How to Buy Legal Insurance

Lawsuits can cost you good money. You have to bear expenses that arise throughout legal proceedings until a judgement is delivered. In case of lawsuits against you, you will bear similar expenses with the likelihood of high compensation payoffs. Legal insurance provides coverage for such expenses and payoffs. Follow these steps to buy a legal insurance policy.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Contact your legal advisor and assess your legal risks. If you do not have a legal advisor, it helps to get an assessment done from a partner of a law firm who has sufficient knowledge of US law.
2. Contact legal attorneys who offer legal insurance. You might want to shop around for associations who offer a legal coverage. These associations operate similar to HMOs where member lawyers pool together to offer free legal advice and services against the coverage. These lawyers get monthly pay for their participation, part of which comes from the regular premium you pay to their association. These plans are commonly known as ‘pre-paid' legal insurance plans.
3. Provide adequate details about your organization and firm setup. Your premium will usually depend on the type of business you are involved in and the likelihood of getting into legal turmoil.
4. Understand your coverage. Under the pre-paid legal insurance plan you are entitled to receive a certain number of free consultations on legal issues per year. These issues can range from vendor problems to customer dissatisfaction.
5. Ask about the free correspondence service where legal attorneys write letters and communicate with the disputed/concerned party on your behalf.
6. Confirm the litigation expense coverage under the ‘free litigation plan’. You may be required to pay for additional hours in cases of trial. Check the number of hours allotted under such a plan.
7. Shop around for the best quotes and choose a plan after studying the benefits in detail.

Tips & Warnings

• Pre-paid legal insurance plans are cheap, but factor in that his coverage is limited to the expenses that arise out of proceedings. It does not cover damages that occur when the court rules a decision against you wherein you have to pay a high compensation.
• Some plans do not provide coverage on past legal issues or issues that arise within a 90-day (3 -month) period after you join. Do not buy a plan if you anticipate legal action in the near future. Most likely, it will not be covered.