How long does an insurance company have to pay or deny a claim in Florida?
Sixty days. Under Fla. Stat. 627.70131(7)(a) the insurer must pay or deny a property claim within 60 days of receiving notice, and give a reasonable written explanation of the policy basis. Earlier deadlines apply too: 7 days to acknowledge, 30 days to inspect, 7 days to send you any estimate.
| Acknowledge | 7 calendar days from your communication, 627.70131(1)(a) |
|---|---|
| Physical inspection | 30 days after proof-of-loss statements, 627.70131(3)(b) |
| Send you the estimate | 7 days after it is generated, 627.70131(3)(e) |
| Pay or deny | 60 days from notice, with the policy basis in writing, 627.70131(7)(a) |
| If it is late | Interest at the Fla. Stat. 55.03 rate, accruing from the date of notice |
- • Acknowledge a claim communication within 7 calendar days, under 627.70131(1)(a).
- • Physically inspect the property within 30 days after receiving proof-of-loss statements, under 627.70131(3)(b).
- • Send you a copy of any detailed estimate of the loss within 7 days after it is generated, under 627.70131(3)(e).
- • Pay or deny within 60 days of notice of the claim, with a reasonable written explanation of the basis in the policy, under 627.70131(7)(a). Late payment bears interest at the Fla. Stat. 55.03 rate from the date of notice.
- • The same subsection says failure to comply does not form the sole basis for a private cause of action. It arms other claims; it is not one by itself.
Every deadline, in order
Two of these run from your proof-of-loss statements, not from the date of loss, which is why documenting when you sent what is the single highest-value habit in a Florida claim.
The 2022 and 2023 reforms cut these from the older 14, 45, and 90-day windows. Which set governs depends on your policy and when the claim was noticed, so check the policy date before counting.
The section, subsection by subsection
7 days to acknowledge
On receiving a communication about a claim, the insurer must review and acknowledge receipt within 7 calendar days, unless payment is made in that time or factors beyond its control prevent it.
The acknowledgment has to be responsive
It must respond to what you asked. If the communication was notice of a claim, it must advise you of the status of coverage and give you claim forms and instructions.
7 days to start investigating
Within 7 days after receiving proof-of-loss statements the insurer must begin the investigation that is reasonably necessary, absent factors beyond its control.
30 days to inspect
A physical inspection of the property, when one is required, within 30 days after receipt of proof-of-loss statements. The adjuster must give you a name and license number.
Name and license on every message
Subsequent claim communications must identify the adjuster by name and license number.
Electronic inspection allowed
Photographs, video, drone imagery, and video conferencing are permitted investigation methods.
7 days to send you the estimate
The insurer must send you a copy of any detailed estimate of the amount of the loss within 7 days after the estimate is generated.
It has to keep the record
Records of adjusters assigned, communications, proof-of-loss receipt, information requests, inspections, estimates, tolling periods, and the payment or denial.
Factors beyond its control
Defined, and it is narrower than carriers imply: a declared state of emergency, a security breach, an information-technology failure, or your own fraud or failure to cooperate. The Office may grant an extension of up to 30 days.
Warnings on preliminary numbers
Required warning statements on preliminary estimates and on partial payments, so a first check is not read as a final answer.
60 days to pay or deny, in writing
The core rule, plus the reasonable-written-explanation duty, plus interest at the Fla. Stat. 55.03 rate on payment made after 60 days, accruing from the date notice was received.
Tolling
The deadlines toll during mediation or other dispute resolution, and when you fail to provide requested information within 10 days.
Surplus lines too
The section reaches surplus lines insurers providing residential coverage.
Sixty days, and the exits from it
627.70131(7)(a) is the sentence everybody quotes: within 60 days after an insurer receives notice of an initial, reopened, or supplemental property insurance claim, the insurer shall pay or deny the claim. The window is not absolute. The statute excuses failure caused by factors beyond the insurer's control, and 627.70131(5)(a) defines that phrase narrowly: a state of emergency declared by the Governor, a security breach, an information technology failure, or the policyholder's own fraud or failure to cooperate. In an emergency the Office of Insurance Regulation may grant an extension of up to 30 days.
Notice what is not on that list. Adjuster turnover, a backlog of storm files, a re-inspection the carrier decided to order, and a pending engineer report are not statutory excuses. If your claim went quiet past day 60, ask in writing which factor beyond the insurer's control applies, and ask for the date of any extension the Office granted. Silence in response to that letter is itself part of the record.
