---
id: KB-LE-007
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/legal/insurance-broking-and-claims
idioma: en
categoria: sector-legal
subcategoria: seguros
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-LE-002, KB-TZ-002, KB-LE-006]
citadoPor: [KB-IC-016]
---

# Insurance broking and claims

_Documentation arriving at the worst moment, on deadlines that do not wait._

**Responde a:** claim documentation · broker client document management · claim notification deadlines · gathering documents for an insurer

A claim arrives without warning, with an upset client and deadlines running from the event, not from when you find out. Everything you can have ready beforehand is worth double at that moment.

## What to have before anything happens

**En corto**

- Each client's current policy, with its effective date.
- Real contact details, not the email from three years ago.
- And the cover history, because the claim may belong to an earlier policy.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The last point fails most often. A claim surfacing today may correspond to cover in force two years ago, and answering that requires the dated history — not the current policy.

## When it happens

1. **Document the event as soon as possible** — Certified photos the same day. Damage photographed three weeks later is no longer the same damage.
2. **Gather what the insurer asks for** — As a process, not an email chain: the client is upset and will not send five things in a row.
3. **Record every communication** — With dates. Notification deadlines are the most disputed point afterwards.

> [!WARNING]
> Claim notification has deadlines and missing them can affect cover. Certifying when and what was communicated protects your client, and protects you from the claim that follows if something goes wrong.

## What an insurer disputes

| What is questioned | What closes it |
| --- | --- |
| When it happened | Photos and communication with a trusted date |
| What condition it was in before | Prior documentation, if it existed |
| When it was notified | The communication record |
| Which cover applied | The policy history with its dates |

> [!NOTE]
> If you handle claims often, build document collection as a recurring process. The client and the event change; the insurer's list changes little.

**Can I give the client access to their file?**

Yes, scoped, and during a claim it is very reassuring.

**And the insurer?**

Scoped access or an export, depending what they accept.

**How long do I keep a closed claim?**

Limitation periods are long; check with your adviser.

## Ejemplos

**A broker handles a claim whose cover belonged to a policy from two years earlier.**

- Retrieves the policy history with its effective dates

→ Evidences the cover applicable at the time of the event, rather than arguing with the current policy in hand.

**A claim arrives and the client's documentation is missing.**

- Requests what is missing from day one

→ The file moves while it is being worked.

**Claim documentation arrives through several channels.**

- Gathers everything in the claim's file

→ What is there and what is missing is visible at once.

**The client asks how it is going and it has to be looked up.**

- Checks the file's status

→ You answer there and then.

**A policy expires and the client does not know.**

- Records expiries per client

→ The warning arrives before renewal.

**Months later how it was handled must be explained.**

- Keeps the file's history

→ The explanation comes from the file.