Umbrella & Excess Liability

The cheapest limit you will ever buy.

Excess liability prices at a fraction of primary coverage per dollar of limit, which makes an undersized tower the least defensible gap on any program — personal or commercial.

CA #6015336Admitted · Specialist · E&SFree review
Coastal estate at dusk

Scope

What this coverage does — and where it fails.

This is the single most common thing we find missing on otherwise well-built programs, and it is almost always the easiest thing to fix.

What a properly built program includes

  • Personal umbrella over home, auto, and watercraft liability
  • Commercial umbrella and excess over general liability, auto, and employers liability
  • Follow-form excess matching the underlying terms
  • Additional layers where a single carrier will not offer the full limit
  • Defense costs outside the limit where the form provides it
  • Uninsured and underinsured motorist excess where available

What we read for

  • A tower that stops at a limit chosen years ago for a smaller exposure
  • Attachment points that no longer match the underlying primary limits
  • Excess that does not follow form, so it covers less than the primary beneath it
  • Household drivers, staff, or entities not named on the underlying policies
  • Board and volunteer positions creating exposure the umbrella excludes
  • Rental or short-term-let activity not disclosed to the underlying carrier

Detail

What actually decides the outcome.

01

Price per dollar of limit falls as you go up

The first million of liability coverage is the expensive one because it absorbs the frequency. Layers above it are priced for severity, which is rarer — so additional limit is disproportionately cheap. Most people stop buying well before the curve stops being favourable.

02

A gap between layers voids the tower

If the primary is restructured at renewal and the umbrella's attachment point is not updated to match, there is a band of exposure nobody covers — and the excess carrier will not drop down to fill it. We check attachment on every renewal.

03

Personal exposure is broader than people assume

Household staff, teenage drivers, a pool, board service on an HOA or nonprofit, and even social media commentary all sit inside personal liability. Estates in particular carry exposures that a standard $1M underlying limit does not reasonably contemplate.

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Tell us what you are insuring and where it stands. If there is a non-renewal notice or an escrow deadline, say so — those move to the front of the line.

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Prefer to talk? Call or text (305) 990-2753 or email team@haymakersre.com

FAQ

Common questions.

01

How much umbrella coverage should I carry?

A common starting frame is total net worth plus a margin for future earnings, but the real driver is the specific exposure — drivers in the household, staff, pools, rental activity, and board positions. We size it against those rather than against a rule of thumb.

02

Does an umbrella cover my business too?

A personal umbrella generally excludes business activity, and a commercial umbrella covers the named entity rather than you personally. Owners of closely held businesses frequently need both, and the boundary between them is worth mapping deliberately.

03

What does follow-form mean?

A follow-form excess policy adopts the terms of the underlying policy it sits above. Non-follow-form excess has its own, sometimes narrower, wording — which can mean the excess layer covers less than the primary. It is a detail worth confirming.

Related lines

Other coverage we place.