A legal expenses insurance is intended to provide legal support in case of a legal dispute. You pay a monthly or annual premium to be insured of help when you need to take legal steps. But what if your legal expenses insurer refuses to provide assistance? It can be an annoying situation, especially when you are dealing with a conflict and urgently need legal help.

In this detailed article, we discuss the common reasons why legal expenses insurance is refused and what you can do if this happens to you. We also give advice on the options you have to get legal help anyway.

What is legal expenses insurance?

A legal expenses insurance provides coverage for legal aid in conflicts. This can vary from labor conflicts, contractual disputes, personal injury, consumer rights to traffic accidents. By taking out legal expenses insurance, you have access to legal assistance without having to make direct high lawyer costs.

Reasons why your legal expenses insurance can be refused

There are several reasons your insurer may decide to refuse legal aid. Below we highlight the most common reasons:

1. Invoking legal assistance too quickly

Many legal expenses insurance policies have a waiting period, often three months, from the start date of the policy. This means that you cannot invoke legal help for problems that arise during this waiting period. This clause is intended to prevent people from only taking out insurance when they already know that a conflict is coming.

2. Dispute falls outside coverage

Not all legal disputes fall within the scope of your legal expenses insurance. It is important to carefully read the policy conditions when taking out the insurance. Common exclusions are divorces, business disagreements or existing conflicts at the time of taking out the insurance.

3. Chance of success too small

Sometimes an insurer refuses to provide legal aid because they believe the chance of success is too small. Insurers often have a ‘reasonable chance of success’-c…