Furniture, electronics and everyday items
The belongings inside the home or business, valued at replacement cost or actual cash value according to your specific policy.
Florida property damage attorneys
Personal Property Damage Insurance Claim Lawyer
Furniture, electronics and belongings are often undervalued or left off the claim entirely. We make sure everything affected is counted, and we check which valuation method your policy actually uses before the number is set.
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Personal property claims
Replacement cost or actual cash value. The answer changes the check.
Personal property claims cover the belongings inside your home or business, from furniture and electronics to clothing and everyday items.
Whether your policy pays replacement cost or actual cash value, which subtracts depreciation for age and wear, makes a significant difference in what you actually receive, and many people never realize which one their own policy provides until a claim is underway.
So we read the policy before we read the inventory. The valuation method sets the ceiling, and everything else is measured against it.
01
Which valuation your policy provides is confirmed first.
Replacement cost buys a new equivalent item. Actual cash value subtracts depreciation for age and wear. The difference between the two is the difference in what you receive.
Right after the loss
Count everything. Keep everything.
The inventory is the claim. Building it completely, and holding on to the evidence behind it, is what the valuation rests on.
01 /
Build a full inventory
List every item affected, even ones that look salvageable at first. Contaminated, water-damaged or smoke-affected items can still be a covered loss.
02 /
Gather proof of value
Collect receipts, statements or photos showing the items before the loss. Bank and credit card statements stand in where original receipts were lost with the items themselves.
03 /
Do not discard items early
Keep damaged belongings until the insurer has had a chance to review them. Once an item is gone, its condition can only be described, not shown.
04 /
Check for scheduled items
Confirm whether any high-value items had a separate coverage rider. Jewelry, art, collectibles and electronics are the categories most often capped without one.
Receipts destroyed in the same event? Photos, receipts, bank or credit card statements and even photos showing the items in your home before the loss all help establish value. A reasonable inventory can be reconstructed from those records, so start with what survived and build from there.
What a claim can address
Everything affected, valued the way the policy says.
A contents settlement built from the obviously ruined items alone leaves most of the loss uncounted. The full claim covers every affected belonging at the valuation your policy provides.
Smoke-affected fabrics and water-damaged electronics are losses too, even when they look fine on the shelf.
Damaged but not destroyed
Items that are contaminated, water-damaged, smoke-affected or otherwise unusable, included in the inventory alongside what is visibly ruined.
Jewelry, art and collectibles
High-value categories measured against the policy's actual sublimits and any rider or scheduled endorsement that was added.
The full inventory
Ruined does not always look ruined, and the policy's caps are lower than most people expect.
Items that are contaminated, water-damaged or smoke-affected but not visibly destroyed are still often a covered loss, yet they get left off initial inventories more often than obviously ruined items do. High-value categories like jewelry, art and collectibles frequently carry lower sublimits than people expect, unless a specific rider was added.
A contents claim gets shortchanged from both ends. Damaged items that still look intact are skipped, and the items that were counted run into sublimits nobody mentioned. The inventory and the policy have to be read together.
Contents value
What we check on every personal property claim
A short inventory at a low valuation is a conclusion. Each of these has to be answered first.
01
Which valuation applies?
Whether replacement cost or actual cash value correctly applies, as written in your specific policy.
Whether replacement cost or actual cash value correctly applies, as written in your specific policy.
02
Were the damaged-but-intact items counted?
Whether damaged-but-not-destroyed items were included in the inventory, such as water-damaged electronics or smoke-affected fabrics.
Whether damaged-but-not-destroyed items were included in the inventory, such as water-damaged electronics or smoke-affected fabrics.
03
Were the sublimits applied correctly?
Whether high-value item sublimits were applied correctly, and whether a rider or scheduled endorsement changes them.
Whether high-value item sublimits were applied correctly, and whether a rider or scheduled endorsement changes them.
04
Was the whole loss documented?
Whether the full scope of affected belongings was documented, not only what was obviously ruined.
Whether the full scope of affected belongings was documented, not only what was obviously ruined.
How value actually gets proven. Photos, receipts, bank or credit card statements and even photos showing the items in your home before the loss all help establish value. We help clients reconstruct a reasonable inventory even when original receipts were lost in the same event that destroyed the items. The inventory is rebuilt from whatever record survives.
How we work
You build the list. We make sure it is paid in full.
A personal property claim is decided by the inventory and the valuation method. We rebuild the first from whatever record survives, confirm the second from the policy, and check every sublimit against what was actually purchased.
Talk with our team01
We confirm the valuation methodReplacement cost or actual cash value, read from your policy rather than assumed, so depreciation is applied only where the contract allows it.
02
We complete the inventoryEvery affected item, including the ones that look intact, documented from photos, receipts, statements and pre-loss images of the home.
03
We check the sublimits and ridersJewelry, art, collectibles and electronics measured against the actual caps, with any scheduled endorsement applied to your benefit.
Where to begin
Three steps, starting from your inventory.
The list does not have to be finished before you call. Bring what you have counted so far, the insurer's offer, and whatever proof of value survived.
01
Tell us what was affected
A quick message is enough. We ask what was damaged, what the insurer has counted, and whether you know which valuation your policy uses.
02
Hear an honest read on the inventory
We tell you whether the list is complete, whether the valuation method was applied correctly, and whether any sublimit was misapplied.
03
We handle the rest
The adjuster, the inventory, and the valuation are ours to manage while you replace what you need first.
Insurer paying actual cash value on everything? Send us the policy and the offer. Which valuation applies depends on the contract, and depreciation is only owed where the policy says so.
Personal property claim questions
Clear answers about value, inventory and limits.
Treat these as general guidance. Your policy's valuation method, what you can document, and the sublimits that apply decide your claim.
Ask us about your situation ↗How do I prove the value of belongings that were damaged or destroyed?
Photos, receipts, bank or credit card statements and even photos showing the items in your home before the loss all help establish value. We help clients reconstruct a reasonable inventory even when original receipts were lost in the same event that destroyed the items.
Does my policy pay replacement cost or actual cash value for my belongings?
It depends on your specific policy. Replacement cost pays what it costs to buy a new equivalent item, while actual cash value subtracts depreciation for age and wear. Many homeowners are surprised to learn which one their policy actually provides.
Are high-value items like jewelry or art covered under my standard policy?
Standard policies often cap coverage for categories like jewelry, art, collectibles and electronics well below their real value, unless a separate rider or scheduled endorsement was added. We check whether your policy's sublimits were applied correctly to your claim.
Can I include items that were damaged but not completely destroyed?
Yes. Items that are damaged, contaminated or unusable, even if not visibly destroyed, such as water-damaged electronics or smoke-affected fabrics, can still be a covered loss. We make sure the full inventory of affected items is included, not just what is obviously ruined.
Proof and further reading
Related case results and articles
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