Our firm, Florida’s Best Public Adjusters, handles multiple appraisal process requests from law firms weekly between the Florida Keys to Tampa over to Jacksonville and back down to Miami.
By completing this form, you will either give us permission to act as your client’s appraiser as hired by you, or you will direct us to contract the insured to be hired by them directly.
Most attorneys understand who the participants on an appraisal panel are, but let’s briefly review about the panel and the process:
Participants on the Appraisal Panel
- Appraiser for insured (us)
- Appraiser for the insurance company.
- Umpire
If we and the opposing appraiser cannot agree on an umpire we may need you, the attorney, to petition the court of local jurisdiction to appoint an umpire.
Once an agreement is reached on which umpire to use, then we and the opposing appraiser meet at the property to scope the loss and begin a discussion on settling the claim.
How long does this process take?
Florida’s Best Public Adjuster uses a modern state-of-the-art claims management software to expedite the process and to keep appraisals moving. Florida’s Best Public Adjusters appraisers are generally available to scope no more than 3 business days after agreeing on an umpire. Our estimates are done within 10 days from the date of our onsite inspection.
If the two opposing appraisers can agree upon a gross number for the payment of the claim, then we mutually generate a document attesting to the number and both sign and date, and the appraisal is over. The decision is binding and no further action is necessary for the appraisal process. The carrier’s appraiser forwards the documents to the insurance company and we will copy you and your client.
If we cannot agree, then the pre-selected umpire will be brought in to review the loss, review our documentation and in many cases, umpires will prepare their own estimates.
The time-frame if we must use an umpire is undetermined. We have to schedule a site visit with the entire panel at a time that works for all associated parties. Good umpires have a great deal of backlog and some umpire situations can take up to three additional months to complete after the appraisers come to an impasse.
At Florida’s Best Public Adjusters, we are familiar with the appraisal process as we are highly specialized in this aspect of litigation support. Many law firms reach out to us as not only do we provide litigation support and appraisal services, but our bread and butter service is dealing with the realm of public adjusting as a whole. We think this gives us unique insight into the entirety of the appraisal process that dedicated insurance appraisers alone may not possess.
For any further questions about the appraisal process or our services, please contact us at 1 (800) 952-7693 or litigationsupport@flbestpa.com
Thank you.
