Located in DFW. My father passed away this pass summer, and I am in the process of purchasing the home I grew up in from the estate - scheduled to close next week.

During the ice/snow storms last month, we noticed several roof leaks in the house, and I had a contractor I trust come by to do a roof inspection. They found substantial hail damage that would require the roof to be replaced.

Prior to submitting a claim, the contractor recommended an attorney I talk to because they thought it would be best to get out in front of any challenges submitting the claim as the estate may present. That attorney recommended we include the date we discovered the issues as the date of loss on the claim, despite our belief that the actual date of loss actually happened in May 2024. This is beyond the standard 12 months to submit a claim following a date of loss, but there ways the attorney believed we could get around this based on Texas law. The attorney was also concerned about the closing date and how this could impact our ability to receive payment for the claim. I am not exactly sure his rationale on how/why this would impact the claim.

Fast forward to today, the insurance company denied the claim because they believe the insurance policy should have no longer been active, and the attorney has been unresponsive for 3 weeks now.

With closing next week, I am now scrambling trying to figure out how to handle this situation. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good insurance attorney they recommend? A public adjustor cannot handle this because of the timing of the date of loss.

Has anyone ever dealt with a similar situation and know if it would be in our best interest to postpone closing because of the insurance claim?

I should also note that we will be financing the purchase with a construction loan that will only require builders risk insurance during renovations, so I may have a little time to figure out the insurance issue before I have to obtain full homeowners insurance.

Sorry about your dad.

I'm not sure what postponing the close would do.

You can pull out the policy and look at what the claims reporting guidelines are. If it's 12 months it sounds like you're out of luck and need to plan on a roof replacement during renovations.

There MAY be some kind of extended reporting period you could possibly get but the policy form will let you know

Not sure why they denied the claim on the basis the policy shouldn't be in force. Are they saying it's because of vacancy? If the house has been vacant and they weren't notified it's possible there is something in the policy form about that

If you Google opic Texas there's a bunch of the standard insurance forms if you don't have your dad's policy jacket

Thank you!

The attorney's hesitancy about closing is what made me nervous. He may have said something about the estate no longer having standing, but I may be confusing that with other things I read while trying to research the subject.

The insurance company denied the claim because they said the policy should no longer have been active on the date of loss, and they claim they were not notified. The policy does state it will terminate on the next renewal date following the passing of the insured; however, we provided them written notice on August 4th, the policy renewed on August 28th, and the insurance company continued to accept payments of the premium (through escrow) following the renewal date and until the date we submitted the claim. We have still not received a letter from the insurance company stating they terminated the policy, and I do not know that they have stopped accepting payments.

The policy does have a timeline of when a claim must be filed. It only requires "prompt notice of loss."