Good afternoon bloggers!
As you know, we do more than just equine insurance and equine liability insurance. We also specialize in property and farm insurance too. A lot of people are confused on what is specifically covered under their home owners policy, versus, their property insurance coverage.
Here are two articles, which can help differentiate the difference between the two. This first article, talks about what ISN'T covered on your home insurance policy:
What Is Covered by a Standard Homeowners Policy?
A standard homeowners insurance policy includes four essential types of coverage. They include:
Coverage for the structure of your home.
Coverage for your personal belongings.
Liability protection.
Additional living expenses in the event you are temporarily unable to live in your home because of a fire or other insured disaster.
1. THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR HOUSE
This part of your policy pays to repair or rebuild your home if it is damaged or destroyed by fire, hurricane, hail, lightning or other disaster listed in your policy. It will not pay for damage caused by a flood, earthquake or routine wear and tear. When purchasing coverage for the structure of your home, it is important to buy enough to rebuild your home.
Most standard policies also cover structures that are detached from your home such as a garage, tool shed or gazebo. Generally, these structures are covered for about 10% of the amount of insurance you have on the structure of your home. If you need more coverage, talk to your insurance agent about purchasing more insurance.
2. YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS
Your furniture, clothes, sports equipment and other personal items are covered if they are stolen or destroyed by fire, hurricane or other insured disaster. Most companies provide coverage for 50% to 70% of the amount of insurance you have on the structure of your home. So if you have $100,000 worth of insurance on the structure of your home, you would have between $50,000 to $70,000 worth of coverage for your belongings. The best way to determine if this is enough coverage is to conduct a home inventory.
This part of your policy includes off-premises coverage. This means that your belongings are covered anywhere in the world, unless you have decided against off-premises coverage. Some companies limit the amount to 10% of the amount of insurance you have for your possessions. You have up to $500 of coverage for unauthorized use of your credit cards.
Expensive items like jewelry, furs and silverware are covered, but there are usually dollar limits if they are stolen. Generally, you are covered for between $1,000 to $2,000 for all of your jewelry and furs. To insure these items to their full value, purchase a special personal property endorsement or floater and insure the item for it's appraised value. Coverage includes “accidental disappearance,” meaning coverage if you simply lose that item. And there is no deductible.
Trees, plants and shrubs are also covered under standard homeowners insurance. Generally you are covered for 5% of the insurance on the house—up to about $500 per item. Perils covered are theft, fire, lightning, explosion, vandalism, riot and even falling aircraft. They are not covered for damage by wind or disease.
3. LIABILITY PROTECTION
Liability covers you against lawsuits for bodily injury or property damage that you or family members cause to other people. It also pays for damage caused by your pets. So, if your son, daughter or dog accidentally ruins your neighbor’s expensive rug, you are covered. However, if they destroy your rug, you are not covered.
The liability portion of your policy pays for both the cost of defending you in court and any court awards—up to the limit of your policy. You are also covered not just in your home, but anywhere in the world.
Liability limits generally start at about $100,000. However, experts recommend that you purchase at least $300,000 worth of protection. Some people feel more comfortable with even more coverage. You can purchase an umbrella or excess liability policy which provides broader coverage, including claims against you for libel and slander, as well as higher liability limits. Generally, umbrella policies cost between $200 to $350 for $1 million of additional liability protection.
Your policy also provides no-fault medical coverage. In the event a friend or neighbor is injured in your home, he or she can simply submit medical bills to your insurance company. This way, expenses are paid without a liability claim being filed against you. You can generally get $1,000 to $5,000 worth of this coverage. It does not, however, pay the medical bills for your family or your pet.
4. ADDITIONAL LIVING EXPENSES
This pays the additional costs of living away from home if you cannot live there due to damage from a fire, storm or other insured disaster. It covers hotel bills, restaurant meals and other expenses, over and above your customary living expenses, incurred while your home is being rebuilt.
Keep in mind that the ALE coverage in your homeowners policy has limits, usually a percentage of the amount of coverage you have on your home, and some policies include a time limitation. But the amount of ALE coverage is separate from the amount available to rebuild or repair your home. For example, suppose you have a policy that provides up to $150,000 in rebuilding costs and up to $15,000 (10 percent) for ALE and you use up the entire $15,000, your insurance company will still pay what it costs to rebuild your home up to the policy limit of $150,000.
