Disability Insurance for Attorneys

As an attorney with your own practice, you not only have to represent your clients but run the business as well.

As with other professional business owners, two simple questions must be kept in mind to ensure your financial security:

1. "What will I do for income if I can
     no longer see clients because of
     an illness or injury?"
2. "How long could I and my family
     maintain our current standard of
     living if I couldn't work?"

Lawyers need to be espcially aware of the prospect of not being able to work because of the following:

• If you stop working, your primary source of income stops immediately.
• Attorneys are highly unlikely to take on jobs other than that of being a lawyer during rehabilitation, which can extend the disability period.
• Attorneys with employer-sponsored group disability insurance almost always find the cap on monthly benefits to be significantly lower than their regular income, negatively affecting cash flow in the event of illness or injury.

A solid individual or supplemental disability insurance policy has a base set of provisions.  Because attorneys have additional requirements, your disability insurance policy should also include the following:

• Total Disability should be defined in your policy as "Own Occupation".  This means you will be considered disabled if you can't perform your own occupation, versus any occupation.
  
  With this definition, an attorney should be able to collect benefits as long as he/she can't practice law.  This helps to ensure you maintain financial protection until you can do the exact job you specialize in.
• The definition of Residual (or Partial) Disability should be "Loss of Income".  While more expensive than "Time & Duties", Loss of Income ensures your benefit will make up the difference in your pre-disability income up to a set percentage (usually 80%-90%) until you can earn that amount on your own.  Because it may take months to rebuild a clientele once you return to work, Loss of Income in necessary to cover your income until things get rolling again.

Depending on your specific circumstances and specialty, additional provisions may be necessary to ensure your income is protected if you can't work.

For additional information, please submit the form on the right to be contacted by an authorized agent.

Request a Free Disability Insurance Quote