Personal Liability Insurance

Personal liability insurance protects your assets in the event that you (or a member of your household) accidentally injure another person or damage someone's property. It's known as ": third-party insurance," because it protects you if a third party files a claim against you.

Liability insurance will pay for a legal defense in the event of a lawsuit, and pay medical and /or property claims for which you are found legally liable, up to the limits of the policy. Personal liability insurance can be purchased as part of a package policy (such as homeowners, renters, or auto insurance), or as a separate policy (such as a personal umbrella liability).

Personal Umbrella Policy

Personal umbrella liability insurance is designed to protect you against a catastrophic lawsuit or judgment. It provides expanded coverage and increases the amount of your liability protection beyond the basic coverage provided under your homeowners/renters and auto insurance policies.

Unlike other types of liability coverage, personal umbrella liability insurance can be purchased as a separate policy. However, your insurer will require that you have underlying basic liability coverage (homeowners/renters insurance, auto insurance, or both) before you can purchase an umbrella liability policy. If you are found to be legally responsible for injuring someone or damaging someone's property, the umbrella policy will either pay the part of the claim in excess of the limits of your basic liability coverage, or pay for certain losses not covered by your basic personal liability insurance.

Why do you need it?

Standard homeowner's policies usually provide $100,000 to $300,000 worth of liability coverage. As well as the fact that most states now require you to carry auto insurance with minimum liability coverage (which varies from state to state). It is possible to purchase additional liability coverage under these policies, but amounts may be limited. In today's society, it's not unusual to hear of $1-million, $2-million, and even $10-million liability judgments against individuals. If someone is injured in your home, or if you cause a serious auto accident, you could be hit with such a judgment. Without a personal umbrella liability policy, anything beyond the liability coverage limits of your homeowners/renters or auto insurance policy will have to come out of your pockets.

How does it work?

Personal umbrella liability insurance supplements the basic liability coverage provided by your other insurance--it's designed to kick in when your other liability coverage is tapped out. Depending on the type of claim against you, your homeowners, renters, auto, or boat insurance coverage would be utilized first. Once the basic liability limit under the applicable policy is reached, your personal umbrella liability policy covers the remaining costs, up to the policy limits.