Personal lines · independent broker
Personal umbrella.
Extra liability coverage above your home and auto. Sits on top of those underlying policies and picks up where they end — usually with broader coverage too. Cheap insurance for the catastrophic claim.
What it is.
An umbrella is the cheapest insurance you'll ever buy per dollar of coverage. A $1M umbrella runs $200-$500/yr for most households. The reason it's cheap is it almost never gets used — but on the day it does, the gap between the underlying policy limit and what a jury awards is exactly what your savings, retirement accounts, and home equity are sitting on.
The lines in your policy.
Each one is its own knob. The carrier's default rarely fits a real life.
What a claim looks like.
Three anonymized files. Numbers are illustrative.
Driver is at fault in a multi-car accident. Three injuries, total damages award is $1.2M. Underlying auto liability is $300K — exhausted. Umbrella picks up the next $900K to the $1M limit. Family's home equity, retirement accounts, and future wages are protected.
Family dog bites a friend's child at a barbecue. Settlement + medical reaches $480K. Homeowners liability is $300K — pays first. Umbrella covers the remaining $180K plus defense costs.
Family member's social media post triggers a defamation suit. Underlying homeowners excludes this entirely. Umbrella's personal-injury coverage responds, paying defense and a $90K settlement.
How to read a umbrella policy.
The four things worth looking for on the dec page, in the order we read them.
The first page tells you who's actually covered, on what address, and under whose legal entity. A surprising number of policies have the wrong name, the wrong address, or a missing additional insured, and you don't find out until you file a claim. Cross-check it against your driver's license, your title or lease, and any contract that requires you to be insured.
Policy limits are abstract until you stack them against the assets they protect. A $300k liability limit feels generous in isolation; against a $1.2M home and a college fund, it isn't. Walk down each numbered line on your dec page and ask: if this were the cap on the worst day, would I be okay?
Page one shows you the base form. Pages four through twelve show you what the endorsements added, and, more importantly, what they took away. Water-damage exclusions, roof-payment schedules, named-storm deductibles, scheduled-valuables caps. These small numbered forms decide more claims than the headline limits do.
Carriers re-rate, re-form, and re-endorse policies at every renewal. If you keep last year's dec page, a side-by-side read takes ten minutes and tells you which limits drifted, which sublimits got cut, and which endorsements quietly disappeared. It's the single most useful habit in personal insurance.
Frequently asked questions.
How much umbrella do I need?
Common rule of thumb is at least equal to your net worth, often more. Most households we write start at $1M; clients with significant assets, teen drivers, or higher exposures move to $2M-$5M. Each $1M increment is usually $100-$200/yr.
Does the umbrella have a deductible?
Not in the traditional sense. The 'deductible' is your underlying policy limit — the umbrella attaches above whatever your auto or home liability pays first. For coverage gaps not in your underlying policies, there's typically a $250-$1,000 self-insured retention.
Can I have an umbrella with a different carrier than my auto/home?
Yes, but it's harder. Most carriers prefer to write the umbrella alongside the underlying policies they wrote. Stand-alone umbrellas exist (RLI, Pure) and are sometimes the better answer.
Does it cover business activities?
No. A personal umbrella excludes business activities entirely. You need a commercial umbrella over your business policies. We write both.
Want a second read on your umbrella policy?
Send us your declarations page. You'll get it back marked up, in plain language, with the gaps and the over-coverage flagged, yours to keep, no obligation to switch.
or phone (913) 408-7280
We're an independent broker. We represent you, not the carrier , paid by the carrier we ultimately place with, but accountable only to the person whose name is on the policy. Read more about how we work.