Friday, March 28, 2014

ACORD 25 - Umbrella and Excess Liability Section - How to Complete a Certificate of Insurance Part 7

Here is a quick run through of the Umbrella and Excess Liability sections of the ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance form.

As always, this is not a courtroom explanation, but a practical guide to help you complete the form.


You should check the box next to either the Umbrella Liability text or the Excess Liability text. While I suppose it is possible to have both an Excess and an Umbrella policy on the same insured, I cannot recall ever seeing this done.

An Umbrella policy provides liability coverage after the underlying, or primary, liability policy has been paid out. Umbrella policies have a significant retention or deductible amount the insured must pay after the primary insurance policy pays. The umbrella policy has its own terms and conditions and may provide coverage the primary policy does not provide or restrict coverage to not cover some losses the primary policy does cover.

An Excess policy can be an Excess Follow policy. This is where the coverage, terms and conditions track the primary policy.

Enter a check mark in either the Deductible or Retention box.

Deductibles and Retention - self insured retention - are not the same. They differ in the responsibilities of the carrier when a loss occurs, defense costs, collateral requirements, limits erosion and certificates of insurance details.

Generally speaking I have been told the deductible is more favorable to the insured. My Daddy always told me for a variety of reasons that it is always best in the event of a loss to have all your policies with the same carrier.

Show the liability limits of coverage - for example $1,000,000.  or $5,000,000, etc next to the appropriate "Each Occurrence" and "Aggregate" text.

If your insured has a deductible you do not have to show the deductible limit on the certificate of insurance, but if they have a self insured retention you do need to show that amount in the box under the other limits.

I hope this is helpful. We all learned everything for a first time as some point. Some of us continue to learn.

Next up is the Workers Compensation Section of the ACORD 25 Certificate of Liability Insurance.

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