What Is Legal Expenses Cover for Home Insurance?
Family Legal Protection, or Legal Expenses Insurance provides financial cover to help you pay legal fees if you require professional legal assistance for a range of circ*mstances. Every insurance provider that offers this valuable, often additional protection will have varying types and amounts of cover available.
What’s covered under Legal Protection?
Cover will vary from insurer to insurer so it’s always important that you check your own policy to find out what cover you have in place.
Some considerations:
- Claims are usually subject to a minimum amount in dispute i.e. claims for disputes less than £250 plus VAT would not be covered.
- They need at least a 51% chance of success when reviewed by a legal professional for the claim to be accepted.
- You must seek advice through your legal insurer and take instruction before incurring any legal costs or pursuing separately.
- Sometimes there is a qualifying period of cover before claims are accepted i.e. Property infringement (because these sorts of issues don’t just start overnight)
Here we take a look at some of the circ*mstances you may expect to be covered, and what it means for you in real terms.
Property sale & purchase
This can often be a long drawn out process, and is almost certainly an expensive one. The last thing you need is more cost should a contractual dispute arise from the sale or purchase of your property. Legal protection cover safeguards you in cases of disputes with the estate agent, buyer/seller, or the removals firm. This coverage assists in addressing the costs associated with legal action.
Consumer pursuits
There may be a breach of contract for goods or services you have bought or rented. Perhaps you have hired a carpet cleaner for the weekend and the firm isn’t refunding the deposit, or you’ve hired a firm to re-do the guttering on the house but they have only completed half the job, and you already paid upfront. Managing and resolving these scenarios will incur costs when pursuing legal action.
Consumer defence
This can include any disputes arising from selling your own personal goods or that of the family. Note that this would not cover any business activity.
Property infringement
Trouble with neighbours. What if your neighbour had a new fence erected and it has ventured onto your side on the boundary line, or it has damaged the garden. These are common issues that occur as well as situations with unsociable or noisy neighbours. Legal Expenses can cover the costs of legal action for these types of problems.
Property damage
You may come home one day to find damage to your property but no-one has admitted liability. In cases such as these, legal protection cover could help.
The Intelligent Insurance home insurance policy includes all of this valuable cover as standard at no extra cost. Cover is up to £25,000, subject to policy wording and claims limits, with no excess to pay.
For a small additional premium, you can upgrade cover to Family Legal Protection Plus, increasing your cover to £100,000 and including additional important cover in the following areas:
Personal Identity Fraud
Identity fraud is a rapidly growing issue with no signs of slowing down. It takes many forms. Fraudsters might use your details to open bank accounts, order products in your name, or obtain credit cards and loans. They can even take out mobile phone contracts. Criminal activity like this can become very serious – with several known cases of fraudsters even obtaining items such as a passport or driving licence, all in a person’s name.
Understandably, this experience can be very stressful. That’s why we have included cover for personal identity fraud and access to a 24-hour legal helpline in our Family Legal Protection Plus policy.
Keep Your Identity Safe with These Tips:
- Always store bills out of plain sight
- Contact your bank if a regular statement fails to arrive in the post
- Use Royal Mail to redirect your post when moving
- Shred paperwork that includes your name, address, or bank details
- Avoid saving passwords or PINs in obvious places; memorise them or use a secure password manager application
Employment Disputes
Disputes with your employer can come out of the blue and many such issues that arise are unforeseen. One such example would be unfair dismissal where the case resulted in a tribunal.
Personal Injury
What would you do if you were involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault?’ is a common question. It’s wise to prepare for such incidents, even though we all hope to avoid them. Did you know that accidents at home, in cars, at work, and outdoors injure over 3 million people annually, with most not being at fault?
Personal injury cases are complex, but you often have the option to claim against the responsible party or company that caused the accident. This can often be a costly process, which is why having Home Insurance Legal Cover is advantageous. This cover can help pay the legal expenses for pursuing any proceedings.
Clinical Negligence
Medical negligence happens when a doctor or healthcare professional does not meet acceptable treatment standards, leading to patient injury. In this scenario, you may be able to take legal action to pursue compensation.
Home Insurance Legal Coverage: Detailing the Exclusions
Legal Expenses Insurance is strictly there to cover legal costs, not compensation itself.
If you’re liable for damages relating to your car or home, a standard car or home insurance policy pays out for this.
This ‘Before the Event’ (BTE) cover does not include pre-existing disputes, legal costs incurred before your claim’s acceptance, and often excludes matters such as family law
Is Home Insurance Legal Cover Worth it?
Legal action often comes with high costs. If you need a solicitor, Home Insurance Legal Cover reassures you by potentially covering these fees. Considering these costs, the small additional premium for this type of cover is generally worthwhile. It’s crucial to know that the Intelligent Insurance home insurance policy automatically covers you up to £25,000 for certain incidents. However, if your legal bill exceeds this amount, the policy does not cover the additional costs. By upgrading to the Plus cover, you have peace of mind that you are getting up to £100,000 of legal expenses cover which should cover a lot of the scenarios described here that rack up the legal bills.
If you’d like a new quote for home insurance, or would like to add Family Legal Plus cover to your existing policies, get in touch with one of our helpful advisors via live chat or by calling 03333 11 11 10.
