Insurance appraisal in Georgia
Georgia requires fire insurance to follow the standard fire policy that the Insurance Commissioner prescribes, and appraisal is part of that form. Outside the fire peril, the appraisal wording comes from your own policy. Georgia courts read appraisal narrowly, so a carrier can try to push a dispute about how much of a roof was damaged out of appraisal by calling it a coverage question.
At a glance
- Name an appraiser
- Set by your policy. Many forms say 20 days after a written request, but some Georgia forms give no number at all. Read the appraisal paragraph of yours.
- Choose an umpire
- Set by your policy. Where a number appears it is usually 15 days after the two appraisers are named.
- If they cannot agree
- A court, on request. Standard-form wording sends the request to a judge of a court of record, and some policies say only a court with jurisdiction.
- Does appraisal pause the deadline to sue?
- No automatic pause. Your policy's suit clause keeps running, and a Georgia appeals court has refused to use appraisal to revive a claim that was already time barred. The standard fire policy allows two years for fire losses. Other perils can carry a shorter period, often one year.
- Who may serve
- We found no Georgia license for property claim appraisers. Policies ask for a competent and impartial (some say disinterested) person. More below
Deadlines in Georgia
The clock
- Day 0Written demandEither party, in writing
- By agreementAppraisers namedNo fixed day count
- By agreementUmpire chosenBy agreement, or a court appoints
- On siteInspectionBoth estimates, line by line
- The awardAward signedAny two of three
- After the awardPaymentOften 60 days after proof of loss (policy loss-payment clause)
Appraisal starts with a written demand from one side. The days that follow come from the appraisal paragraph of your policy. Some forms give 20 days to name an appraiser and 15 days for the appraisers to agree on an umpire. Other Georgia forms set no number, so do not assume one.
Before you send a demand, find the suit deadline in the same policy and write it down. In Georgia that deadline does not wait for appraisal. Send the demand in writing, keep proof of delivery, and name your appraiser in the same letter if the policy allows it.
What the panel decides
Amount of loss only, read narrowly
The Georgia Supreme Court has said an appraisal clause can resolve a disputed issue of value and no more. In McGowan v. Progressive Preferred Insurance Co., 281 Ga. 169 (2006), an auto case, the court held that appraisal cannot be used to decide liability or wider claims, and it treated appraisal as a way to fix value rather than as arbitration, which Georgia does not allow in insurer and insured contracts.
The Court of Appeals applied that line to a roof in Lam v. Allstate Indemnity Co., 327 Ga. App. 151 (2014). The carrier agreed wind had damaged a few shingles. The owner said the damage ran further. By a 4 to 3 vote the court treated that disagreement as a coverage dispute and refused to enforce appraisal. Three judges dissented and would have called it an amount-of-loss question. Because of Lam, the way a disagreement is described matters. A dispute about what it costs to repair damage the carrier accepts is the strongest fit for appraisal.
Who may serve
Georgia has no license for property claim appraisers that we could find. The standard fire policy and most forms ask for a competent person who is impartial or disinterested. Georgia's Court of Appeals set aside the work of an insurer's appraiser in 1927 because he refused to weigh estimates that cut against the insurer and had already done adjusting work on the same claim (National Fire Ins. Co. v. Bennett, 36 Ga. App. 586). The contractor who will do the repairs, a public adjuster paid a share of the claim, or anyone employed by a party is open to the same challenge.
The award
Under the common clause a decision signed by any two of the three, the two appraisers or an appraiser and the umpire, sets the amount of loss. Georgia treats appraisal as a way to fix value, not as arbitration, so we do not point to the arbitration statute's list of grounds here. We found no Georgia statute that lists grounds to set an appraisal award aside. An award that strays into coverage, or one made with a partial appraiser, is the kind most likely to be challenged. Payment timing comes from the policy's loss-payment clause, which in one Georgia homeowners case made the loss payable 60 days after proof of loss (Thornton v. Georgia Farm Bureau, 287 Ga. 379 (2010)).
Points particular to Georgia
The standard fire policy covers the fire peril only. In White v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (Ga. 2012) the Georgia Supreme Court held that O.C.G.A. § 33-32-1 reaches the fire portion of a multiple-line policy and not other perils. It also held the Commissioner could not use Rule 120-2-20-.02 to stretch the standard form's two-year suit period to theft and other non-fire coverage. A homeowners policy can therefore allow two years to sue on a fire loss and a shorter period, often one year, on wind, hail, water or theft.
Georgia courts enforce shortened suit clauses. In Thornton v. Georgia Farm Bureau the Supreme Court held a one-year clause ran from the date of the fire and did not pause during the insurer's 60-day payment period. In Aaron v. Georgia Farm Bureau, 297 Ga. App. 403 (2009), the Court of Appeals refused to order appraisal after the one-year period had run. Count backward from the date of loss before you demand anything.
Georgia's bad-faith penalty statute, O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6, is a separate track. It requires a written demand for payment and 60 days to pass before a policyholder can seek the penalty, which can be the greater of 50 percent of the insurer's liability for the loss or $5,000, plus attorney's fees if a court finds bad faith. An appraisal demand is a different step and does not replace it.
Common losses in Georgia
Each one links back to how we look at that kind of loss.
Questions
Does my Georgia homeowners policy have an appraisal clause?
Almost always. Georgia law requires fire insurance to follow the Commissioner's standard fire policy, and the standard form includes appraisal. Homeowners policies also carry their own appraisal paragraph. Look in the conditions section under the heading Appraisal.
How long do we have to name an appraiser in Georgia?
Whatever your policy says. Many forms use 20 days from the written request, and some Georgia forms give no number. Reply in writing as fast as you can and keep proof of delivery.
Who chooses the umpire in Georgia if the appraisers cannot agree?
A court, when either side asks. The standard-form wording sends the request to a judge of a court of record. Some policies say only a court with jurisdiction, so read your umpire paragraph.
Can the appraisers decide whether my loss is covered in Georgia?
No. The Georgia Supreme Court has limited appraisal to disputed value (McGowan, 2006). The Court of Appeals went a step further in Lam (2014) and treated a fight over how much of a roof was wind damaged as a coverage question. That makes a clear, cost-based description of the disagreement important.
Does demanding appraisal pause the deadline to sue in Georgia?
Not by itself. Georgia enforces the suit clause in your policy, and the Court of Appeals refused to order appraisal after the period had run (Aaron, 2009). The standard fire policy gives two years on a fire loss, and other perils can be shorter, often one year. Find the date before you start.
Do appraisers need a license in Georgia?
We found no Georgia license for property claim appraisers. The policy asks for someone competent and impartial, so a contractor on the job or a person paid a share of the claim is open to challenge.
Before you decide anything
Has a claim in Georgia stalled on the number?
Tell us what happened and where. We'll read the policy and tell you plainly whether appraisal fits.
When you write to us
- We read the policy, the estimates on both sides and the letters that came with them.
- We tell you plainly whether appraisal fits the disagreement, and if it doesn't, who can help.
- If it fits, we confirm next steps in writing before anything starts.
Reviewed against the sources listed, October 2026. General information, not legal advice.