A Storm Just Hit. Here’s Exactly How to File Your Florida Claim.

The storm has passed, the street is full of debris, and someone in a branded polo is already knocking on doors offering to “handle everything.” Slow down. Florida law gives you specific rights and specific deadlines after a hurricane, and the first 48 hours are when claims are won, lost, or signed away. Here’s the sequence.

First: document, then touch

Before you move a single branch or pull up one square of soaked carpet, photograph and video everything — wide shots of each room and elevation, close-ups of the damage, the standing water line if there is one. Time-stamped phone photos are fine. Then, and only then, make the temporary repairs that stop things from getting worse: tarp the roof, board the window, shut off water to a burst line. Your policy requires you to prevent further damage — but keep every receipt, because reasonable mitigation costs are part of your claim.

The deadlines are shorter than you think

Since Florida’s 2022 insurance reforms, you have one year from the date of loss to give your insurer notice of a new claim — not the three years older articles still quote. A supplemental claim (damage you discover after the initial adjustment) must be filed within 18 months of the date of loss. Miss those windows and the claim is gone, no matter how legitimate the damage. The practical advice is simpler: report within days, not months. Late-reported claims get more scrutiny even when they’re inside the deadline.

What the clock requires from your insurer

The deadlines cut both ways. Under Florida law your insurer must acknowledge your claim within 7 days, begin its investigation promptly, and generally pay or deny within 60 days of receiving a complete, proof-of-loss claim. If an adjuster inspects your home, you’re entitled to their report. Log every contact: date, name, what was said. If the process stalls, that log is your leverage — and Florida’s Department of Financial Services runs a free mediation program for exactly these disputes.

About the person knocking on your door

After every Florida hurricane, contractors fan out offering to deal with the insurance company “so you don’t have to.” Know this: for policies issued since 2023, Florida law prohibits the assignment-of-benefits agreements that used to hand your claim rights to a contractor. Anyone asking you to sign over your claim, your payments, or a percentage of your settlement on your doorstep deserves exactly one answer: “I’m going to talk to my agent first.” Get the roof tarped; don’t sign the contract that comes stapled to the tarp.

Flood damage is a separate claim

Wind and rain through a torn roof is your homeowners policy. Rising water from below is your flood policy — a separate claim, to a separate company, with its own paperwork, including an NFIP proof-of-loss that has its own deadline. After a hurricane you may have both types of damage in the same house, and getting the two claims apportioned correctly is half the battle. This is worth a phone call before either adjuster visits: where one policy stops and the other starts.

Your claim-file kit

The bottom line

Document first, mitigate second, report fast, sign nothing on the doorstep. And use your agent — walking a claim in the door correctly is a large part of why you have one. If a storm has just hit and you’re reading this with a tarp on your roof, call us and we’ll go through it step by step.

This article is for general education, not insurance advice. Coverage is governed by policy terms and underwriting. See our Disclaimers, Editorial Policy, and About the Authors.