Coverage for additional living expenses differs from company to company. Many policies provide coverage for about 20 percent of the insurance on your house. You can increase this coverage, however, for an additional premium. Some companies sell a policy that provides an unlimited amount of loss-of-use coverage, but for a limited amount of time.
If you rent out part of your house, ALE coverage also reimburses you for the rent that you would have collected from your tenant if your home had not been destroyed.
And this article, a PDF, talks about Property-Casualty Insurance Basics:
http://www.aiadc.org/aiadotnet/dochandler.aspx?DocID=296054
Monday, March 24, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Running a Boarding Business: What You Need to Know (Including Insurance!)
Running a Boarding Business: What You Need to Know
Whether you are running a large-scale horse boarding facility or just taking in a few boarders to help defray your horse expenses, there are a few business practices that will help minimize both the hassle and the risk.
Liability Releases
Boarding facilities should have a good quality boarder liability release agreement and everyone should sign it, including boarders and their families, show and clinic attendees and visitors to your property. Not only do liability releases discourage people from suing you, they also help protect you in the event that you are actually sued. Contrary to popular opinion, a good quality liability releases is usually enforceable if properly signed, even in states such as California. Equine Legal Solutions’ horse boarding stable agreement package includes liability releases.
Insurance
In addition to your property insurance, you will need commercial liability insurance and care, custody and control insurance for your boarding facility. The per-claim limit of your care, custody and control insurance should be sufficient to cover the most expensive horse in your barn, and the aggregate limit should be at least equivalent to the total value of all the horses on your property. Equine Legal Solutions recommends that your commercial liability insurance have a per-claim limit of no less than $1M, and an aggregate limit of no less than $3M. See our general advice about shopping for horse insurance.
Horse Boarding Contracts
A good quality boarding contract helps set appropriate expectations with your boarders, and it also serves to limit your liability and provide you with recourse when a boarder doesn’t pay or otherwise breaches your boarding agreement. Equine Legal Solutions offers a horse boarding stable agreement package that includes a comprehensive horse boarding contract.
Screening Potential Boarders
You wouldn't rent out an apartment to someone without having them fill out an application and checking their references and credit. Why should you run your boarding business any differently? Every barn has problem boarders, but Equine Legal Solutions’ clients have found that taking these steps helps greatly reduce the number of deadbeats and other types of boarders you don’t want to have. Equine Legal Solutions’ horse boarding stable agreement package includes a complete boarding application and instructions for checking potential boarders’ credit and references.
Evicting Undesirable Boarders
Maybe you have a boarder who is not paying, or a boarder who just can’t seem to get along with anyone. How can you legally get them off of your property? Horse boarding relationships, unlike landlord/tenant relationships, are governed solely by the agreement between the parties and not by law. This means that in your boarding contract, you can set your own policy for eviction. Equine Legal Solutions recommends that you have two termination clauses in your boarding agreement – one that allows you and the boarder to terminate for any reason with 30 days’ advance notice, and one that allows you to terminate “for cause” with seven days’ advance notice. Equine Legal Solutions’ horse boarding stable agreement package includes a comprehensive boarding agreement containing these clauses.
Non-paying Boarders
Careful screening will help you avoid non-paying boarders, but once in a while, you will have a boarder who does not pay you. Most states have laws that give boarding stables a lien on horses for past due board. However, those laws typically require you to follow a specific process before you can sell a horse to satisfy the debt, and the process is usually time-consuming and expensive. For example, state livestock lien laws often require you to get a court order, which means that you would have to sue the owner and obtain a judgment against them before you could sell the horse. This problem is often compounded by the fact that you cannot find the owner and/or the horse does not have much market value. Meanwhile, you are continuing to feed and clean up after this horse. What can you do to protect yourself from this type of situation? The answer is fairly simple – your boarding contract can provide you with more rights than you would otherwise have under your state’s livestock lien laws. For example, Equine Legal Solutions’ horse boarding stable agreement package form specifies that if you terminate the boarding agreement and the boarder’s horses and/or property are still on your property 90 days after termination, you will automatically own the horses and property and can sell them or give them away as you see fit.
