Does Farm Insurance Cover Legal Fees?

When you incur a legal fee, it can be difficult to know if you need to roll over and pay, or if there’s a way to reclaim your expenses. Will your farm insurance help you out?

Yes. All the insurers we have on our panel here at QuoteMe.ie have legal expenses included in your policy automatically.

You will not have to pay any expenses incurred by legal action taken against you for the duration of the policy in question.

In this article, we’ll cover the following questions:

• What are farm insurance legal fees?
• Am I covered for fines?
• Does my insurance cover tax audits?

If you do not have cover for legal expenses, you may be hit by a hefty bill if someone takes you to court.

What are farm insurance legal fees?

Legal fees are any fines, expenses or other costs associated with a legal action being taken against you.

For example, if someone trespasses on your land and suffers an injury, and then decides to take you to court over the matter, your farm insurance should cover the fees associated with your hiring a lawyer and going to court.

If you do not have legal fee protection on your policy, these expenses can add up very quickly.

Employment disputes, tax inspections and property disagreements are always a significant risk to agricultural businesses, leaving landowners and rural concerns open to significant risk without the right insurance policy.

The good news is, legal fee protection is now a standard feature of all commercial rural policies. You’ll get cover for all your legal expenses insurance as part of any standard farm insurance package.

Am I covered for fines?

It depends on what the fine is for. If you read your policy carefully, the fine print will state that it’s necessary for covered fines to be “recoverable at law”. In basic terms, this means that if you are lawfully required to pay those fines, your insurance will not cover you. After all, fines are meant to be a deterrent, and if businesses are able to make an insurance claim to avoid paying due penalties, this deterrent effect is lost.

This means there will be very few, if any, instances where you will find yourself subject to a fine and have it recoverable by your insurance. If, however, you dispute the claim, take the other party to court and win, all your legal expenses will be covered by your farm insurance.

Farms and other businesses are not able to use insurance to avoid the consequences of illegal actions. You will not be covered if you are found ignorant of recent developments in legislation. As a farmer and business owner, it is your responsibility to keep up to date with everything you need to do to make sure you conduct your business safely and legally.

Does my insurance cover tax audits?

Farm insurance also covers if you are audited by the tax revenue. If you get notification that you are subject to an audit, give us a ring and report it straight away. Do not wait until the audit starts.

Send us the letter and we will report it. Next step is that we ask your accountant for an estimate of how much they will charge for going back through your five year accounts. If you do your own books, or don’t have an accountant, your insurance company will appoint an accountant to represent you. All these charges will be covered.

If you find yourself scheduled for a visit from the auditor, be courteous and professional. They have a job to do, and it’s in everyone’s interest to make sure the visit goes ahead smoothly. Not only that, but obstructing a Revenue auditor is a criminal offence. Making life difficult will only prolong the situation for both of you.

Call Our Farm Insurance experts with any of your queries

If you have any questions regarding your farm insurance Our trained experts are on hand to help. Give us a call today and we can answer all your questions and help protect your farm. We look forward to helping you!