The problem
You have home insurance, but when a loss event occurs — a flood, a burglary, a fire — the carrier asks you to prove the prior state of the damaged items. The photos on your phone only carry EXIF metadata, which the carrier (or an opposing appraiser) can plausibly argue has been altered. Word against word, and you are in a weak evidentiary position.
The same applies to motor liability claims: the state of the vehicle before the accident, mileage, pre-existing dents — all elements that affect damage quantification and that are routinely contested. Without objective proof of what existed when, settlement drags on or closes for amounts below what is owed.
ExistBefore adds an independent cryptographic timestamp to photos and documents, verifiable by anyone, that objectively proves the certain date on which that precise file existed.
When to attest
- Photos of the home at policy inception: a series of photos per room, valuable furniture, artwork. Attest each photo. Store the certified PDF together with the policy.
- Periodic update photos: a new series every 12–24 months, or after significant purchases (furniture, appliances, jewelry).
- Vehicle condition before a trip: for motor liability or rental policies, photos of bodywork, interior, and odometer before departure. Useful in disputes over pre-existing damage.
- Warehouse inventory: for businesses with valuable stock, a quarterly photo inventory. In case of theft or fire, you objectively prove what was there before.
- Pre-existing medical records: for accident or health policies, attest clinical exams and reports that document the state of health before a contested event.
- Party-appointed technical appraisals: appraiser reports, structural calculations, real-estate valuations. Attest the PDF at the time of preparation to prove chronology.
Integrating ExistBefore into your workflow
- Policy inception: as soon as the policy is signed, take a series of photos of the insured items and attest each photo. The certified PDF goes into the same folder as the policy.
- Periodic update: every 12–24 months (or after relevant purchases) repeat the operation. A cryptographically attested timeline is far stronger than a single snapshot.
- In case of loss: provide the carrier with the policy, the original photos, and the relevant ExistBefore certificates. The opposing appraiser can recompute the photo's hash and compare it with the certificate — if they match, the photo is exactly that one, dated on that date, regardless of any modifiable metadata.
- In litigation: the T1 certificate (qualified eIDAS timestamp) is admissible as evidence in court across all EU Member States; outside the EU, it is still strong technical evidence accepted under standard rules of electronic records.
Concrete example: apartment flood
March 2025 you sign a home policy. On the day of signature you take 30 photos: each room, the bathroom with the new shower, the kitchen with the recently installed oven, the living room with the leather sofa and the artwork on the wall. You attest each photo with ExistBefore, download 30 certified PDFs and archive them in private cloud storage and on an external drive.
November 2026 a leak from the upper floor floods your apartment. The damage is significant: parquet to be redone, sofa lost, artwork damaged. The carrier's appraiser asks you for proof of the items' state before the flood. You produce the 30 photos + 30 ExistBefore certificates. The carrier cannot contest the date — it is cryptographically proven by an accredited TSA. The settlement closes quickly and at correct amounts.
What ExistBefore does not prove
- It does not prove economic value of the photographed items. That requires an appraisal or a purchase invoice.
- It does not prove ownership: it proves the photo existed, not that the photographed items are yours. Ownership requires titles, invoices, deeds.
- It does not replace the loss notice: the standard procedure with the carrier (notice within contractual deadlines, documentation, possible appraisal) remains mandatory.
- It does not prove the photo's authenticity in itself: an attested photo may have been manipulated before attestation. ExistBefore proves only that that file existed on that date. The carrier may still require a separate authenticity expert review of the photo itself.
Legal references
- EU Regulation 910/2014 (eIDAS) — articles 41–43 on the legal effect of qualified electronic timestamps.
- UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce — international framework for electronic records and timestamps.
- Burden-of-proof rules — most civil law systems (and common law equivalents) place the burden on the party asserting a right to prove the facts founding it. A cryptographic timestamp materially shifts the evidentiary balance in your favor.
Frequently asked questions
How do I prove the prior state of an insured item?
Take dated photos at policy inception or periodically and attest them with ExistBefore. The EU-qualified eIDAS timestamp objectively proves that those photos existed before the loss event, regardless of EXIF metadata.
Do insurance companies accept this evidence?
Yes. EU insurance companies accept qualified timestamps under EU Regulation 910/2014 (eIDAS) as objective evidence. In litigation, T1 timestamps are admissible in court and create a presumption of temporal accuracy (art. 41).
Are EXIF photo metadata enough on their own?
No. EXIF metadata are written by the device and can be modified with common software. ExistBefore adds verifiable external evidence: the SHA-256 hash is registered with an accredited TSA, and the hash + timestamp combination cannot be tampered with.
How many photos should I attest?
As many as the contestable items. Best practice: for a home, a series of photos per room at policy inception, repeated every 12–24 months. For a vehicle, photos of bodywork, interior and odometer before any significant trip.
Can I use ExistBefore after the loss?
Yes, but only to document the damage (post-loss photos), not to prove the prior state. To prove what existed before the loss, you must attest the photos before the event. A timestamp issued after the loss cannot, by definition, prove anything earlier.
Does ExistBefore work for technical appraisals?
Yes. A party-appointed appraisal (technical report, photos, calculations) can be attested as a PDF at the time of preparation. This proves that the appraisal existed on a specific date — useful in disputes about the chronology of valuations.
Ready to attest your photos?
Photos stay on your device. Only the SHA-256 hash (32 bytes) is transmitted.