're going to discuss I got a check from my insurance

company what happens next. So good news is if you've got a check and this video

is relevant to you, well you're halfway there. That means the insurance company

has at least acknowledged coverage for your claim. So now you've got this check

what do you do next and that's a great question. So a lot of insurance companies

will send you a check and they will put some pretty tricky language on the back

of that check and if you don't look at it and if you're not careful and you deposit

that check you could potentially jeopardize your rights to make a

supplemental or reopen your claim. So it's really important that when you get

your first check from that insurance company that you look on that check and

see if it says anything like full and final settlement because if it says

language like that you could potentially jeopardize your rights to make a

supplemental claim. But let's say you got this check and it does have that

language does that mean you can't deposit it? No, it doesn't. As a matter of

fact, I get clients all the time that bring checks to my office that have

language like that on the back and what we do is my office will send a specific

letter to the insurance company advising them that my client received a partial

undisputed payment of the claim and then we are able to seek additional

compensation from the insurance company. So it's very important that when you get that

check that you don't just deposit it. Make sure you look at your check to see

if you may be giving away any of your rights by depositing that check. So let's

say you're you get that first payment from the insurance company and it

doesn't have any language like that or you don't see anything odd on the check

you deposit it. Can you reopen your claim? Can you seek additional money? The answer

is yes. A lot of clients come to me after they've made the claim themselves

seeking additional compensation. There's a whole process involved in getting

additional money from the insurance company. There are mechanisms that are

out of court. Mechanisms called appraisal

which sometimes

is an effective way of getting the claim resolved. Another way of getting the claim

resolved is simply sending a request to the insurance company requesting a

supplemental payment. And in order to get that money you may have to send in a

sworn proof of loss, you may have to send in a contractor's estimate showing that

the damages at your home are in excess of what the insurance company paid you,

and the third way of doing that is by filing a lawsuit against the insurance

company for breach of the insurance contract. Insurance companies in Florida

have an obligation pursuant to the law to pay you at least the actual cash

value of your claim and if an insurance company breached that obligation you may

be entitled to file a lawsuit against your insurance company for breach of

that insurance policy. So the good news is, if you're one of these people that

I'm talking to that received that initial check, you're halfway there. The

insurance companies acknowledged coverage. The next steps can be tricky.

Again, look at the check to make sure it doesn't have any language on it that

might preclude you from making a supplemental claim if you deposit that

check. If you're unsure whether or not your check says that, please call me or

email me or you can reach out to my office and we can help you with that

claim. If you've deposited the check and you're not sure if it had that language,

again, feel free to send us a copy of that check and we will, for free, look and

advise you on what your remedies and the next steps are as it relates to getting

a supplemental payment. If you think this video was helpful and you liked what you

heard, feel free to comment below, subscribe to my channel, and if you have

any questions about an insurance claim or any any steps along the way or the

process, feel free to write those questions down below or comment and I

may address that question on my next video segment. Again this is Your

Insurance Attorney, Anthony Lopez, and thanks for listening.