galawdawg wrote: ↑Fri Sep 03, 2021 8:20 amAnd if you have $3m in taxable and get $10m in umbrella, what's stopping from the insurance company tendering limits and the lawyer going onto the next target, i.e. you?mathwhiz wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 8:52 pm So if I have $3M in taxable and get $3M in umbrella, what's stopping from the insurance company tendering limits and the lawyer going onto the next target, i.e. me? Especially with a kid involved and a sympathetic jury, why not get the full $6 Million judgment or is the insurance company going to force the attorney to waive the right to sue me as part of the settlement?
BF3000 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 8:47 pm OP, why pay 3x your taxable net worth for umbrella? I think you are overthinking this. Why not 1x? And it is not a complex strategy about hiring lawyers to drag out a lawsuit to keep sharks at bay. Suppose you goofed, swerved over the center line, and rendered a 5-year-old child a quadriplegic and killed his mom. Suing you for a lot of money would be a legitimate claim—not ambulance chasing—but the plaintiff would have no incentive to reject the policy limits if your accessible net wealth equaled your policy limits.
You could certainly fret and wring your hands and worry about those kind of catastrophic situations. But the reality is that all you can do is take reasonable measures to protect your assets, make reasonable decisions about the purchase of umbrella insurance, and take reasonable precautions to ensure, to the best of your ability, that risks of such a significant and catastrophic loss are minimized.
Only you know your teen and his level of maturity, responsibility, trustworthiness and judgment. It will be YOUR car he drives. If you aren't certain that he will exercise wise decision-making concerning his operation of your car, then don't permit him to do so. Set certain zero tolerance policies: no alcohol or drug use...period. No reckless driving or excessive speed...period. Driver and passengers always seat belted...period. Complete honesty concerning the use of the vehicle...period. Things like that. And then trust, but verify. Don't be hesitant to monitor your teen's driving. His right to privacy ends when you entrust him with the possession and operation of your vehicle. There are apps and other methods for doing this. If your teen says he is going to the library to study, drive by the library and make sure the car is in the parking lot.
If there is an issue, address it immediately with appropriate vehicle-related consequences. Be the parent....don't give in to the social pressures to be his "friend" and worry about whether other kids or parents will think you too strict, rigid or controlling. Take it from me...we raised three. The peer pressure among parents can be brutal but DW and I weren't on Facebook or other social media, we didn't make parenting decisions based upon what "everyone else" was doing, and we frankly didn't care what other parents thought about how we raised our kids. And believe it or not, we had a couple of parents who had the nerve to comment about our decisions, things like "________ said you won't let him drive for a month because he got a speeding ticket....that's pretty harsh. How is he going to get to school or hang out with his friends?" (Transport to school is taxpayer funded...it's called a SCHOOL BUS! And if his friends want to "hang out" they can come and pick him up or he can walk...not my problem to solve. Our son can figure it out.)
When I was a DA, I had to periodically send seventeen and eighteen year olds to prison for years for DUI caused fatality wrecks. I also went to scenes where the at-fault teen driver and his/her friends were all deceased in a wrecked vehicle because the driver was driving recklessly and failed to negotiate a curve or crossed the center-line and struck another vehicle. In many of those cases, these teen drivers were irresponsible kids, had a history of drug or alcohol use, or had other moving violations on their short driving histories. And yet, at least half of them were driving new or barely used expensive vehicles that Mom and Dad bought for junior because "all kids drink/smoke weed/drive too fast and _________ is really a good kid, he deserves a nice car/truck."
Forgive me if I am going too far into the "parenting advice" spectrum, but the best way to reduce the risk that concerns you is to reduce the likelihood of a serious injury or fatality wreck. IMO that requires oversight, supervision and matching permitted vehicle use with demonstrated levels of personal responsibility and trustworthiness.
Good luck!
Solid post. This deserves to be read twice.