Incorporating Your Horse Boarding Business
When you are operating a boarding stable, which is a relatively high-risk business, you can’t afford not to incorporate. Creating a corporation or limited liability company for your business is typically less than $2,000, and it can help protect your personal assets from the boarding business’ liabilities.
This article was taken from: Equine Legal Solutions, Inc.
Whether you are running a large-scale horse boarding facility or just taking in a few boarders to help defray your horse expenses, there are a few business practices that will help minimize both the hassle and the risk.
Liability Releases
Boarding facilities should have a good quality boarder liability release agreement and everyone should sign it, including boarders and their families, show and clinic attendees and visitors to your property. Not only do liability releases discourage people from suing you, they also help protect you in the event that you are actually sued. Contrary to popular opinion, a good quality liability releases is usually enforceable if properly signed, even in states such as California. Equine Legal Solutions’ horse boarding stable agreement package includes liability releases.
Insurance
In addition to your property insurance, you will need commercial liability insurance and care, custody and control insurance for your boarding facility. The per-claim limit of your care, custody and control insurance should be sufficient to cover the most expensive horse in your barn, and the aggregate limit should be at least equivalent to the total value of all the horses on your property. Equine Legal Solutions recommends that your commercial liability insurance have a per-claim limit of no less than $1M, and an aggregate limit of no less than $3M. See our general advice about shopping for horse insurance.
Horse Boarding Contracts
A good quality boarding contract helps set appropriate expectations with your boarders, and it also serves to limit your liability and provide you with recourse when a boarder doesn’t pay or otherwise breaches your boarding agreement. Equine Legal Solutions offers a horse boarding stable agreement package that includes a comprehensive horse boarding contract.
Screening Potential Boarders
You wouldn't rent out an apartment to someone without having them fill out an application and checking their references and credit. Why should you run your boarding business any differently? Every barn has problem boarders, but Equine Legal Solutions’ clients have found that taking these steps helps greatly reduce the number of deadbeats and other types of boarders you don’t want to have. Equine Legal Solutions’ horse boarding stable agreement package includes a complete boarding application and instructions for checking potential boarders’ credit and references.
Evicting Undesirable Boarders
Maybe you have a boarder who is not paying, or a boarder who just can’t seem to get along with anyone. How can you legally get them off of your property? Horse boarding relationships, unlike landlord/tenant relationships, are governed solely by the agreement between the parties and not by law. This means that in your boarding contract, you can set your own policy for eviction. Equine Legal Solutions recommends that you have two termination clauses in your boarding agreement – one that allows you and the boarder to terminate for any reason with 30 days’ advance notice, and one that allows you to terminate “for cause” with seven days’ advance notice. Equine Legal Solutions’ horse boarding stable agreement package includes a comprehensive boarding agreement containing these clauses.
Non-paying Boarders
Careful screening will help you avoid non-paying boarders, but once in a while, you will have a boarder who does not pay you. Most states have laws that give boarding stables a lien on horses for past due board. However, those laws typically require you to follow a specific process before you can sell a horse to satisfy the debt, and the process is usually time-consuming and expensive. For example, state livestock lien laws often require you to get a court order, which means that you would have to sue the owner and obtain a judgment against them before you could sell the horse. This problem is often compounded by the fact that you cannot find the owner and/or the horse does not have much market value. Meanwhile, you are continuing to feed and clean up after this horse. What can you do to protect yourself from this type of situation? The answer is fairly simple – your boarding contract can provide you with more rights than you would otherwise have under your state’s livestock lien laws. For example, Equine Legal Solutions’ horse boarding stable agreement package form specifies that if you terminate the boarding agreement and the boarder’s horses and/or property are still on your property 90 days after termination, you will automatically own the horses and property and can sell them or give them away as you see fit.
Incorporating Your Horse Boarding Business
When you are operating a boarding stable, which is a relatively high-risk business, you can’t afford not to incorporate. Creating a corporation or limited liability company for your business is typically less than $2,000, and it can help protect your personal assets from the boarding business’ liabilities.
