Liability insurance for your household, and separately for your business.
A household and a business can each be held responsible for harm to someone else. They are insured separately, and this page keeps them apart: first your household, then your business.
An umbrella adds limits above the policies you already have.
"Umbrella" and "excess" are used loosely; some insurers mean different products by them. Read the contract, not the label. Each product sets its own required limits for the policies beneath it, and a cancelled or reduced underlying policy can affect it.
Ask how defense costs work: at least one insurer pays them outside the damages limit, and yours may not. Ask what happens when a policy underneath does not respond; some describe a drop-down for certain losses, with a retained amount, and not every gap drops down.
A household umbrella is not a business policy, and neither covers a charter.
A personal umbrella is written for household liability; do not assume it reaches a business you own. Whether it responds for a boat depends on the insurer's requirements and on who owns the boat. A boat that takes paying guests is a different exposure from a boat used privately.
A charter operation needs its own commercial marine assessment, and neither a household umbrella nor a business liability policy should be assumed to complete it. When a question belongs with your attorney, we say so. See boat liability insurance and Charter Business Insurance.
Six policies, and what each has to settle.
Your household first, then your business.
| Policy | What the policy has to settle |
|---|---|
| Personal liability (within home, auto and boat policies) | The limits on each underlying policy, and whether they meet what the umbrella above them requires. |
| Personal umbrella or excess | Defense costs inside or outside the limit; drop-down terms; whether household staff, a rented home, board service or uninsured drivers are addressed, and how a domestic-employee allegation is treated differently from a guest's injury; a trust or LLC on a title, so the named insured matches the real owner. An entity is not automatic coverage and not an asset shield on its own. |
| General liability | Claims that the business's activities injured someone or damaged their property; whether the policy describes every service you actually provide. |
| Professional liability (errors and omissions) | Claims that your advice or service caused a loss. Often claims-made: the retroactive date, the reporting period and any extended reporting period decide whether past work stays covered when you change insurers, retire or close. Neither tail cover nor prior-acts continuity is automatic. |
| Commercial umbrella | Which underlying policies it actually names; do not assume it sits over professional liability. Lease and client requirements, additional-insured requests and subcontractor certificates are checked against the real policies, and the legal terms may need counsel. |
| Workers' compensation | Florida's thresholds differ by industry: one employee in construction, four in non-construction, six regular or twelve seasonal in agriculture. Entity type, counting rules and exemptions change the answer, so the rule is not simply "if you have employees". Employer's liability and employment practices are separate reviews. Boat crew are marine employment: see Boat Crew Coverage. |
What to have ready for a conversation is listed once, on Contact.
Speak with Roberto.
Roberto Guerrero · President and Principal Agent · Licensed agent