Denial Letter Decoder

Denial letters are written in a register that is precise for lawyers and opaque for everyone else. This tool takes the text of a letter and highlights the terms that carry weight, explaining what each one means and why it matters.

What the tool does and does not do

It identifies vocabulary. It finds terms that commonly appear in denial letters and explains them, then points you to a guide covering that term in depth.

It does not read your policy, evaluate your claim, or tell you whether the denial was correct. It cannot: it has never seen your policy, your state's law, or the facts of your loss. No tool can do that, and any tool that claims to is overstating what it knows.

How to use what it finds

1. Note which terms appeared. They tell you what kind of denial you received, and different kinds have different answers.
2. Find each cited provision in your own policy. The letter quotes it; read the whole thing, including any exceptions.
3. Look for carve-backs. Language such as "this exclusion does not apply to…" is where a good number of claims turn.
4. Separate the factual claims from the legal ones. Factual claims are answered with documentation. Legal ones are answered with policy language, and sometimes with a lawyer.
5. Write down every deadline in the letter, then add your policy's suit limitation deadline, which usually is not in the letter.