The written explanation nobody reads carefully
The same subsection carries a content duty that is easier to violate than the deadline: the insurer must provide a reasonable explanation in writing of the basis in the insurance policy, in relation to the facts or applicable law, for the payment, denial, or partial denial. Three parts. Policy language. Your facts. The connection between them.
A letter that names no provision fails on the first part. A letter that block-quotes an exclusion and never mentions your damage fails on the third, which is the most common failure in the archive. The identical duty appears at 626.9541(1)(i)3.f, so one deficient letter can trip both. Test yours against the six-point legality test, then read denials that failed it in the denial documents.
The estimate you are owed within 7 days
627.70131(3)(e) is short and underused: the insurer must send you a copy of any detailed estimate of the amount of the loss within 7 days after the estimate is generated. Not on request. Not at the end. Within 7 days of creation, every time one is created.
That matters because the sequence of estimates is often the whole story: a field adjuster number, a desk revision, and a final figure that arrives attached to a denial. 627.70131(4) requires the insurer to keep those records, and 627.70131(3)(b) and (3)(c) require the adjuster name and license number on the inspection and on later communications. Ask for all of it in one written request: every estimate by date, every adjuster by name and license, and the complete claim file.
What a missed deadline is actually worth
Two things, and one of them is not a lawsuit. The statute is explicit that failure to comply with subsection (7) does not form the sole basis for a private cause of action. What lateness buys you is interest, at the Fla. Stat. 55.03 rate, accruing from the date the insurer received notice of the claim rather than from the day it went late, and a dated, documented handling failure.
That failure is the raw material for everything else: a DFS consumer complaint that forces a written response, a Civil Remedy Notice under 624.155, and the bad-faith record if the claim ends in suit. None of it extends your own clocks: you still have 1 year to report and 18 months for a supplemental claim, and five years from the date of loss to sue.
627.70131 questions, answered
How long does an insurance company have to pay or deny a claim in Florida? +
Sixty days from the date the insurer receives notice of an initial, reopened, or supplemental property insurance claim, under Fla. Stat. 627.70131(7)(a). Within that window it must pay in full, pay in part, or deny, and give a reasonable explanation in writing of the basis in the policy, in relation to the facts or applicable law.
What happens if the insurer misses the 60-day deadline? +
Payment made after the 60-day mark bears interest at the rate set in Fla. Stat. 55.03, and the interest accrues from the date the insurer received notice of the claim, not from day 61. The delay also becomes a documented claim-handling failure that supports a Civil Remedy Notice and a bad-faith record under Fla. Stat. 624.155.
Can I sue my insurance company just for missing the deadline? +
Not on that alone. Fla. Stat. 627.70131(7)(a) states that failure to comply with the subsection does not form the sole basis for a private cause of action. The deadline still matters: it is the fact that proves delay, and delay is a predicate the unfair claim practices list and the civil remedy statute both use.
Does a hurricane give my insurer more time? +
Only through a defined route. Fla. Stat. 627.70131(5)(a) treats a state of emergency declared by the Governor as a factor beyond the insurer's control, and the Office of Insurance Regulation may grant an extension of up to 30 days. That is a specific administrative act, not a blanket excuse the adjuster can assert in a phone call.
Am I entitled to the adjuster estimate? +
Yes. Fla. Stat. 627.70131(3)(e) requires the insurer to send you a copy of any detailed estimate of the amount of the loss within 7 days after that estimate is generated. If the first time you saw a number was inside the denial letter, ask in writing for every estimate by date, plus the full claim file.
Do these deadlines apply to my commercial property claim? +
Partly. Subsection (7) reaches residential claims and claims for small commercial structures and their contents as the subsection defines them, and it expressly excludes claims covering property in more than one state under a nonresidential commercial policy. Read (7)(b) and (7)(c) against your own policy before relying on the 60-day rule.
- Fla. Stat. 627.70131, duty to acknowledge communications regarding claims; investigation · flsenate.gov ↗
- Fla. Stat. 627.70131 (Online Sunshine text) · leg.state.fl.us ↗
- Fla. Stat. 626.9541(1)(i), unfair claim settlement practices · flsenate.gov ↗
- Fla. Stat. 627.7142, Homeowner Claims Bill of Rights · flsenate.gov ↗
- Fla. Stat. 624.155, civil remedy · flsenate.gov ↗
Statute summaries drafted August 2026 and simplified for education; several of these day-counts changed with Florida's 2022 and 2023 reforms depending on when the claim was noticed. Verify against current statute. Not legal advice; consult an attorney about your specific claim.
Count the days on your claim.
Send the dates, the letters, and any estimate you were given. You will get a straight answer on which deadlines were missed, what interest is running, and what the strongest next move is.
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