Appraisal Proceedings Documentation
Recording the chronology of the appraisal process.
A case drags on for four months. By the time you close it, you have forgotten which week you exchanged estimates, when the carrier appraiser went dark for two weeks, and the exact sequence of who proposed what. If the file goes to umpire or court, someone is going to ask, and "I think it was sometime in March" does not cut it.
The Appraisal Proceedings section is the chronology. It is the part of the report that says "here is what happened, in order, with dates." Without it, the reader has to piece the story together from emails. With it, the timeline is right there and the reasonableness of how you got from intake to award is self-evident.
This article lists what events belong in the chronology and how to keep running notes so you do not have to reconstruct it from memory at the end.
Key Events to Document
- Date of assignment/referral
- Initial contact with parties
- Inspection date and attendees
- Exchange of estimates/positions
- Negotiation meetings/calls
- Key decisions or turning points
- Resolution/agreement reached
Keep Notes