What kind of documentation will I need to make a personal property insurance claim?

What kind of documentation will I need to make a personal property insurance claim?

Sam Friedman (Editor-in-Chief, National Underwriter, Property & Casualty Edition) gives expert video advice on: Do I need personal property insurance?; What happens if my property is damaged or stolen while I'm on vacation? and more...

To make a claim for the loss of any personal property, the more documentation the better. If you have a very valuable piece of property, like a fur coat, or a special painting that's irreplaceable, chances are you should have cleared that up with the insurance company beforehand and had an independent appraisal. That appraisal serves as the documentation of what that piece of property is worth. For standard pieces of property, like your television set or your couch, the insurer will propbably be pretty reasonable. But, if you've made any sort of a special purchase, like instead of just a 19" TV, you've bought the super-deluxe, flat screen wall-mounted television -- if you have a receipt for that, keep it offsite in a safety deposit box. Try to keep copies of any sorts of receipts of recent purchases. In a worst-case scenario, if you've lost all your documentation in a fire, you might be able to fall back on credit card records, cancelled checks that can be acquired from a third-party banking institution, a credit card company, things of that nature.