Published: February 23, 2007 12:27 am            

What newlyweds need to know about homeowners insurance

It was the wedding of your dreams and the honeymoon of a lifetime. Now you’re settling down to enjoy married life. You’ll probably do a lot of things to nurture your marital bliss — from slipping little love notes into each other’s brief cases or lunch bags, to learning the “right” way to argue. But don’t forget the more mundane things you need to do to protect your life together — including updating your homeowners insurance.

“Marriage creates tremendous life changes,” says Jeff Beyer, senior vice president and chief communications officer of Farmers Insurance Group. “One or both partners may change their names. Households and finances get merged. One party may move into the other’s current home, or they may move into a new house together. Whatever your housing arrangements, marriage means you will need to update your insurance to reflect your new marital status.”

Updating your policy involves a bit more than simply notifying your insurer of new names. Beyer offers the following tips to make sure your homeowners insurance meets your new needs as newlyweds:

1. What’s in a name? When it comes to your insurance policies, everything. If you or your spouse is changing your last name, be sure that’s reflected on your policy – both in terms of the policyholder and beneficiaries.

2. Inventory your stuff. Modern marriages are commonly the merging of two households, since most couples have lived on their own prior to marriage. Go through the entire house — yes, even the garage where you’ve stashed everything that doesn’t fit in the house. Open drawers, closets and crawl spaces. Make a list of all high-value items, including household appliances, electronics, jewelry, china, silverware, stemware, etc. This process will not only help you update your policy, it can also help eliminate items you don’t need or that you have multiples of – like microwaves, toasters, and other items.

3. While you’re making your inventory, take some pictures as well. Photograph or videotape your belongings in every room of the house. Write brand, make, serial numbers, models, years and dates of purchase on the back of photos of high-value items. If possible, staple original receipts or photocopies of receipts to the photos as well.

4. Store your inventory list, videotapes and photos in a safe place. These items will be invaluable if you ever need to make a claim. Consider a safety deposit box in your local bank or giving a copy to your Farmers insurance agent. Or, store originals at home in a fireproof box and complete copies at the home of a relative or friend. You may also choose to store the photos online.

5. Ask your insurance agent to add high value items — like jewelry, furs, art or antiques — to your policy. Otherwise, your policy may not adequately cover these items in case of loss.

Beyer notes that protecting your possessions does not have to be hard work.

To learn more about protecting your possessions, visit www.farmers.com.



‰ Courtesy of ARA Content

        

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