Liability insurance is one of the most important parts of your home insurance policy. It helps protect you from claims made against you by other people. While most people maintain a safe home, there are instances in which accidents happen. Having enough liability insurance is important. The question is simple. How much coverage do you need?

What Does Liability Insurance Cover?

To determine how much you need, consider what this type of insurance covers. Most policies offer coverage for accidents or incidents that impact other people. These are parties such as visitors who come to your home. If these individuals come to your home and suffer some type of loss, your policy can help cover those costs. Here are a few examples:

• A child visiting your home falls down the stairs. He needs to go to the hospital and requires stitches and care for a broken bone.
• Someone walking on your property, trips and hits their head on a rock. They suffer a brain bleed.
• A person suffers a dog bite from your pet, requiring medical attention.

Most of the time, these types of claims result in a specific cost – based on the medical costs or time lost at work. The policy covers those types of costs. It also goes further and provides coverage for long-term care and even loss of life if the individual dies. In some states, pain and suffering are also claims.

How Much Do You Need?

There is no way to know if you will need liability insurance at some point, nor how much such an incident can cost you. Most home insurance policies start with $100,000 worth of liability insurance. However, most people should have more, between $300,000 and $500,000.

Imagine the costs in such an incident. While a broken bone may be no more than a few thousand dollars for the medical care, larger injuries can be much higher. A brain bleed may require surgery and long-term care. In addition to this, the affected may suffer permanent damage. In these cases, hundreds of thousands in medical debt can mount quickly.

Your home insurance agent can provide insight into what’s right for your area. Using previous claims as well as claims within your community, they can determine how much coverage is right for your specific needs. Overprotection is not always necessary, but you don’t want to have pay for these costs out-of-pocket. Therefore, you need a good balance out of coverage.