We have discussed before some of the downfalls of the Florida Statutes and we recently discussed in news interviews and on the blog some proposed changes to these Statutes.

As the law reads now, an insurance company can hire whoever they want to investigate your property and whatever their expert says is “presumed” to be correct. This places Florida homeowners in a very tough position where they either have to hire an expert (at a cost of several thousand dollars) to refute the insurance company’s experts or they have to hire an attorney who can get a second opinion for them.

Second opinions can usually be obtained by just a peer review of the data collected and a written report. Some in the business believe that the legislature will soon take this a step further and require homeowners to have their own testing performed in order to be able to dispute the insurance company’s findings.

This testing can easily cost $5,000 to $10,000 and would be a backhanded way of preventing homeowners from ever disputing their insurance company. We”?ll keep an eye on the legislative proposals that are trying to extend this burden even farther and keep homeowners updated on what they can do to prevent these insurance company strongholds from passing into law.

Have a burning question you’d like to ask about sinkholes? Let us know.