An umbrella home insurance policy could be the thing you need to protect yourself when the worst happens. Home insurance is essential to protect your most significant investment and cover other unexpected issues associated with your property. Liability coverage with your homeowners’ policy protects you when you are at fault for a loss, but it only protects you up to your policy limits. Therefore, it is here where an umbrella insurance policy comes into play.
Umbrella Insurance Home Policy and What It Entails
Here are some things to discuss about umbrella insurance home policies.
What Is Umbrella Coverage?
Umbrella insurance extends additional liability protection past the limits of your existing policies. It pays if you are responsible for damages or injuries that cost more than your liability coverage limits. Umbrella insurance is similar to excess liability insurance, which provides higher limits on your existing liability coverage. However, most umbrella policies also offer additional coverage beyond the base policies.
What Does an Umbrella Insurance Home Policy Cover?
While policy coverages vary depending on several factors, your umbrella home insurance policy may cover you and other household members against lawsuits for such issues as:
• Causing damage to another’s property
• Causing injury to another person
• Defamation
• False imprisonment
• Landlord liability
• Legal defense for covered losses
• Overseas travel liabilities
• Psychological harm and mental distress
• Additional items not covered by home policies
Why Consider an Umbrella Insurance Home Policy
Umbrella insurance policies typically pay for damages beyond the liability limits and associated legal expenses on top of those limits. For example, if you held an umbrella policy with liability coverage of $1 million and someone sued you for the full amount, your insurer would cover the $1 million plus the cost of your legal defense or fees if they found you liable in court.
What Types of Scenarios Are Covered?
An umbrella insurance policy would cover many different types of scenarios. Here are some samples:
• Your child punches another child during a fight at school, and the other child’s parents file a lawsuit.
• Your dog jumps the fence and attacks a neighbor walking by your house. The neighbor files a suit to cover her lost wages, medical bills, pain, and suffering.
• Your teenager has a party at your home while you are away. A party guest brings alcohol, and another teenager is arrested for drunk driving on the way home, resulting in a lawsuit against you.
• You send food to your child’s school for a class party. Several families sue you when their children come down with food poisoning.
• A repairman visiting your property to fix a leaky pipe slips on the stairs and suffers an injury.
• One of your social media posts may be libelous, and someone may sue you.
What Is Not Covered?
Most umbrella insurance policies do not cover business liability, personal medical bills, or physical property damage. Some policies also have exclusions, such as for particular dog breeds or recreational vehicles. The following exclusions are typical:
• Injuries to yourself
• Intentional injury to another
• Injuries caused while conducting business
• Damage to your own property
• Intentional damage to another’s property
• Property damage caused while conducting business
• Liability assumed through a contract
About Sine Insurance
At Sine Insurance Group, we are dedicated to providing you with custom-tailored insurance policies to protect your assets. Our comprehensive packages have been expertly crafted to serve St. Louis and the surrounding areas for the past 25 years. For more information about our products, contact us today at (855) 700-0889.