Say My Name: Named Insured Status

What's in a name? As it relates to an insurance policy, a lot.

If you're actually to pull out your insurance contract and read the definitions, you'll find a definition for "named insured". This is basically the person named on the policy as the owner. It can be multiple people (usually a husband and wife), a single person or a company (in the case of a commercial policy). 

So, why is it important to make sure the named insured is correct on the policy? A lot of policies limit or even eliminate coverage for non residents. So think about this, a family lives in Texas. The husband has a job transfer that temporarily relocates him to Florida for a year. He moves and his wife and kids continue to live in Texas until he returns. While he is not living in the house, if he is not listed as a named insured on the insurance policy, he could be excluded from liability coverage. This is also true in divorces or separations. If a spouse moves out, there could be a gap in coverage as it relates to liability and property coverage. 

The other place to closely review named insured status is as it relates to vehicles. Who owns the car? What entity owns the car? That is who the named insured should be. So, if you use a company that bundles all the autos in the household into one policy, make sure that the named insured matches the owner on the title of the car and if it doesn't, then you'll probably need to have your agent or broker write a separate policy each of the vehicles owned by separate owners or entitles. 

And finally, what about umbrella or excess liability coverage? The umbrella policy should match the underlying policies. This will insure that coverage will be seamless in the event of a large liability loss. 

In some cases, you will put homes or cars in the name of a trust, LLC or LP. Some carriers will cover this under a personal lines policy, but will list an individual or married couple as the named insureds and the trust, LLC or LP as an additional insured. There is a difference between additional insured and named insured, but that is for another time. What's important in this post is being sure both spouses are listed as the named insured regardless of the additional insureds. 

So, moral of the story? Review your insurance policy. Make sure the owners match up with the named insureds and both spouses are listed. There are special cases where only one spouse will be listed, and your insurance agent or broker can speak to you more about this. 

Red Hot: Fire Prevention Tips

More than 3,400 people are killed in home fires each year, most of which are preventable. 

In honor of national fire prevention week, let's have a discussion to raise awareness of this fact. The age old story is of a homeowner who leaves a candle burning and leaves the home.  Or where a lit cigarette starts a small fire that ends up spreading to a neighbors house. In fact just this week Houston, someone was smoking a cigarette on their balcony of an apartment complex. When they went inside the cigarette was obviously still lit. By the time the fire department was able to get the fire under control, twelve units had been completely burned. And to think it was completely preventable...

So what can you do to minimize the risk of a fire in your home and protect your assets, starting with the obvious?

     - Always blow out candles if you are going to sleep, leaving the home or cannot sit in the same room with it. 

     - Always make sure your cigarettes, when done, are in an ashtray and completely out. Pour some water on it to be sure. 

     - Make sure working smoke detectors are in every room. 

     - Keep fire extinguishers in your home where every family member has access to it and knows how to use it. 

     - Create an escape route for your family and practice it. If you have kids this can be an especially fun time to get them active while making sure they know what to do if there's a fire. 

     - Have your furnace inspected before every winter to ensure it is working properly. 

     - Have your water heater inspected every year to insure it's working properly. 

     - When cooking, be sure to wear tight fitting clothing that will not easily dangle into a fire or on a burner. 

     - Do not leave food on the stove or in the oven unattended. 

     - After lighting a match run it under cold water for five seconds to ensure it is no longer burning before disposing of it. 

    - Do not plug too many electrical wires into a single outlet at one time. 

    - Do not leave space heaters on overnight or when unattended.  

If a fire is preventable, there is no reason we shouldn't do everything to do so. Ultimately an insurance policy will replace all your goods, but lives cannot be replaced. I encourage you to take every precaution moving forward and challenge you to sit down this weekend with your family to come up with a plan should a fire start. 

Remember - Only you can prevent home fires. 

Some information found via the following sources 

http://www.firesafetytips.com

http://www.redcrossdelmarva.org/home_fires.pdf

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/citizens/home_fire_prev/

Photo curtesy of 

http://www.hicaliber.biz/uncategorized/3611/