This article was taken from: Equine Legal Solutions, Inc.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Business Property Insurance Checklist
Today we share with you an article on a property insurance checklist. We want to help you better understand what you need for property insurance and how we can better help you!
Overview
Maintaining the appropriate insurance is vital to the financial health of any small business. An unexpected or catastrophic loss can cause irreparable harm to a company's balance sheet, often forcing even a well-managed company out of business. Understanding your areas of exposure and identifying insurance products that can help you manage risk are vital for peace of mind.
Building Coverage
If you own your office or warehouse, you need to maintain an all-risk policy that will cover you in the event of a loss to the structure. Buildings need to be insured for the amount it would take you to repair or rebuild them, not their market, or purchase, price. Under-insuring a building is a common mistake that can have tragic consequences following a loss. Many policies feature a co-insurance clause that can penalize you for low valuations, even for smaller or partial claims.
Business Property
Business property includes everything your company owns in terms of contents. Typically, this means equipment, fixtures, furniture, merchandise and computers. You should maintain enough insurance to cover everything in your location if it were to suffer a loss. Many businesses underestimate the value of their property. In an Adjusting Today article, attorney and public adjuster Ethan Gross wrote, "After suffering a devastating property loss, perhaps the most frustrating news for policyholders is learning that they do not have enough insurance to cover their losses." A solid first step to avoid this situation is to make a list of the property you own and place an estimated value next to each category.
Additions and Alterations
Most insurance policies consider any features that are permanently attached to the walls, ceilings or floors of the building to be part of the structure. Therefore, even if you rent your office or space, you should insure any improvements you make to the property--additions that can include a range hood or a walk-in cooler in a restaurant, shelving in a warehouse or even lighting fixtures and decorative paneling in an office.
Equipment Breakdown
Equipment breakdown coverage responds when a vital piece of machinery breaks down unexpectedly. For example, if a printer's printing press were to seize up and become damaged, an equipment breakdown policy would cover the repairs or replacement. Similarly, if a piece of equipment in a manufacturing plant were to suffer damage, a business would be protected if equipment breakdown insurance was in place. Business property insurance only responds if a covered loss, such as fire or water damage, harms your equipment; for any loss caused by the machinery itself, you need to protect yourself with equipment breakdown insurance.
Contents in Transit
If you regularly import, export or ship any property, you need to be protected while it is in transit. Most standard insurance policies offer only limited coverage for property while it is off-site. For total protection, you need to purchase a separate policy. In the insurance industry, these policies often are referred to as "marine" or "inland marine" exposures, regardless how the goods are being shipped.
To view the original article, click here.
Maintaining the appropriate insurance is vital to the financial health of any small business. An unexpected or catastrophic loss can cause irreparable harm to a company's balance sheet, often forcing even a well-managed company out of business. Understanding your areas of exposure and identifying insurance products that can help you manage risk are vital for peace of mind.
Building Coverage
If you own your office or warehouse, you need to maintain an all-risk policy that will cover you in the event of a loss to the structure. Buildings need to be insured for the amount it would take you to repair or rebuild them, not their market, or purchase, price. Under-insuring a building is a common mistake that can have tragic consequences following a loss. Many policies feature a co-insurance clause that can penalize you for low valuations, even for smaller or partial claims.
Business Property
Business property includes everything your company owns in terms of contents. Typically, this means equipment, fixtures, furniture, merchandise and computers. You should maintain enough insurance to cover everything in your location if it were to suffer a loss. Many businesses underestimate the value of their property. In an Adjusting Today article, attorney and public adjuster Ethan Gross wrote, "After suffering a devastating property loss, perhaps the most frustrating news for policyholders is learning that they do not have enough insurance to cover their losses." A solid first step to avoid this situation is to make a list of the property you own and place an estimated value next to each category.
Additions and Alterations
Most insurance policies consider any features that are permanently attached to the walls, ceilings or floors of the building to be part of the structure. Therefore, even if you rent your office or space, you should insure any improvements you make to the property--additions that can include a range hood or a walk-in cooler in a restaurant, shelving in a warehouse or even lighting fixtures and decorative paneling in an office.
