What is a demand letter, and how does it work?

What actually goes in it

A serious demand package is not a letter, it is a case file: the liability story told with the crash report, photographs, witness statements, and where warranted, reconstruction; the medical narrative walked chronologically from the emergency room through the last visit, tied to records and imaging; the damages itemized, bills, lost earnings, and the human losses described in specifics rather than adjectives; and the demand itself, a number, a deadline, and the terms of release. The exhibits do the persuading. An adjuster reads assertions skeptically and photographs literally, and the difference between a form letter and a trial-preview demand is routinely the difference between the opening offer and the closing number.

Timing is a valuation decision

The demand goes out when the case can be fully valued, which normally means when treatment has stabilized and future care, if any, can be stated with medical support. Demanding early, while the medical picture is open, invites an offer priced against the unknown, in the carrier's favor. The exception runs the other way: when injuries are plainly severe and the policy is plainly small, waiting serves no one, and the demand becomes a limits demand sent as soon as the documentation supports it.

When the demand is also a weapon

In Texas, a properly constructed time-limited demand within the policy limits does something beyond asking for money: it arms the Stowers doctrine. If the demand is one a reasonably prudent insurer would accept given the risk of an excess verdict, and the carrier unreasonably refuses, the carrier can become responsible for the entire judgment above its own limits. That is why the strongest demands are engineered, unconditional release, clean terms, reasonable window, complete proof, and why carriers treat them differently than correspondence. This firm has taken a refused demand through verdict to a recovery beyond the policy, and the demand was where that case was really built.

What happens after it lands

Expect acknowledgment, a review period commonly running thirty to sixty days, and then a response: acceptance, a counteroffer that begins negotiation, or silence and denial that tell you litigation is the path. Every outcome is information. A carrier that lowballs a documented demand is pricing your lawyer's willingness to file suit, and the answer to that price signal is the courthouse, which is precisely why the demand should be written by someone the carrier believes will walk there.

Injured in Arizona? Some rules on this page are Texas-specific. Arizona differs on points that change outcomes, including pure comparative fault and government-claim deadlines. See our Arizona answers or call (888) 508-6967.

Related: Policy Limits & Stowers · What Is My Case Worth? · Submit Your Case · All Common Questions

This page is general information about Texas law, not legal advice about your specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes depend on facts; talk to a lawyer about yours.