The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved updates to Citizens’ Personal Lines forms for policies with effective dates on or after February 1, 2020. Major updates are outlined below, which include changes based on the assignment of benefits reform legislation announced on June 19, 2019.
The terms assignee, assignment agreement and assignor are defined, and duties are updated for assignees and assignors.
A provision was added stating that an assignment agreement does not change obligations of the policyholder to perform duties required under a policy.
The Duties After Loss has been updated to provide additional detail and:
Enhance requirements for examination under oath and recorded statements
Further specify the information that must be included with proof of loss provided by the policyholder
The Suit Against Us condition has been amended to clearly identify a policyholder's and an assignee’s duties prior to filing suit.
The Loss Payment condition has been amended to specifically inform the policyholder that Citizens will not make duplicate payments for the same element of loss when they do not notify Citizens of the termination of an assignment agreement.
Notice of Change in Policy Terms
Citizens will send policyholders a Notice of Change in Policy Terms beginning with 2020 renewal offers. The content of each notice varies by policy form. These notices are available in the Policyholder Notices section for each policy form on the Personal section of the Agents site.
Resources
For more information, refer to the updated underwriting manuals and forms for each line of business, which are located in the Personal section of the Agents site.
Citizens provides agent communications online for historical purposes only, and the communications have not been updated to include any changes that may have been made after publication. Agents can find the latest information by reviewing the applicable underwriting manuals, and by logging in and accessing our FAQs, which are available from the top of any page on our website.
