And here's something interesting. The United States temporarily has NO ESTATE TAX. So now is the time to "kick the bucket" if you want to enrich your heirs:
Yeah, but it won't last long. It is about to be changed to a Hefty 55% tax. Government policy has to pay for all the Spending between the last two Presidencies.
Also you better read you insurance policy. Most of the time they are going to want you to have receipts or something showing what you bought these items. If you can keep them online that would be good. Also, most insurance companies will make you get them appraised after a certain point. A lot of times it is due to the amount of money involved and when you are talking about a lot of a certain item then it becomes a collection which you will need additional insurance or even a different coverage by another company. When you read your policy make sure you go over these main sections:
LOSSES INSURED
LOSSES NOT INSURED
CONDITIONS
ADDITIONAL COVERAGES
EXCLUSIONS
Many home owners policies have caps. They may cover you on personal property, which is usually found under coverage B, up to a percentage of your coverage on the house but there are limits depending on the situation. Say you have a 150,000 limit on personal property. Well it depends on what happened and where. Some coverage can be found off property and some can't. Say jewelry got stolen on property. It might be covered up to $500 or $1,000 as a standard policy limit anything more you better have bought another policy or paid for additional coverage on the particular limit.
You also need to make sure you know what kind of loss we are talking about. A Fire Loss, which includes most storm related damage is standard with your typical home owners policy.
***Be Informed*** That the majority of people in the US do not have a Flood Policy. If your house gets flooded you are responsible in most cases. This is the biggest misconception in the insurance business. Many people think just because they bought the BEST policy offered by a typical insurance company they are covered on everything. ThAT IS NOT THE CASE. Most Flood policies can be bought separate usually by the government and it depends on the area you live in. Next to the ocean or a large river that has overflowed in the past. But even these flood policies are very very limited. Also, you have to have the area you live in to be declared flooded. So this means that if you house floods due to heavy rains - No coverage found. You have to have an area flooded like a block which will include your neighbors house.
If you do have coverage of flooding on your standard home owners policy it is not really under flooding. It is usually under a Sewer and Backup Extension on the policy. But the insurance adjuster has to prove that this did happen by two things. One you have a sump pump that fails due power outage and two you have a drain in the floor in some spot that water could have backed up though.
Now keep in mind this is different from flood damage due to storm damage first. That is covered under the Fire policy and it usually Top Down. Where as the scenarios I mentioned above with flooding are Ground Up. Top Down coverage comes from wind damage which blows siding off or your roof off and then heavy rain water comes down in and damaged insulation, ceilings, walls, and what is on the walls (Framed Posters). Now the structure is covered under Coverage A but pictures, posters, TV's, and anything else that can be considered hanging on the wall or next the water will be covered under Coverage B portion of the policy. Personal Property is usually considered anything that can be picked up and taken away from the house in the event of a homeowner moving. If not then it is part of the structure of the house and is covered under Coverage A which is almost always higher than the limit under Coverage B.
Sorry for being a bit lengthy but hopefully this was informative to many people who took the time to read it. If you have any questions call your insurance company to have them clarify the policy language and don't be alarmed if your agent can't give you a direct answer. One, usually they don't know and two, it is usually not in their best interest to interpret the policy due to possible lawsuits.
Chad