Insurance appraisal in Massachusetts

At a glance

Name an appraiser

Ten days at each step (§ 100). The insurer names three proposed referees within ten days of the demand; you pick one within ten days and name three of your own; the insurer picks one within ten days.

Choose an umpire

The two referees choose a third within ten days; if they cannot, the Commissioner of Insurance appoints.

If they cannot agree

The Commissioner of Insurance, if the two referees cannot agree.

Suit deadline paused?

Partly. If the loss is referred within two years, the time to sue is not less than ninety days after the award (§ 99 form).

Licensing

Referees are chosen by the exchange-of-lists method in § 100 and must be disinterested. No one may serve over objection who has acted as a referee within the previous four months (§ 99). Ocean Side serves as a referee on Massachusetts claims under this procedure.

The clock

Appraisal in Massachusetts begins with a written demand from one party to the other. The deadlines in the table above run from that demand: first the period to name an appraiser, then the period for the two appraisers to agree on an umpire. Send the demand by certified mail with return receipt, and keep a copy with the policy.

Once the panel is complete, the appraisers inspect the property, prepare their estimates and work through the differences line by line. Only what they cannot settle goes to the umpire.

On the deadline to sue: Partly. If the loss is referred within two years, the time to sue is not less than ninety days after the award (§ 99 form).

What the panel decides

Amount of loss. Appraisers do not decide whether the policy covers the loss, interpret policy language, or rule on bad faith. Those questions stay with the courts.

Everywhere, including Massachusetts, the panel leaves alone whether the policy covers the loss, how the policy language is read, and whether the carrier acted in bad faith. Those are for the courts. An award that strays into them is the one most likely to be set aside.

Who may serve

Referees are chosen by the exchange-of-lists method in § 100 and must be disinterested. No one may serve over objection who has acted as a referee within the previous four months (§ 99). Ocean Side serves as a referee on Massachusetts claims under this procedure.

Whatever the statute says, the policy standard is the one that decides most challenges: an appraiser must be competent and impartial, or in some forms disinterested. The contractor who will do the work, a public adjuster paid a share of the claim, or anyone employed by a party does not meet it. We are paid a flat fee for that reason.

The award

The referees' award on the amount of loss is binding on the usual narrow grounds.

Points particular to Massachusetts

The hearing must be held within ten days after the third referee is chosen (§ 101), so the whole procedure can reach a hearing in about fifty days.

The referees' authority to fix the amount of loss carries with it the authority to find that no loss occurred (Augenstein v. Insurance Co. of North America, 372 Mass. 30 (1977)).

Common losses in Massachusetts

The disputes we see most often in Massachusetts arise from:

• Nor'easters and coastal wind
• Ice dams and winter storm
• Freeze and burst pipes

Flood is insured separately, usually through the National Flood Insurance Program, under federal rules rather than Massachusetts's. Its appraisal clause settles price only, and its deadlines are its own. How a flood claim works

Authorities

• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 99
• Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175, § 100
• The general guide to insurance appraisal

Statutes, regulations and case law change. This page was reviewed against official sources in October 2026 and describes the general rule; it is not legal advice about your claim.

Questions about appraisal in Massachusetts

Nearby: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont