Today’s video is about understanding your responsibilities under an insurance policy after you’ve made a claim. If you’re involved with an insurance claim, you have a responsibility under the terms of that insurance policy. If you look through the insurance policy, it’s buried in there with a lot of other things, there’s a statement in there talking about your duties after an accident or loss.
Duties After an Accident or Loss
Find that provision in your insurance policy. Now as you look through there, one of the things that is included is what is referred to as a recorded statement. What this involves is either a representative of the insurance company, or often times a lawyer sitting down with you unsworn. Meaning it’s not a deposition or anything, but simply a recording device of some kind. It can sometimes be a phone that they’re using to record a video, or it can simply be a recording device that allows them to ask you specific questions. You have a responsibility under the insurance claim that you filed to participate in that process.
But here’s the thing… there are some boundaries regarding what it is they can ask you. Certainly, during a recorded statement, an insurance company can ask you questions about the claim itself. Sometimes they can ask you basic biographical information, but there are boundaries on that. And understand something… a recorded statement is almost never for the purpose of an insurance company figuring out the best way to pay your claim. Many times the recorded statement is designed for the insurance company to participate in an exercise of interrogation that seems pretty innocuous. But it many times becomes the very basis to why an insurance company will deny your claim.
Here’s what I am really trying to tell you… if you’ve been asked to participate in a recorded statement, it is imperative that you have legal counsel present so that you don’t inadvertently say something that could be taken out of context. That would be the basis for the insurance company later to deny your claim. If you have questions about your responsibilities after you’ve made an insurance claim, be it a recorded statement, an examination under oath, or any unusual requests being made by your insurance company, give us a call today. You take care of your family; we’ll take care of the insurance company.
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