How long will California wildfire victims wait for insurance payouts?

Experts say it's incredibly difficult to gauge a timeline of when victims of the California wildfires will receive their insurance payouts, noting that it could be anywhere from a few weeks to several years. 

Candise Shanbron, managing partner of property damage law firm Cernitz Law, told FOX Business, that no one knows how long it will be before residents who have been impacted by the fires, which erupted this week across Los Angeles, will see insurance payouts.

Brian Braswell, senior vice president at independent insurance broker The Daniel and Henry Co., said the timing depends, in part, on the insurance company, coverage in place and the policy terms as well as the volume of claims. 

"Companies are inundated with claims. Imagine you have 100 claims a month, and now you have one million," Braswell said.

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Aside from the sheer volume of claims being handled, especially during a catastrophic event, Braswell said the complexity of the claim could also influence the speed of the payout.

The efficiency of the insurance company's claims processing system will also be a factor, he added. 

Braswell estimated that it could be as little as a few weeks or extend to years. However, "adjusters are motivated to pay/close claims to get them off their desk and move on to the next one," Braswell added. 

Shanbron said that the process looks different for everyone, even if they are facing the same damage.

For instance, insurance companies "constantly analyze financial data and compute how much money they need to have in reserves at any given time for purposes of reinvesting those funds and paying claims," Shanbron said. 

According to Shanbron, this is the reason why certain homeowners will get paid right away, while others with the same exact type of damage from the same loss might not get paid for six months or even years. 

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In some cases, they "might just flat-out deny the claim, hoping that nothing will ever come of it, or they deny the claim knowing that they will end up getting sued, but at least the denial and the waiting for the lawsuit to get filed will buy them more time that they need," Shanbron said. 

But given both the nature of fire losses and the demographics of the area affected by the fires, Shanbron doesn't believe that most insurance companies will "be dragging their feet." 

Still, Braswell said victims shouldn't wait to look at their insurance policy or ask questions and get a check, as "California's insurance market is already problematic, and it's about to get much worse." 

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Anthony Lopez, CEO of Your Insurance Attorney, told FOX Business that while the timeline may be impacted by several challenges, there are proactive steps that victims can take to "potentially offset delay." They include contacting your insurance provider immediately after the damage occurs, providing detailed documentation of the home or business through time, stamped before and after photographs and an estimate from a general contractor outlining costs to repair or replace, Lopez said.