A median of $157,700 across 4,566 households, much of it long-held family property. Inheriting a house brings an insurance problem that arrives before the paperwork is finished.
A policy follows the person who held it. When they die, the cover on the house becomes uncertain quickly.
Three things about a property between owners.
A homeowners policy insures a named person at a residence. When that person dies, the cover becomes limited and time-bound, and the house frequently sits unoccupied while an estate is settled. That combination, uncertain cover and an empty building, is the worst position a property can be in.
Nobody living there means the vacancy clause begins running, and vandalism and water damage are the first exclusions to apply. Probate takes months. Those two timelines do not care about each other, and the gap is where inherited houses get badly damaged.
You can only insure property you have a stake in. During probate that stake may sit with the estate rather than with you personally, which affects who the policy should name. It is solvable, and it needs doing deliberately rather than by leaving the old policy to run.
Cover through the gap between owners.
The estate, an heir or several. The policy should name correctly.
If not, a vacant property policy is usually the right answer.
Sell, rent or occupy are three different policies.
Tell us where probate stands, whether anybody lives there and what the plan is.
We cover the house through probate instead of leaving it exposed.
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