What is legal expenses cover?

Legal expenses cover is a type of insurance you can buy alongside your Commercial insurance portfolio to cover yourself against the potential costs of legal action either brought by you or against you. Circumstances that could result in legal costs include:

• Having to take action against a third party for negligence, or
• Needing to defend yourself against accusations made by a third party.

Legal expenses cover can also be taken out as an add-on, in which case it typically covers legal proceedings relating to your business, any death or personal injury and the supply of goods or services.

The maximum you can claim is varies from a few hundred thousand up to millions.

How much does legal expenses cover cost?

The cost of adding legal expenses cover to your Commercial insurance policy is generally around £100 to £1,000 a year.

Some deluxe policies offer it as standard for no extra charge.

You might have to untick a box if you decide you don’t need the cover.

What are the advantages of taking out legal expenses cover?

The cost of legal proceedings can be huge. So taking out legal expenses cover would prove a very worthwhile move if you needed to take legal action for any reason, for example following any action being brought against you.

Legal expenses cover can also be used to recover any excess you have to pay as a result of an incident in which you were not at fault.

Plus, it usually entitles you to access to a free legal helpline, which could be a valuable source of advice on legal matters.

What are the disadvantages of taking out legal expenses cover?

One of the main issues with legal expenses cover is that there are no guarantees your claim will be accepted.

You will, for example, only be allowed to make a claim if it is completely clear who was to blame for the accident and the insurer expects the legal action to go in your favour.

Claims may also be rejected if too much time has passed since the incident, or the insurer does not feel the amount being contested is high enough to warrant court action.

This would be the case if the amount involved was £500, but the insurer expected the case to cost say £1,000.

Do I need legal expenses cover?

The main benefit is the peace of mind that comes with knowing you won’t have to cover the cost of pursuing legal action should that become necessary.

What else do I need?

For more information or a quotation for this type of cover, please Contact Us, call 01702 560230 or email us at [email protected]