Insurance Liability Question

I'm debating whether or not to pay for a seperate insurance policy or group my 18-year-old stepson with mine.

I have a question regarding liability and an 18-year-old driver. My 18-year-old stepson just got his driver's license. He's still living in the house so I thought about putting him on my insurance policy to reduce the cost some (basic liability on the truck we bought for him to drive which will be transfered into his name soon).

If I do put him on my and my wife's policy, are our assets at risk in the event he gets sued for something (e.g. the house)? As a legal adult, he would normally carry all the liability for any lawsuit but does that change if I put him on my policy?

 

Yessir

Edit: I'm not a lawyer and didn't pass the BAR. I only say yes because this is CA and anybody can be sued for anything now a days.

 

Best answered by calling your agent..then another agent to make sure you don't get a different answer.

 

Many of my clients sell the car to their kids. Take them off your policy and have them buy their own minimum policy. This way they are separate from you. They don't need a big dollar policy since they (presumably) have nothing. Therefore, no reason for people to try to get blood from a rock.

I also know a guy that sued a 18 yr old for 3 million dollars and won a couple of million. He will never walk right again. Has a broom for a leg right now.

The only reason why they even sued was because the father had a $3 million umbrella policy and he was insured by the same policy. Talk to your agent and talk strategy. TW info is as good as Saturday call in legal shows.

 

Get an umbrella liability and don't worry.

 

^^^ This is not true. Just because you don't have a great deal of assets doesn't mean that they can't pursue what you don't have. What ends up happening is it becomes a lien on one's record. Best bet if you want to free yourself from most liability issues is to have the vehicle titled in his name since he is of age and have him acquire his own insurance policy with reasonably higher liablity limits. I work for a very large Insurance Company and see situations where lower limits aren't sufficient and the remainder of the cost still falls on the person liable. Upon having him the titled owner of the vehicle you should go ahead and make him take a Defensive Driver course as part of the deal.

 

Even if he is on his own insurance they can still come after and sue you for your assets until he is 21. Might as well put him on your insurance until he turns 21 (to save some money) and then take him off. That's what my parents did for myself and my sister after our neighbor (District attorney) told my father it doesn't matter until your 21

 

I am not sure how this would be possible --^. At 18 you are a legal adult and responsible for your own actions.

If he is 18, the vehicle and insurance is in his name you shouldn't be liable for anything should something happen.

 

Have him get his own policy.

 

This is true, CA is the worst with their insurance laws (I used to do workers' comp). However with that being said, they will find some way to come after you if he lives in the same house too.

 

Unfortunately you are preached this over and over until you find out the hard way for certain things it is 21. With financial aid from the government for school, although I had been on my own since 18, I had to jump through hoops to get government subsidized rates. It is 18 for most things, but if it benefits them for some things they will push it back.

 

With financial aid...when i was in that age range it was 23 to be "independant" iirc.
The main reason for this is so people will not abuse the system, leaving subsidized loans for those that truely need them, not the kids that are still dependant on parents.

That however has nothing to do with civil liability which this would fall under.

 

I understand, whatever the stipulation it always has a valid reason. Just like with the loans, certain stipulations in insurance can do the same in order to protect the claimant from some 18 year old who has nothing in the event of a catastrophe.

In all, I don't know the exact answer, every policy and every state have different laws and limitations. Particularly with insurance (especially in CA) it is a different animal, it doesn't fall under the norm.

 

The kid is under 25, male and not married, he is called an "assigned risk" no matter what he drives, nothing is going to be great as far as rates go. If you plan a paying his insurance for him then OK, I wouldn't do that for my son unless he was a full time college kid. I would cover him on my policy for only his car and have him sign exclusions for all other vehicles (including my truck). This means he is only insured to drive his car under my policy. I'm not sure if you can set different coverages for each driver but i suspect not, probably one comp rate for all the drivers on the policy.

 

Talk to your insurance agent about the cost question.

Talk to your attorney about the liability question.

The laws regarding insurance and liability are different in every state.