When our beautiful, 200-year-old red oak had fallen during a rainstorm while I was away, I was sad but not worried. The tree had narrowly missed the house and landed smack in the middle of our yard. While it was clearly a mess, I felt certain that our homeowners policy would pick up the cost of setting everything right.

The adjuster, surveying the scene, broke it to us. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” he said. Not only would our insurer not pay the staggering $10,000 bill for lugging away the tree, but it wasn’t likely that we’d get enough money to replace the trees and shrubs that had been wiped out. Had the oak fallen on our house, our homeowners policy would have paid for more of the cleanup and replanting. But because our loss wasn’t structural, my husband and I were looking at $20,000 in out-of-pocket costs.

click here for article

search for : homeowners policy

bookmark this article to your choice of sites