California Fire Victims Need to Be Prepared

Larry Knapp

Contributor

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If you have lost property in the Southern California Disasters this past week be prepared to make a claim with your homeowner's insurance company. First thing you need to do is prepare an inventory. This must be painstakingly detailed. You will need to get as much evidence as possible to back up your inventory. Once you are allowed to return to your home, do not allow the remains to be cleaned up until you have gone through it and

photographed anything that can be identified. You may be surprised at how you can still identify some of your belongings.

Contact your relatives and friends to see if they may have photographs of the interior of your home that could also help identify your belongings. Or ask your neighbors to sit down with you and help construct an inventory of what they remember to have been in your home. If necessary go to the store purchase these items and keep the receipts. Let your insurance adjuster know that you have witnesses who will testify that this property was in your house prior to the fire and they saw it.

Above all be prepared to fight for what is right. Don't allow your insurance company to negotiate you into accepting a lower figure than what it will take to get you back to where you were before the fire. Good luck to all those affected.