Timely Claim Filing

Hello! I'm Marialuisa Gallozzi. I am a lawyer and volunteer with the Terrafirma Claims Committee for the last several years, and I am joined by my colleague, Grant Weaver.

Hello! I'm Grant Weaver. I'm a retired insurance company CEO and attorney. I have volunteered with the Terrafirma Claims Committee since 2012.

While we're both lawyers, we're not providing legal advice today. But we're offering you practical suggestions about risk management. We're here to talk with you for 90 seconds about a recurring mistake that land trusts make which results in denied claims. Terrafirma wants to cover claims, but needs you to file the claims on time.

Terrafirma is a tax exempt organization like a land trust.

For Terrafirma to be able to predict costs and be sustainable, a land trust must file a placeholder claim immediately at the first indication of a possible problem, even if trivial, uncertain or just barely amiss, in the policy year in which you knew or should have known of the possible problem.

This filing allows Terrafirma to know what claims it has for each policy year. The Terrafirma policy year is March 1 to March 1 of the following year.

Every year you have until April 30 to report a claim under the policy that just expired on March 1. This is known as a Claims Made and Reported policy.

Filing a placeholder claim takes mere minutes, has no adverse consequences to the Land Trust, and there is no obligation to proceed further. It also helps land trusts identify issues and take steps while the problem is small.

It bears repeating that even if the first indication of a possible problem is trivial or uncertain or even if something is just barely amiss, due diligence requires you to file a placeholder claim immediately. You can find the text of this video on the Info page of the Terrafirma website along with an infographic and other helpful information to help you file claims on time. Thank you for your attention and cooperation.

Thank you.