When a family engaged us for financial oversight, one of the first things we did was ask to see their insurance policies. What came back was a folder of documents collected over two decades: homeowners, auto, umbrella, life insurance, a few commercial policies picked up when the business was formed. None of it had ever been reviewed as a whole. Policies had been added as circumstances changed. Nothing had ever been looked at all at once.
What we found wasn’t unusual, but it was significant. The umbrella policy limit hadn’t been updated in years, while the family’s net worth had grown considerably. Life insurance beneficiary designations still reflected a prior estate plan. Two homeowners policies had overlapping coverage. And several properties and collectibles weren’t adequately covered at all.
We built a consolidated insurance inventory covering every policy, carrier, coverage amount, premium, renewal date, and beneficiary designation, and worked through it with the family’s insurance broker to identify where the gaps were and where they were paying for coverage they no longer needed.
The most pressing items were addressed first. We increased the umbrella limit to reflect the family’s current net worth, consolidated overlapping homeowners coverage, and updated life insurance beneficiary designations to align with the current estate plan. On the life insurance side, we worked with the estate attorney to evaluate whether existing policies should be restructured or held in trust rather than owned personally.
We also established an annual review process, built into the family’s financial calendar, so coverage doesn’t drift out of alignment again as circumstances continue to change.
The family now has a complete picture of their coverage, documentation that their advisor and estate attorney can actually work from, and confidence that the assets they’ve built are appropriately protected.
