Personal liability coverage (home)
Updated for plan year 2026
In plain terms
Personal liability coverage protects you when you're legally responsible for someone else's injury or property damage: a guest's fall, a dog bite, or your child breaking a neighbor's window. It pays their damages and your legal defense, on and often off your property, up to your policy's liability limit.
A plain example
Your dog bites a visitor who needs stitches and later sues. Your personal liability coverage pays the medical bills and your legal defense up to its limit (say $300,000) and an umbrella policy would extend that further if the claim ran higher.
Why it matters
A single serious liability claim, an injury or lawsuit, can threaten your savings and home. Sizing this coverage to at least your net worth, and adding an umbrella policy, is the cheapest way to protect what you own.
A common point of confusion
People focus on the dwelling amount and ignore liability. Yet liability, not the house, is what protects you from a lawsuit, and standard limits can fall short of what a serious injury claim demands.