Are There Hidden Limits on Jewelry in Theft Claims?

After being extremely violated by an act of burglary or theft in your home, the only thing that may ease your anxieties is that your homeowners’ insurance company will help you recover fully from your stolen jewelry, cash, and electronics. But your stress may spike again when you notice how much your insurer is restricting its services. Without further ado, please read on to discover whether there are hidden limits placed on your personal items and how one of the seasoned New York residential theft insurance claim attorneys at The Law Office of Craig A. Blumberg, P.C., can help you earn their full values back. 

Are there hidden limits on jewelry, cash, and electronics in residential theft claims?

If you carry a standard homeowners’ insurance policy, you may be subject to special limits of liability that cap payouts for certain categories of personal items, such as jewelry, cash, and electronics. Unfortunately, this limit may apply even if your overall personal property coverage is much higher. For example, if your coverage is set at $100,000, your policy may only pay $2,000 toward stolen jewelry. This is otherwise known as special limits of liability. 

With that being said, your best bet to increase this enforced sublimit of coverage is to purchase additional insurance for high-value property individually (i.e., a scheduled personal property endorsement). In simple terms, with this, you may list valuable items separately to ensure they are fully protected after being stolen. Or, to take it one step further, you may include “mysterious disappearance terms” in your policy coverage scope in case your insurer tries to deny that a burglary or theft incident took place.

What evidence do I need to prove the full value of my stolen items?

As insinuated above, your homeowners’ insurance company may try to question the legitimacy of your stolen property claim to minimize or reject your payout. This is why you must prove the full value of your jewelry, cash, and electronics with undeniable evidence. For example, you may have in-store or email receipts of your purchased jewelry. If it was a family heirloom, you may have estate planning documents that name you as the designated beneficiary of this particular piece. It also helps if at one point you got this antique professionally appraised.

As far as cash goes, you may have an ATM receipt of your withdrawal or a monthly checking or savings account statement that indicates the specific amount of you cashed out. If this money was a gift, you may ask your family member or friend to look for the same kinds of proof. Then, from a high-value electronic device, you may have a credit card statement that discloses this charge. Also, you may look online for the same make and model to place further emphasis on its retail value. 

All of this to say, do not let the thieves who stole your personal property and your insurance company that is denying your compensation come out on top in this situation. Rather, you must look after yourself, protect your rights as an insurance carrier, and please retain the services of one of the competent New York residential theft insurance claim attorneys. We at The Law Office of Craig A. Blumberg, P.C., are ready to step in.