San Leandro, CA San Mateo, CA Getting Homeowners Insurance Right For Your Trust

Here in California, many Homeowners have placed their home in a Trust because of the complex tax consequences. This has prompted many to call us wanting to change the name on the policy to the Trust.  Unfortunately, this is not what you want to do to properly cover yourself, your home and the interest of the trust.  Here’s why….

A Homeowners policy covers the residence (dwelling), the property inside, and the liability that the policy owner may have to others. If you change the name to the Trust on your policy, then you would no longer have personal liability coverage and you may not have coverage for your personal property within the home that may still be owned by you and not the Trust.  But if you don’t properly include the Trust on your policy, then the trust as a separate entity could have to defend itself if someone is injured on your property.

So what do you do?  The best way to protect yourself and the interest of the Trust is to add the Trust as an additional interest on your policy.  This way you are still the policy owner with all the coverage and benefits and your trust is protected for its financial interest.

 We know that it is complicated to understand where your exposure stops and the exposure of your Trust begins, so we encourage you to call us and discuss your specific scenario so that we can properly insure you and your Trust.