At some point, you have probably heard of umbrella insurance, but have no idea what it is. Well, first off, it does not cover the umbrella you protect yourself from the rain. It is a figure of speech. An umbrella policy is designed to shield you from almost everything that your home and auto insurance does not, as well as fill in gaps in coverage when the limits of your regular policy are exhausted.
Every day, there are personal lawsuits filed against ordinary citizens, with the reasons ranging from the frivolous to the justified. When and if this happens to you, you need to be prepared. More often than not, people are sued and have no extra protection to block the plaintiff from going after their personal assets in the lawsuit. To protect yourself from such a quandary, you need to have umbrella insurance.
An umbrella is often referred to as excess liability. This excess liability coverage kicks in when the underlying limits on your home or auto policy have been exhausted, or if you are sued personally for something that neither your home nor your auto insurance covers. Depending on the company, you can purchase anywhere from 1 to 5 million dollars worth of excess coverage, sometimes as high as 10 million.
The amount of coverage you select really depends on how much you are worth. If you have 5 million dollars worth of personal assets, you should get a 5 million dollar umbrella. It is not uncommon for someone to buy a 5 or 10 million dollar umbrella policy even if that number far exceeds their net worth, because the coverage is so cheap to buy.
Most insurance companies will not offer you the coverage unless you have both your home and auto already insured with them. Also, the insurer will require that you maintain a certain level of liability on the home and auto policies in order to qualify for the excess policy. Usually, you must maintain at least $250,000 of bodily injury liability per person, $500,000 per accident, and $100,000 for property damage for your autos, and $500,000 of liability for your home.
The coverage is cheap. It is possible to obtain 1 million dollars worth of excess liability for as little as $120 dollars. The more cars and homes you have, the higher the price for the insurance, but the cost is still low. In addition to your home and cars, liability associated with any other conveyances you may have, such as boats, motorcycles, and other recreational vehicles, may also qualify for coverage under the umbrella, depending on the insurance company.
You are probably wondering when the umbrella would actually come into play. Here is an example: If you are involved in an auto accident where you crashed into a pedestrian who was walking on the sidewalk, resulting in medical expenses for that person that costed more than what your auto policy covered, the umbrella would be used. Or, if that pedestrian then decides to sue you for negligence and seeks punitive damages, your umbrella can be utilized to cover your legal expenses and to pay any judgements levied against you.
It is also important to understand that the excess liability covers you for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with your cars or homes. Things such as personal injury protection are covered. This includes false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation, invasion of privacy, wrongful entry, or eviction.
Also, some umbrella policies provide coverage for you if you are sued in connection with any charitable boards or organizations of which you are a member. You may have to contact your insurance company and pay an extra premium for this type of coverage.
I hope this has helped illuminate to you the importance of having umbrella insurance. Without it, your personal assets are totally vulnerable in any lawsuit or legal action. Talk to your agent about it and ask how much it costs. Even though multi-million dollar lawsuits are not common, they can happen. So, an umbrella is probably worth it.
A wedding day should be perfect in every way and nothing should get in the way of perfection. However, it's important to be realistic about things.
The fact is that things do go wrong, venues can get double booked, dresses can get damaged and florists can go out of business. So, what do you want to run the risk of a small problem completely ruining your day? Choosing not to insure your wedding is a big gamble to take, and is it one that you can afford to take?
Your wedding day should be the happiest day of your life. You have spent weeks, months or even years planning the special day and it is your right to enjoy every last bit of it. No-one ever expects that things can go wrong but the fact of the matter is that things can and do go wrong.
Last year, I read an article about a bride who had been meticulously planning her wedding day. She was super organised and had everything right down the wedding favours all bought, paid for and organised. Everything was all done and dusted months in advance and she - like many other brides - was organising a big event on a small budget.
Whenever something was on sale, she bought it and stored it to save cost. Unfortunately, however, she made cutbacks when it came to wedding insurance.
This is an area in which so many brides decide to take a gamble and not bother splashing out on something that they probably won't need anyway. But, beware because it could make or break your day as was the case with this poor bride. 4 weeks before her wedding the wedding venue was set alight by some locals.
Suffice to say, the entire building including bar area, restaurant area and kitchen area was completely destroyed.
Not having opted for wedding insurance, this poor bride not only lost her wedding venue but also her deposit and at such short notice was not able to find a suitable alternative venue.
The story did have a happy ending because a close friend had just purchased a plot of land and a barn. The barn had recently been converted and was lying vacant. Her guests rallied round and between them were able to arrange table linen, chairs, decoration and caterers.
However, she did end up having to pay through the nose for last minute caterers not to mention the extra expense of calling her guests to advise of the venue location. Despite the dreadful shock and disappointment of this awful tragedy, she had a super wedding day that all went perfectly. But, you may not be so lucky.
Everyone has a budget to stick to when planning a wedding, but when you are making cutbacks try to weigh up which cut backs are sensible and which ones are just silly.
Nearly every wedding goes perfectly but there are weddings that due to circumstances completely out of anyone's control, where things do go wrong.
Best advice is to take out some sort of wedding insurance, even if it only covers the venue, outfits, flowers and photographer. Shop around for the best deal as some wedding insurers do packages from as little as ?50, and this ?50 could be money very well spent!
Both Jim Pretin & Mark Stephens are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Jim Pretin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Insurance, Medicine and Homeopathic Remedies. Jim Pretin is the owner of , a service that helps programmers make an HTML form. Jim Pretin's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.
Mark Stephens has sinced written about articles on various topics from The Internet, Golf Guide and Wedding Bells. This article is brought to you by and sponsored by. Mark Stephens's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.