Like many individuals, you have taken out various insurance contracts to protect your home, your vehicle, to protect you from life’s unforeseen events, etc. As such, you may benefit from legal protection. Definition, interest and termination, here is everything you need to know about legal protection insurance.
What is legal expenses insurance?
Legal protection guarantee: definition
Legal protection insurance, or legal protection guarantee, is an insurance contract which allows the insured to benefit from:
- special assistance during legal proceedings;
- and thus facilitate the resolution of disputes that may arise in one’s private life.
This guarantee is often included as part of another contract taken out by the insured.
Services covered by legal protection insurance
The legal insurance regime is set by articles L127-1 et seq. of the Insurance Code. These texts provide in the event of a dispute:
- legal assistance from a specialized service (by telephone, email, mail);
- covering legal costs incurred (lawyer’s fees, expert’s fees, bailiff’s report, procedural costs).
Is it compulsory to have legal protection insurance?
Taking out legal protection insurance is not compulsory. On the other hand, legal protection is useful when a person is faced with a case of legal dispute. Often included in home or vehicle insurance contracts , it would be a shame to do without it.
What is the point of the legal protection insurance contract?
Legal experts available
This guarantee allows its beneficiary to be advised in the context of an emerging dispute, thus being able to avoid the initiation of a lawsuit.
A team of professional lawyers will thus inform and guide the insured in his decisions and procedures.
Very useful help in the event of a dispute
We can be lost as an individual in the face of litigation and the application of the law. When its action is effective (example: responsiveness of the service, listening, monitoring), it can therefore be of great help.
This guarantee can help you see things more clearly, more quickly. Subsequently, and if necessary, attorney fees and/or court costs may be covered.
What are the limits of the legal guarantee?
The contract may, however, provide for exclusion clauses. For example :
- Coverage of attorney’s fees is capped, as are court costs.
- The areas of intervention (particularly within the framework of a legal protection insurance policy taken out as a principal) or the principal amount of the dispute initiated may be limited.
- The waiting period also varies from one legal protection to another: with or without a waiting period, or even a waiting period for specific areas of intervention.
It is therefore imperative to consult these limits and exclusion clauses which appear within the contract.
What does the stand-alone legal protection contract cover?
An independent legal protection contract
The independent legal protection contract is a classic insurance contract, which covers the legal proceedings of an individual. The areas of application vary and depend on the contract signed.
It offers more extensive guarantees than legal assistance included in another contract.
Areas of application
Here again, everything depends on the contract taken out and the situation of the insured. Here are some examples :
- Consumption: for example, in the event of a dispute following the purchase of a property, a seasonal rental that does not respond to the travel agency’s advertisement, or in the event of a dispute with an Internet service provider .
- Digital: disputes linked to e-reputation, particularly in cases of identity theft, fishing or for victims of defamation, etc.
- Work: disputes with your employer (overtime, etc.) or your domestic employees (family jobs, childcare or maternal assistance, etc.).
High-end contracts
With the most high-end contracts, other areas are covered:
- conflicts linked to the tax administration (error in calculating income tax , etc.);
- conflicts linked to social protection (pension fund, welfare, etc.);
- conflicts linked to inheritance (inheritance in a direct line or not) or adoption (contesting a refusal of approval or an adoption judgment, etc.), etc.
What protection is included in a legal insurance contract?
Legal protection for car insurance
The legal protection option of car insurance only covers this field of application. It can therefore be useful and provide legal advice in the event of:
- traffic accident or relating to the Highway Code and dispute with another driver;
- dispute linked to the sale of a vehicle (hidden defect, etc.).
Legal insurance for home insurance
The scope of the legal protection of home insurance covers all risks linked to the insured’s housing.
Please note that certain services, excluding insurance, also provide an information and legal aid service, in particular bank card contracts .
How does legal protection insurance work?
People covered by insurance
The legal protection guarantee is valid both in the context of legal action initiated by the insured, but also when it is initiated against him.
Legal procedures supported
Article L127-1 of the Insurance Code provides that this assistance can be obtained for a procedure:
- criminal;
- civil;
- administrative.
What are the steps to take to benefit from the legal protection formula?
You must report a claim to your insurer in order to benefit from this guarantee. A claim is considered, within the meaning of the Insurance Code, to be “the refusal which is opposed to a claim of which the insured is the author or the recipient”.
Protection can then result in:
- the assistance of a legal service which helps the insured when seeking an amicable pre-litigation solution;
- the allocation of funds to a lawyer, the payment of expert fees and, more broadly, procedural costs.
Can you choose your lawyer?
According to article L127-3 of the Insurance Code, the insurance company cannot impose a lawyer on the insured. It can only suggest a professional upon written request from the latter.
How much does legal expenses insurance cost?
Paid protection
Its price is:
- is incorporated into the cost of the contract relating to a specific area (home insurance, car insurance, etc.);
- is paid in full within the framework of a contract taken out as the main one.
It is therefore not free, but no additional sum can be requested from the insured who benefits from this service when he activates this guarantee.
Variable prices
Within the contracts themselves, there may be differences in terms of coverage, waiting period and guarantee ceilings.
If the assistance of the legal service online or by email is generally unlimited, note however that the amount of fees which will be paid to a lawyer in the event of proceedings will be capped.