Equipment Breakdown
Equipment breakdown coverage responds when a vital piece of machinery breaks down unexpectedly. For example, if a printer's printing press were to seize up and become damaged, an equipment breakdown policy would cover the repairs or replacement. Similarly, if a piece of equipment in a manufacturing plant were to suffer damage, a business would be protected if equipment breakdown insurance was in place. Business property insurance only responds if a covered loss, such as fire or water damage, harms your equipment; for any loss caused by the machinery itself, you need to protect yourself with equipment breakdown insurance.
Contents in Transit
If you regularly import, export or ship any property, you need to be protected while it is in transit. Most standard insurance policies offer only limited coverage for property while it is off-site. For total protection, you need to purchase a separate policy. In the insurance industry, these policies often are referred to as "marine" or "inland marine" exposures, regardless how the goods are being shipped.
To view the original article, click here.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Talking about snow and property insurance
Good afternoon bloggers!
Since we are getting some significant snow here in Maryland today, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about how relates to another service we offer, farm and property insurance. It's one thing to have peace of mind knowing that your four-legged friends are insured and taken care of. However, what about the barn that houses them, or your indoor arena where you exercise them in times of bad weather?
Many people know that heavy amounts of snow or ice can cause property damage. However, what do you do if your barn collapses from snow? Or your indoor arena? Here is a great article on how excessive snow can cause these problems, and what you can do about it.
Excessive Snow Load Can Cause Your Barn to Collapse
When heavy snow meets fierce winds, even the best-engineered buildings can collapse. That’s why it’s important to be adequately insured for this type of peril.
How snow load can damage your buildings
Snow load is the downward force on a building’s roof by the weight of accumulated snow and ice. The roof or the entire structure can fail if the snow load exceeds the weight the building was designed to shoulder, or if the building was poorly designed or constructed. It doesn't take a blizzard to cause problems; an imbalance of drifting snow can cause one part of a roof to give, causing a domino effect that affects the rest of the structure.
“Wood structures typically will give a warning of imminent failure with audible creaking or visible bowing of rafters,” says Randy Tinker, P.E., Risk Management Property Engineer, Property Engineering Group, Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company, Des Moines, Iowa. “Metal structures, unfortunately, often don’t exhibit signs of stress before failure.” Farmers need to keep a close watch on structures with heavy loads and be prepared to move livestock and equipment to safer quarters.
How much snow is too much?
Calculating the snow load on your barn takes more than an educated guess. The University of Wisconsin
Cooperative Extension Service says that a ballpark estimate of snow load can be made with the following formula:
Calculated Roof Loading (lb/ft2) = Depth (ft) x Density (lb/ft2 /ft depth). The approximate density (lb/ft2 /ft depth) for light snow is 5-20, packed snow 20-40, packed snow with ice 40-58, and ice 58.
For example, a roof with 3 feet of light snow has an estimated roof load of 60 pounds per square foot (3 ft depth X 20 lb/ft2/ft depth density = 60 lb/ft2). You should know the roof weight limits for your barns and outbuildings, and rebuild or fortify them to withstand worst-case scenario snow loads and meet local building standards.
What you can do
Some failures can be prevented with careful snow removal. The University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension Service offers the following suggestions:
-Use caution if standing on the roof, making sure to wear a safety harness and use securing ladders.
-Use a snow rake, and avoid chipping or picking away at ice as that may damage the roof.
-Remove snow in narrow strips to keep the load somewhat even.
-Not all snow needs to be removed. A thin layer of snow can protect the roof from damage while snow is being removed.
Insurance checklist
A few minutes can give you reassurance during a heavy-snow winter. Check with your farm or ranch insurance agent to:
-Confirm that your property insurance covers roof or building failure due to snow load
-Make sure the policy pays for actual replacement costs, so you’re not out in the cold if you have to rebuild
-Verify that valuable equipment stored in a barn or outbuilding is covered under your farm personal property endorsement.
1 Agriculture has the second highest fatality rate among youth workers at 21.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalents compared to 3.6 per 100,000 across all industries. Occupational Injuries and Deaths Among Younger Workers-United States, 1998-2007. Journal of the American Medical Association, 304 (1). 33-35 (2010).
