Umbrella Liability

Umbrella Liability Insurance provides excess liability coverage over several of the insured's primary liability policies. An excess liability policy may be what is called a following form policy, which means it is subject to the same terms as the underlying policies; it may be a self-contained policy which means it is subject to its own terms only; or it may be a combination of these two types of excess policies.


Umbrella policies have the following functions:

1. To Provide additional limits above the each occurrence limit of the insured's primary policies
2. To take the place of primary insurance when primary aggregate limits are reduced or exhausted
3. To provide broader coverage for some claims that would not be covered by the insured's primary insurance policies, which would be subject to the policy retention

Self Insured Retention

The self insured retention is the amount of the loss an insured must pay before the umbrella policy would be required to respond. The self insured retention would only apply when a loss is excluded from coverage under the primary policy, but not excluded under the umbrella policy.


Required Underlying Limits

Required underlying limits is a requirement of the insurer. It requires the insured to have certain types and amounts of primary insurance before the umbrella policy can be written.