From hauser@m-win.ch, +41 (52) 269 21 11
Legal protection insurance is a sensitive investment, especially in Switzerland, due to high court and lawyer fees. When taking out a policy, you should look carefully to see whether the insurance covers what you need. We will give you an overview.
The scope of legal protection insurance coverage is determined on the one hand by the policy and on the other hand by the general insurance terms and conditions (AVB). The coverage has a material, a geographical and a temporal scope.
The scope of the policy determines which areas of law are covered and which are not. As a rule, only the explicitly listed areas of law are covered, although these are sometimes restricted. The areas of law not listed and those expressly excluded are usually not covered. Which areas of law you should have covered yourself depends on various factors, including whether you are a private individual or a company and where exactly the greatest risks exist.
The geographical scope usually indicates which countries are covered. For example, if you regularly travel abroad, it makes sense to have cover for disputes in the relevant countries.
The time frame consists primarily of the waiting period component and the starting point for coverage in general. The waiting period is relevant when you take out a new insurance policy. Coverage often only begins a few months after the policy is taken out. If an insured event occurs after the insurance is taken out but before the end of the waiting period, it is generally not covered. The starting point for coverage also plays a role in the question of whether a case is covered at all. For example, if the case occurred before the insurance began, there is no coverage. There are different starting points depending on the type of case.
When choosing legal protection insurance, you should consider the above criteria in particular. Other criteria may also play a role, such as whether the legal protection insurance offers a telephone advice service, whether you have a free choice of lawyer and, of course, the costs.
If an insured event occurs, ie a dispute is imminent, most policies require that the case be reported to RSV before going to a lawyer. Otherwise, in the worst case scenario, the cover may be lost.
Note: This article was originally published by the independent law firm “ Martin Rechtsanwälte GmbH”.
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