This information was obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Nationwide Agribusiness/Farmland Mutual Insurance Company and its employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with any suggestions or information contained herein. Furthermore, it cannot be assumed that every acceptable safety method is included in this article or that specific circumstances may not require additional methods or alternative safety suggestions. Also, nothing contained herein is meant to represent or indicate compliance with applicable standards or requirements mandated by federal, state or local jurisdictions.
Since we are getting some significant snow here in Maryland today, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about how relates to another service we offer, farm and property insurance. It's one thing to have peace of mind knowing that your four-legged friends are insured and taken care of. However, what about the barn that houses them, or your indoor arena where you exercise them in times of bad weather?
Many people know that heavy amounts of snow or ice can cause property damage. However, what do you do if your barn collapses from snow? Or your indoor arena? Here is a great article on how excessive snow can cause these problems, and what you can do about it.
Excessive Snow Load Can Cause Your Barn to Collapse
When heavy snow meets fierce winds, even the best-engineered buildings can collapse. That’s why it’s important to be adequately insured for this type of peril.
How snow load can damage your buildings
Snow load is the downward force on a building’s roof by the weight of accumulated snow and ice. The roof or the entire structure can fail if the snow load exceeds the weight the building was designed to shoulder, or if the building was poorly designed or constructed. It doesn't take a blizzard to cause problems; an imbalance of drifting snow can cause one part of a roof to give, causing a domino effect that affects the rest of the structure.
“Wood structures typically will give a warning of imminent failure with audible creaking or visible bowing of rafters,” says Randy Tinker, P.E., Risk Management Property Engineer, Property Engineering Group, Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company, Des Moines, Iowa. “Metal structures, unfortunately, often don’t exhibit signs of stress before failure.” Farmers need to keep a close watch on structures with heavy loads and be prepared to move livestock and equipment to safer quarters.
How much snow is too much?
Calculating the snow load on your barn takes more than an educated guess. The University of Wisconsin
Cooperative Extension Service says that a ballpark estimate of snow load can be made with the following formula:
Calculated Roof Loading (lb/ft2) = Depth (ft) x Density (lb/ft2 /ft depth). The approximate density (lb/ft2 /ft depth) for light snow is 5-20, packed snow 20-40, packed snow with ice 40-58, and ice 58.
For example, a roof with 3 feet of light snow has an estimated roof load of 60 pounds per square foot (3 ft depth X 20 lb/ft2/ft depth density = 60 lb/ft2). You should know the roof weight limits for your barns and outbuildings, and rebuild or fortify them to withstand worst-case scenario snow loads and meet local building standards.
What you can do
Some failures can be prevented with careful snow removal. The University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension Service offers the following suggestions:
-Use caution if standing on the roof, making sure to wear a safety harness and use securing ladders.
-Use a snow rake, and avoid chipping or picking away at ice as that may damage the roof.
-Remove snow in narrow strips to keep the load somewhat even.
-Not all snow needs to be removed. A thin layer of snow can protect the roof from damage while snow is being removed.
Insurance checklist
A few minutes can give you reassurance during a heavy-snow winter. Check with your farm or ranch insurance agent to:
-Confirm that your property insurance covers roof or building failure due to snow load
-Make sure the policy pays for actual replacement costs, so you’re not out in the cold if you have to rebuild
-Verify that valuable equipment stored in a barn or outbuilding is covered under your farm personal property endorsement.
1 Agriculture has the second highest fatality rate among youth workers at 21.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalents compared to 3.6 per 100,000 across all industries. Occupational Injuries and Deaths Among Younger Workers-United States, 1998-2007. Journal of the American Medical Association, 304 (1). 33-35 (2010).
This information was obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Nationwide Agribusiness/Farmland Mutual Insurance Company and its employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with any suggestions or information contained herein. Furthermore, it cannot be assumed that every acceptable safety method is included in this article or that specific circumstances may not require additional methods or alternative safety suggestions. Also, nothing contained herein is meant to represent or indicate compliance with applicable standards or requirements mandated by federal, state or local jurisdictions.
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