Every day there may be inconveniences and legal problems that present difficulties to be solved personally. A problem with a reservation and its consequent claim, a labor court procedure or with a neighbor who does not want to take charge of the cost derived from the leaks that it has caused. For all legal issues, from the advice to the processes themselves, are Legal Defense insurance. A coverage that includes in its portfolio of services some Car or Home policies, among others, but that can also be contracted independently for a more complete attention. [ITM image=”https://lotosun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/vidMayo.jpg” video=”35630925″]
What is a legal defense insurance?
The legal defense policies are intended to safeguard the interest of the insured in the face of problems that may be faced and that damage their property or rights. The main coverage is to defray the expenses generated to the people included in the policy, both in the processes initiated to make a claim and to defend them. Therefore, before administrative or judicial processes or claims, among others, if a policy of this type is contracted, an expert is responsible for advising the user, claims on his behalf and seeks to be compensated for the damage caused.
In this way, the user has legal backing without having to face the high costs that this usually requires, since the coverage may include attorney’s fees, fees, court costs, the notary and even bail in criminal proceedings.
Coverage of Legal Defense policies
The coverages that can include this type of insurance are wide and varied, and depend on the insurer and the specific product at the time of subscribing it. However, by law, specific legal defense insurance guarantees at least:
- Free choice of lawyer and attorney: the insured has the right to choose his own lawyer and attorney. The designation process is indicated in the policy itself and the condition is that the professional can exercise jurisdiction in the place where the covered procedure takes place.
- Independent defense of the insurer: in addition, the text also indicates that the lawyer or attorney can resolve the litigation “without depending on instructions from the insurer”.
- Professional fees: the insurer pays the professionals’ fees, but the policy may indicate a maximum amount in this respect, from which the difference will be paid by the insured.
- Urgent expenses: the company pays the fees derived from the interventions of attorneys and attorneys in cases that are urgent. This amount may also have limits.
- Appeals, appeals and transactions: the policy establishes when it is possible to appeal, present an appeal or a transaction and must recognize the right of the insured to reimburse the expenses of the processes carried out in discrepancy with the insurer when a more beneficial result is obtained.
Fields of action of the policy and guarantees
The guarantees of the Legal Defense policy depend on the insurer and the contracted product. The coverages that can be hired are:
- Legal advice by phone: possibility to make consultations immediately by telephone to expert lawyers in the matter of consultation. It can be applied to the field of housing, for issues of purchase, rental, problems with the community of owners, works at home or other matters. In the family environment for questions about marriage, divorce, inheritance or other supposed. And also for claims, doubts about the income tax or criminal matters and issues related to the automobile.
- Face-to-face assistance: advice and face-to-face counseling with a specialized lawyer.
- Vigilance in newsletters: follow up of official bulletins and other systems by the insurer to locate communications made to the insured, their vehicle or their business.
- Legal documents: include the drafting and review of contracts and other legal documents.
- Successions: defense and claim of inheritance.
- Civil defense: can cover the insured against the complaints received without additional costs if no other insurance acts to do so.
- Bonds: guarantee the bonds required of the insured in criminal proceedings to obtain provisional release.
- Impersonation: they restore the personal and solvency situation after an identity theft, in addition to notifying the insured when someone tries to use their data or they are entered in a defaulter file and claim their money in case of identity theft.
- Consumption: claims for breach of supply contracts, insurance contracts or any other type of services.
- Legal expenses: they are responsible for judicial expenses in matters of:
- Criminal Defense: coverage of the criminal defense of the insured when he denounces cases related to his dignity, identity, rights or faults when he is a complainant or injured.
- Labor: individual dismissals write the demand and offer assistance.
- Traffic accidents: when the insured requires compensation for personal or property damage resulting from an accident involving a motor vehicle.
- Separation or divorce: both in cases of mutual agreement and those that are carried out in a contentious manner as well as confer aid for the payment of the pension.
- Tax: when the Tax Administration initiates a procedure because it has been subject to a parallel settlement.
- Housing: for issues related to the purchase or usurpation of housing, such as the delay in delivery or the difference between the home offered and received.
Legal Defense or Legal Care Telephone
There are clear differences between a Legal Defense insurance and the coverage of Legal Telephone Service, since the latter covers only the telephone consultation to a lawyer, while the legal protection provides the service without consultation limits in addition to other guarantees such as the payment of Expenses.
Who can hire a policy of this type?
There is a Legal Defense insurance for every occasion, and also for each group. Thus, these policies can be contracted both by families applying their coverages to the private sphere, as well as by companies or self-employed and even neighborhood communities. The coverages that can be hired will depend on the type of policyholder that subscribes to the policy.
If you are dealing with a private person, you can hire from the personal injury claim to the economic benefit in case of divorce, among many other coverages. For its part, in the case of companies, the self-employed or groups, the guarantees are minor and range from legal advice and trials to the drafting of legal documents, although it depends on the insurer with which the policy is contracted.
How to contract the legal defense guarantee?
The Legal Defense insurance can be hired in a specific way, however, some insurance such as Car or Home insurance include legal protection as an additional guarantee. In this way, the guarantee can be contracted as a complement to the main risk although its coverage is more limited and focuses on the defense only in the matter covered by the policy.
In the case of car insurance, it guarantees legal defense coverage and claims for damages when the rights of the insured are mitigated in a loss with the vehicle. While in Multi-Risk Home policies cover those related to housing damage, such as, for example, those caused by a reform company, or the civil and criminal defense of the acts that are attributed to the policyholder.
In the cases in which the Legal Defense is an additional cover, its coverage is regulated within the general policy but in an independent chapter and with a discriminated premium, as indicated in article 5.2 of the law that regulates the branch.
An assured legal defense
Hiring a Legal Defense insurance allows the insured to be covered in situations in which it requires to claim damages or when their rights are underrated, and can be hired independently or within a Car or Home insurance, among others. As in the rest of the insurances it is very important to review the policy to check the contracted coverage and its limits, as well as the exclusions and their possible franchises. Legally the clauses of the contract must be written in a clear and precise manner, so its interpretation should not cause problems.