What is Umbrella Insurance?

Steven Ladd
horansolution.com
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Horan Companies, Inc
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Question #33 in the 100 insurance questions in 100 days series. By Steve Ladd of Horan Companies, Inc. in Baldwinsville, NY.
“What is umbrella insurance?”
An umbrella policy is a personal liability policy that runs over and above all of the other policies that you have enforced. For example, if you have an auto insurance policy and you happen to need all of the amounts given to you on the liability portion of that policy and they get all used up but you're still responsible for further damages, then an umbrella policy will step in and provide an additional level of coverage. Umbrella policies typically start with $1 million in coverage and can go as high as $5 million and sometimes even higher than that depending on the needs of the specific individual.
Typically, you'll find that an umbrella policy will be needed on auto insurance claims as a separate extra bit of liability. However, it doesn’t just stop there. There are added protections as a result of it being attached to the home policy as well, motorcycle policy, boat policy, ATV policy, camper policy, you name it. As far as those things are concerned, the umbrella is going to ride over and above.
It also provides a few different things that might not also be included on any other policy that you have. It provides coverage for slander or libel which in our social media day and age can be very useful and actually, you can potentially find yourself in some bit of difficulty as it applies to things that we may or may not say in regard to our opinions on social media. The umbrella policy could step in and help in that category as well.
In addition to providing you coverage for any judgment against you, it also provides coverage for legal fees. It could be that someone filed what turned out to be a frivolous lawsuit against you but you still had to pay to defend yourself. In this case, the umbrella policy would step in and cover those legal fees. And if you’re a landlord, it will protect you from things like wrongful eviction, false imprisonment, false arrest, things of that nature, in addition to the other things that a landlord may come into contact with outside of just your general liability situations that occur at their home.
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