Liability Insurance for Home Office

August 2002

Hello, I am a self-employed individual offering professional services to my (mostly individuals) clients. I started my business with the idea of not bringing my clients to my home office to limit my personal liability exposure, but in many cases the clients still show up at the very least to drop something off at my house mailbox. So now the issue is buying umbrella liability insurance.

Has anyone done this lately? Can anyone share their bad and good experiences in doing this? What should I be watching for? Are there any good internet resources specializing in umbrella insurance? Is there something you wished you knew before you bought your insurance that you could be willing to share with me? I would appreciate any piece of advice and/or recommendation. Thank you, Anon

My husband and I purchased an umbrella liability policy about 1.5 years ago through Allstate. It was relatively easy to do and not that expensive. I discovered in my research that in order to issue such a policy, an insurer wants to have your auto and home insurance policies too. I believe that they insisted on home/auto insurance coverage at a certain level in order to issue the umbrella policy, so that may limit your options of where to look. Anonymous

We also have a home office with clients occasionally dropping by. Our homeowner's carrier offered us a rider that would cover the home office. If your carrier doesn't offer that option, you may want to consider a business-office policy. An umbrella is excess only to what you already have. So if you don't already have coverage for your business, an umbrella may not help. amy