Stand:updated on 13.12.2019 | Topic Consumer protection Legal expenses insurance
Legal expenses insurance is designed to ensure that policyholders can protect their legal interests and to help cover the associated costs.
Legal expenses insurance covers the following costs in particular: statutory fees of the policyholder’s lawyer, fees for the opponent’s lawyer if the case is lost at trial, court fees, witness expenses or expert fees, to the extent required.
However, legal expenses insurance does not offer general coverage. It is subject to the principle of speciality: it is provided as a bundle of services linked to certain characteristics or activities that are specific to the policyholder (e.g. self-employed or not; owner or registered keeper of a vehicle), for which certain risks (i.e. certain types of activities) can be insured in a number of legal areas (e.g. legal expenses insurance for claiming damages or in the case of employment, housing and property or tax disputes in court). If an insured event occurs, your insurer will only cover the costs for the legal areas, characteristics or activities that are covered by your insurance. This is why it is important to carefully think about what you need to insure before taking out insurance.