claims money

[trcoa1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
Is a homeowner obligated to spend the entire amount of money paid by an insurance company for a claim?
Example: a roof is damaged by hail. the insurance company writes it off as a total loss and pays to have the roof replaced.
The damage to the roof is actually minimal, maybe 25 shingles total damaged.
Can the homeowner legally replace the damaged shingles only or is he obligated to replace the whole roof? Does the homeowner have to pay back the difference in the cost of replacement vs. repair?

[JustAPal00]

Originally Posted by trcoa1

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
Is a homeowner obligated to spend the entire amount of money paid by an insurance company for a claim?
Example: a roof is damaged by hail. the insurance company writes it off as a total loss and pays to have the roof replaced.
The damage to the roof is actually minimal, maybe 25 shingles total damaged.
Can the homeowner legally replace the damaged shingles only or is he obligated to replace the whole roof? Does the homeowner have to pay back the difference in the cost of replacement vs. repair?

It's your money. Do what you want. If you don't replace the roof, make sure not to file any more roof claims! They will say it was pre existing damage and deny the claim. If you get any leaks, they will say it was from damage you decided not to repair and you will be SOL.

[moburkes]

Originally Posted by JustAPal00

It's your money. Do what you want. If you don't replace the roof, make sure not to file any more roof claims! They will say it was pre existing damage and deny the claim. If you get any leaks, they will say it was from damage you decided not to repair and you will be SOL.

Agreed. Think long and hard about this. Unless your adjuster was very carefully, they wouldn't have given you enough to replace the whole roof unless the thought it was really damaged. If this was a contents claim, I'd be more apt to tell you to do what you want, but since this could really backfire on you, I would tell you to replace the roof, even if you can get it replaced less expensively than what the check is for.