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Hey everybody this is Your Insurance Attorney Anthony Lopez, from Marin Eljaiek Lopez and Martinez, and today we're going to discuss I got a check from my insurance company what happens next. So good news is if you've got a check and this video is relevant to you, well you're halfway there. That means the insurance company has at least acknowledged coverage for your claim. So now you've got this check what do you do next and that's a great question. So a lot of insurance companies will send you a check and they will put some pretty tricky language on the back of that check and if you don't look at it and if you're not careful and you deposit that check you could potentially jeopardize your rights to make a supplemental or reopen your claim. So it's really important that when you get your first check from that insurance company that you look on that check and see if it says anything like full and final settlement because if it says language like that you could potentially jeopardize your rights to make a supplemental claim. But let's say you got this check and it does have that language does that mean you can't deposit it? No, it doesn't. As a matter of fact, I get clients all the time that bring checks to my office that have language like that on the back and what we do is my office will send a specific letter to the insurance company advising them that my client received a partial undisputed payment of the claim and then we are able to seek additional compensation from the insurance company. So it's very important that when you get that check that you don't just deposit it. Make sure you look at your check to see if you may be giving away any of your rights by depositing that check. So let's say you're you get that first payment from the insurance company and it doesn't have any language like that or you don't see anything odd on the check you deposit it. Can you reopen your claim? Can you seek additional money? The answer is yes. A lot of clients come to me after they've made the claim themselves seeking additional compensation. There's a whole process involved in getting additional money from the insurance company. There are mechanisms that are out of court. Mechanisms called appraisal which sometimes is an effective way of getting the claim resolved. Another way of getting the claim resolved is simply sending a request to the insurance company requesting a supplemental payment. And in order to get that money you may have to send in a sworn proof of loss, you may have to send in a contractor's estimate showing that the damages at your home are in excess of what the insurance company paid you, and the third way of doing that is by filing a lawsuit against the insurance company for breach of the insurance contract. Insurance companies in Florida have an obligation pursuant to the law to pay you at least the actual cash value of your claim and if an insurance company breached that obligation you may be entitled to file a lawsuit against your insurance company for breach of that insurance policy. So the good news is, if you're one of these people that I'm talking to that received that initial check, you're halfway there. The insurance companies acknowledged coverage. The next steps can be tricky. Again, look at the check to make sure it doesn't have any language on it that might preclude you from making a supplemental claim if you deposit that check. If you're unsure whether or not your check says that, please call me or email me or you can reach out to my office and we can help you with that claim. If you've deposited the check and you're not sure if it had that language, again, feel free to send us a copy of that check and we will, for free, look and advise you on what your remedies and the next steps are as it relates to getting a supplemental payment. If you think this video was helpful and you liked what you heard, feel free to comment below, subscribe to my channel, and if you have any questions about an insurance claim or any any steps along the way or the process, feel free to write those questions down below or comment and I may address that question on my next video segment. Again this is Your Insurance Attorney, Anthony Lopez, and thanks for listening.