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When you’re responsible for damage to someones property or for someones injuries it‘s a bad feeling and a real liability. The good news is that homeowner and renters policies can protect you from the financial worry.
Liability insurance is part of the standard Homeowners and Renters Insurance policy. This portion of coverage protects against property damage or bodily injury claims you are legally responsible to cover due to your own negligence. Liability insurance protects you from claims such as someone slipping and falling on your front porch or a child playing in your yard breaking an arm.
Another part of most homeowner or renter liability insurance is Guest Medical Protection. Often referred to as “good will” coverage, this part of insurance coverage will pay for medical treatment for non-relative visitors in your home, regardless of who is at fault.
Guest medical covers some of the most casual situations we might expose ourselves. For example another child on your daughters soccer team will miss Saturday’s game unless the other team families provide childcare for the weekend. You agree to have the little girl spend Friday night at your home, take her to the game and send her with the coaches family for Saturday night. Everything goes fine until bedtime when both girls think it is a slumber party and start acting up, causing problems. Eventually one of them knocks over a glass dish in the bathroom and the little girl spending the night steps on a piece and is bleeding all over the place.
The insurance protection you have makes it possible to rush the child to the nearest hospital so she can be seen by a doctor. The medical expenses resulting from this accident would be covered by your homeowners or renters policy guest medical coverage. Paying this type of expense encourages policy owners to be careful and act quickly to help mitigate any more damages and creates a feeling of “good will.”
The standard homeowner or renters policy typically covers $100,000 and will pay for damages, resulting from your negligence. This insurance will also pay for the legal costs of defending you against a claim. And, the guest medical payments part of your homeowners policy will cover medical expenses, if a neighbor or guest is injured on your property regardless of who is at fault. The standard amount of non-relative guest medical coverage is $1,000, but if you feel you need more, you can purchasing higher limits.
Today, with the multimillion-dollar lawsuits, you might feel your homeowners or renters liability limits may provide substantial liability coverage, but it still may not be enough to protect your assets. For more personal liability insurance coverage you may want to consider an Umbrella to supplement your current policies and provides additional coverage in increments of $1 million.
When you have visitors, and a non-relative is hurt don’t hesitate to use your Guest Medical Insurance regardless of how an accident or injury happens. People are generally less likely to sue for liability claims when we are able to help them quickly and without hesitation.
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- Personal Risk Management
- Personal Liability Umbrella Insurance
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