The state deadline library
Every state runs a first-party property claim on its own clocks: how fast the carrier must acknowledge, when it must decide, when it must pay, what interest and fees noncompliance costs, and how long the insured has to sue. The guides below name the code sections, the traps, and the leverage points for each state.
More states are in the research queue. Subscribe below to get each guide the day it lands.
Run the New York clocks on your file.
Enter the dates you know. Clocks without a date show what starts them.
- —Standard fire policy, Ins. Law § 3404
Suit limitation: 24 months from the date of lossHard deadline
24 months from the inception of the loss. Not from denial; not from a failed appraisal.
Nothing the carrier does tolls it: partial payment, reinspection, silence, appraisal demands, or a DFS complaint. Only a signed tolling agreement or a filed suit stops the clock. Past it, the claim is simply gone.
- —Standard fire policy, Ins. Law § 3404
Signed and sworn proof of loss due (insured)Hard deadline
Within 60 days after the loss, unless the carrier extends the time in writing.
Real and enforceable: a carrier can demand a formal sworn proof and hold the file to the sixty-day clause. Treat it as a hard deadline and get any extension in writing.
- —Standard fire policy, Ins. Law § 3404
Immediate written notice of the loss (insured)Hard deadline
Immediate written notice; immediacy is judged against what was reasonable.
No fixed day count exists. Log the date the loss was discovered, not the date of first contact.
- —Regulation 64, 11 NYCRR 216
Acknowledge the claim (regulatory clock)Regulatory clock
15 business days after notice of the claim.
No private right of action attaches to Regulation 64 or § 2601: a violation is a matter for the Department of Financial Services, not a check the policyholder can cash. Each missed mark is a dated, documented failure for the DFS complaint and the consequential-damages record.
- —Regulation 64, 11 NYCRR 216
Begin investigation and specify every required item and form (regulatory clock)Regulatory clock
15 business days, stated in the same sentence as the acknowledgement clock.
Same soft-teeth caveat: DFS enforcement only. Documentation of the miss is the leverage.
- —Regulation 64, 11 NYCRR 216
Accept or reject in writing (regulatory clock)Regulatory clock
15 business days after the carrier receives a properly executed proof of loss and everything it asked for. When the carrier suspects arson, the window stretches to 30 business days under Ins. Law § 2601.
Unlike Texas, a blown New York decision deadline starts no interest meter. It is DFS-complaint fuel and record for Bi-Economy consequential damages, nothing more.
- —Standard fire policy, Ins. Law § 3404
Payment due (dual-trigger policy clock)Carrier clock
60 days after BOTH conditions: the carrier receives the proof of loss AND the loss is ascertained by written agreement or a filed appraisal award.
An unanswered number never ripens into a pay date; ascertainment takes a written agreement or an appraisal award. Worth quoting in writing when a carrier lets an accepted number drift.
- —Senate Bill S166
FISPA (Senate Bill S166) is not lawContext
Proposed six-month determination window and thirty-day pre-suit demand. As of mid-2026, recommitted to committee without a floor vote.
Build the calendar on the twenty-four-month suit limitation that exists today, not the six-month determination window that might exist someday.
Computed from the claimOS field guide for this state. Clocks the guide states as plain days are counted as calendar days; business days are counted as weekdays. Informational, not legal advice. Verify against the current statute and policy language.
California
California's 60% Contents Advance: When the New Rule Pays Less
SB 495 raised California's emergency contents advance to 60 percent of the personal property limit. Because the base moved from Coverage A to Coverage C, the advance is smaller wherever contents coverage is under half the dwelling limit.
4 min read
California Bad-Faith Insurance Claims: What the 2025 Rulings Mean for Your Files in 2026
Three 2025 appellate decisions reshaped California bad-faith exposure for carriers — and the evidence standard for public adjusters working smoke, fire, and title claims. Here's what changed and when your SOL clock runs out.
7 min read
Florida
Florida Hurricane Claim Deadlines After Milton: The One Clock Still Running
Florida gives supplemental claims 18 months and reopened claims only 12, and the split turns on whether the carrier's file was open. With every 2024 storm window now shut, what is left is the five-year contract clock and a new Fourth DCA ruling on carrier delay.
9 min read
Florida Property Insurance Claim Deadlines and Bad-Faith Protections: 2026 Field Guide
A working calendar for Florida property losses after SB 2-A and HB 837: the one-year notice rule, the 7/30/60 carrier deadlines, § 627.70152 pre-suit notice, and how the bad-faith landscape changed.
8 min read
