General

 

At this time in the state of Texas, it is not illegal to waive an insurance deductible per opinion written many years ago by Jim Mattox, the Attorney State General of Texas. However it is illegal to submit fraudulent documents to recover the depreciation.

There is a bill going through legislation in Austin at this session that will be  =discussing deductibles and the obligation of property owners to pay. The bill requires contractors to have this verbiage in their contracts or they will be conducting business illegally. Information concerning this can be found at roofingcontractors-texas.com

Your insurance Loss Statement may contain the following verbiage concerning recovering depreciation. “ANY PERSON WHO KNOWINGLY PRESENTS A FALSE OR FRAUDULENT CLAIM FOR THE PAYMENT OF A LOSS IS GUILTY OF A CRIME AND MAY BE SUBJECT TO FINES AND CONFINEMENT IN STATE PRISON” TX ARTICLE 3.97-2

OR

Your additional claim of $___, based on the attached LOSS RECAP report should include submission of the amount actually and necessarily spent to repair or replace the damaged property, including 1) paid bills; 2) receipts; and/or 3) cancelled checks. This documentation should include evidence that you incurred your policy deductible.