Timely Claim Filing

Hi! I'm Marialuisa Gallozzi. I'm a lawyer and a volunteer with the Terrafirma Claims Committee for the last several years. I'm 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.

You might remember us from the Terrafirma video last year regarding timely filed claims.

We're back with some additional information and another annual reminder.

But first, while we're both lawyers, we're not providing legal advice, but offering practical suggestions about risk management.

We're here to talk with you for about ninety seconds about a recurring mistake that land trusts make which results in denied claims.

Terrafirma wants to cover claims but needs you to file 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 also includes filing a claim for a problem that a neighbor or landowner has promised to fix but has not done so. Assurances are not a resolution and the problem still exists.

Timely filing allows Terrafirma to know what claims it has for each policy year.

The Terrafirma policy year is March 1 to March 1 of each year. Each year, you have until April 30 to report the Claims under the policy that just expired on March 1.

This is what 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's no obligation to proceed further. It also helps land trusts identify issues and take steps while the problem is small. Further, it allows Terrafirma to offer insights from other land trusts that have experienced similar issues.

It bears repeating that even if the first indication of a possible problem is trivial or uncertain, or even just barely amiss, or if the person causing the problem has promised to fix it, but hasn't done so yet,

due diligence requires you to file a placeholder claim immediately. You can find the text of this video on the information page of the Terrafirma website along with an infographic and other helpful information to help you file claims on time.

Thanks for your attention and cooperation.

Thank you.