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In your private life, an accident that causes harm to others can happen quickly. If you are responsible, you will have to compensate for the damage suffered. As there is no limit to such compensation, it can quickly reach large sums. To protect your assets from high compensation payments resulting from negligence or error of judgement, it is in your interest to take out family insurance. Family civil liability insurance protects you and your family against any form of material damage and/or bodily injury caused to others by a member of your family.
What is family insurance?
Family insurance is not compulsory in Belgium, but it is nevertheless recommended. Damage you suffer yourself in your private life is covered if you have taken out personal accident insurance. But what about damage caused to others by you or a member of your family?
Family civil liability insurance protects you and your family from bodily injury and/or property damage caused to others by a family member.It protects your assets from financial consequences. Damage caused to a third party may be the result of (unintentional) mistakes, negligence or breaches committed by a family member. This is precisely why it is advisable to include family civil liability in your basic insurance cover.
Various terms are commonly used to refer to family insurance, such as family civil liability, family liability, family insurance, private life insurance, family civil liability insurance and civil liability.
Please note: if you or a member of your family suffers material damage and/or bodily injury caused by a third party, your own insurance cannot cover it under any circumstances.
When should you use family civil liability insurance?
Pour pouvoir faire appel à l’assurance familiale, the following conditions must be met together :
- You must be liable. Liability may arise from an act, but may also be due to carelessness or negligence. In short, every (small) mistake makes you civilly liable.
- It must be a case of damage caused to a third party in the private sphere.
- The damage must be the consequence of this fault (causal link between the fault and the damage).
For example, your son kicks his football through the neighbours' window. This is a case of material damage to a third party as a result of an act. The fault is probably unintentional. You can claim on your family insurance for this damage.
In the example above, we are talking about a child, but adults can also cause harm to others. That is why Family civil liability insurance is just as useful for families with children as it is for families without children and single people.. Thus, guardians are responsible for those in their care (including guardians of people with dementia, for example).
Please note: liability arising from poor performance of a contract or breach of contract (whether private or otherwise) is not covered. The following example will help you understand this better.
Let's say you rent a small holiday home and damage the kitchen worktop with a hot pan. In this case, your family civil liability insurance will not cover you because this is a matter of complying with a contractual obligation: not to damage the furniture. Unless your insurer offers additional cover for this. The contractual terms and conditions of family civil liability insurance generally include an excess. This means that you are responsible for paying part of the compensation. Example: the contract includes an excess of 200 for property damage. Your bicycle hits a shop window. The shop window is damaged and needs to be replaced. Installing a new window costs 5,000. Your family civil liability insurance will cover 4,800, but you will still have to pay 200 out of your own pocket (5,000 – 200 excess = 4,800 covered by the insurance).
Who is insured?
TheFamily insurance protects you and your family against damage caused to third parties. The concept of family is interpreted broadly here. It includes all persons who are part of the family on a temporary or permanent basis. A family is therefore composed of the following persons:
- Spouse or partner, living under the same roof.
- Children, minors in your care, or children of third parties who are temporarily under your supervision.
- Pets: please note that horses are sometimes excluded from this category. In this case, you will need to include an additional clause in your family civil liability insurance policy.
- Persons staying temporarily at your place.
Please note: the terms and conditions of a contract may vary depending on the insurance company. Read them carefully, paying particular attention to the section entitled ‘Insured Parties’. This will help you avoid any surprises and ensure you know who is covered by your family civil liability insurance policy.
Key point: in most cases, legal protection is included in family civil liability insurance. You can therefore also use this insurance to pay for your defence costs and fees. A claim can indeed turn into a legal dispute over the determination of liability.
How is civil liability determined?
A person is civilly liable when liability is involvedThis person's involvement does not have to be the result of an action; it can also stem from a breach or negligence. Let us take an example to clarify things.
For example, someone has caused damage to you (or a member of your family), whether material (an object that is part of your property) or physical. To determine whether this person has committed a fault, their actions are compared to the behaviour of a “good family man”. In short, did the person in question act as a normal, prudent person would have done in the same situation and under the same circumstances? If not, the person in question is civilly liable for the damage.
What is the minimum coverage for family civil liability insurance?
The law imposes a series of minimum coverages on insurance companies, which may decide to stick to the basic requirements or extend them. The majority of insurers go beyond the minimum coverage, to stand out from the rest.
Some examples of differences that may exist between insurance companies:
- The amount insured for both property damage and bodily injury may vary from one insurance company to another, taking into account the indexation of the insured amount based on the consumer price index.
- There may be differences in terms of excess, taking into account here too the indexation of the excess based on the consumer price index.
- One company only offers cover in Europe, while another provides worldwide cover in its family insurance policy.
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Source : assurances.be
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