Just because it's cheap is no reason to buy it!
May 03 '00
I see comments here about buying umbrella insurance, mentioning how "little extra" it costs. One even from another lawyer, with lots of information about the basics of being sued and having judgments against you, etc. No offense to my epinions colleagues, but I disagree. These comments miss the real point about "umbrella" coverage. Umbrella coverage is cheap because it is so rarely collected on. It is cheap because it only kicks in when your basic policy is depleted, and the policy limits are exhausted. It is cheap, because no insurer will write such insurance unless you have good basic coverage to start with.
Most of the other epinions here give great reasons to have liability coverage in general, including good homeowners or renters insurance, and good auto coverage, with a fairly substantial liability coverage limit. But few people really need more than a 1 million dollar liability limit, which is the point where most umbrella coverages start. Umbrella coverage is generally covering your liability which exceeds 1 million, but is less than 5 or 10, depending on what you buy.
I am also a lawyer, and have seen some real catastrophic liability cases. But even the most catastrophic cases- and I mean lifetime care in the multi-millions- will be settled with the homeowner for the "policy limits" by almost all plaintiff's lawyers. So having five million in coverage rather than 1 million will simply make the plaintiff's lawyer wealthier, by giving him a shot at a bigger pot of money. Is that what you want to do?
I don't recommend umbrella coverage, unless you have liquid assets of well over 1 million. Otherwise, a good basic liability coverage, with policy limits of 500,000 or 1 million, should be plenty for most folks. That amount will provide plenty of legal defense, and will cover any eventuality which might possibly occur.
In most cases, umbrella coverage will only profit the insurance company.
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Epinions.com ID:
dkarmol
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Member: Dave Karmol
Location: Great Falls, Virginia
Reviews written: 125
Trusted by: 21 members
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