Best Legal Insurance in Germany [2024] - Navigate Germany

You might face legal issues at any time in your life, so having a legal insurance is always beneficial to get legal help and claim from an insurance provider. Here you will get to know about different kinds of insurances, costs, and comparison of legal insurances in Germany, so keep reading it till the end.

Legal Insurance in Germany

Germany is the country of insurances so you can cover anything under your insurance plan. It is not necessary to have all insurances but getting a legal insurance “Rechtsschutzversicherung” is always beneficial even if you are obeying all laws. It helps to recover legal obligations and expensive costs in any legal conflicts. You can consult a professional lawyer to get legal help or advice regarding court matters if you have  legal insurance. If you are in Germany for more than 6 months, get a legal insurance.

Importance of Having Legal Insurance in Germany

Being an expat, you might have no idea about the legal regulations and laws in germany so you might be in legal conflict. If you have legal insurance, you will secure yourself from the legal issues in which you might need legal advice from lawyer or you might be presented in the court. You can always seek justice with legal insurance wether you can afford or not.

According to the survey conducted by statista in 2020, 41% of the German population have legal insurance to exercise their rights. Germans have more focus on regulations, laws, and orders, so having legal insurance will help you to fight for your rights if needed.

Expensive Legal Costs

No one really want to take law in hand but being a good citizen is not enough. The cost of legal insurance in Germany is bit more but less than resolving the legal conflicts through court. The cost of a lawyer is between 80 Euro to 500 Euro per hour, so legal insurance is always good for you to cover the costs. Your legal insurance provider can also provide you a lawyer. If you lose your case in the court, your insurance will cover the legal expenses.

Coverage Through Legal Insurance

Your legal insurance will cover the costs like lawyer fee, court expenses, translation fee, witnesses, and related expenses

Here are the areas that are covered through legal insurance:

• Employment laws
• Landlord disputes
• Neighbor disputes
• Tax disputes
• Private contracts and consumer protection
• Compensation claims
• Family law ( Some insurance policies include Divorce
• Accidents loss of driver license) or traffic violation
• Inheritance problems

Exclusions From Legal Insurance Coverage

Legal insurance does not include;

• Claims for damages, fines, or tickets
• Claims during waiting period.
• Legal divorce expenses.
• Legal assistance before getiing legal insurance.

If you need to cover above expenses, you must have specialized legal insurance policy.

Waiting Period Defined

When you apply for an insurance, you need to wait for a few months which is called waiting period. If you are facing any legal issue during this time, you cannot claim your expenses. You must have legal insurance in advance as the length of the waiting period depends on the type of insurance and your insurance provider. If you are purchasing an insurance with traffic legal protection, there would be no waiting period, however waiting period is three months for private, professional, and home rental. Waiting period in terms of divorce legal protection is very long i.e up to three years.

Kinds of Legal Insurance

There are four kinds of legal insurance in Germany; traffic legal insurance, private, professional, and home rental.

Traffic Legal Insurance

Accidents ratio in Germay is increasing every year no matter if your driving skills are good. You might go through the accident due to another driver’s negligence, but the faulty claims that accident happened due to you. There might be situation that other party’s liability insurance company refuse to pay you. This is the time when you get benefit through your traffic legal insurance that ensures to consult a lawyer.

No worries, if accident happen due to you, the insurance provider will put all efforts to minimize the amount of penalty. Traffic insurance covers;

• Car dealership disputes, repairs, or warranty claims
• Compensation for suffering, or pain
• Handles administrative penalties, or withdrawing your driving license.
• Identifies that who is at fault.

Private Legal Insurance

Dispute with Authorities

If you have conflict with the authorities due to a fine or penalty, or you disagree with the tax office’s assessment, you can sue. If you disagree with the amount of tax shared to you by the German tax office, you can file the objection. If your argument is justified with your legal insurance, you will get your money back in terms of a tax refund.

Private Purchase Contract

You may have a dispute due to an online buying in result of which you received a defected product or you had poor services.

Internet Protection

If someone have misused your internet, used your internet without permission, payment made without authorization, or published you personal data without your consent, you can get help through private legal insurance.

Criminal Law Protection

You can get help from a lawyer for the accusation of a negligent offense with private legal insurance.

Other Legal Support

You can get legal support with your private legal insurance if you are victimized or something falls and hits you and gets injured.

Professional Legal Insurance

Resolve your disputes at workplace by getting professional legal insurance. Situation might get worse and you can find yourself on the down side and may want to seek justice for which you need legal assistance. Do not just accept offer by your HR and consult a lawyer. You can check the package of the offer your HR gave and rather you get a 6 months’ salary, you can get more with the help or professional lawyer. Some of the workplace disputes are;

• Termination from the job without reason.
• Better severance package
• Someone with same job description getting higher salary than you
• Claim of vacation days
• Outstanding salary is due.
• Negative reference letter or employer is not giving any reference letter.

Home Rental Legal Insurance

Dispute with the Landlord

Your landlord may deny to pay you the deposit you made, may void the notice period, dispute related to utility expenses, or do not want to keep you in the home. This is the time when you need assistance from home rental legal insurance. Get help from a lawyer to protect your rights being tenant. If you are a landlord, home rental legal insurance can ebnefit you to resolve a dispute regarding a property management company.

Dispute with the Neighbors

Issues from neighbors is always possible if you are using the common area or creating noise. Protect yourself with home rental insurance. People can go to the court to sue their neighbors even on a small issue, so having a home rental insurance is always beneficial.

Purchase of Real Estate

If you buy a house in germany, consult a lawyer to review the purchase contract or the price. The home rental insurance will also help if property is defective. Protect your rental or investment property with private legal insurance.

Choose Your Legal Insurance

Insurances usually come in the single package by different insurance providers in Germany but you must choose kind of insurance according to your needs and requirements. You can resolve divorce related legal disputes and get home rental legal insurance as an add-on to your insurance policy. Whenever you are purchasing legal insurance, do not forget to check the coverage and think carefully what you need to cover before you make final selection.

Cost of Legal Insurance in Germany

The cost of legal insurance depends on the insurance provider, services offered, and the coverage your plan includes. Price will be high by purchasing add-ons to your plan according to the need. Remember that basic legal insurance costs less than 20 Euros but a claim might need a deductible amount of approximately 150 – 300 Euros. The cost of legal insurance is less as compared to the legal costs in Germany, so provide yourself a peace of mind.

Best Legal Insurances in Germany

Getsafe and Feather are highly recommended because of:

• Best insurance plans
• Services in English
• Free to choose any lawyer (English speaking or any other)
• Fully digital system

Both providers have 300 Euro deductible in the initial year, that is reduced by 100 Euro with no claim each year. If you claim, the deductible increases to 500 Euro in the following year and there is the reduction of 100 Euro with no claim each year.

Getsafe

This is an insurance broker started their operations in 2015 and offeringfully digital products. You can handle everything online without any paperwork. 

Key Features

• English support
• Mobile application
• 24/7 legal assistance
• Easy to file claim
• Offer private, professional and traffic legal protection
• Easy and quick sign up process
• Criminal legal protection and home legal protection can be added by add-on

Feather

They started their operations in 2018 and offer different kinds of insurances with English customer support.

Key Features

• Fully digital system
• English support
• Simple and easy sign up process
• Professional, private, traffic, and home legal protection is included
• Choose advanced cover and reduce waiting period

Adam Riese

Adam Riese is a German insurance provider founded in 2017 and is backed by Big Financial service provided by W & W group.

Key Features

• Simple and digital
• Unlimited global coverage
• Starting from 15.27 Euros
• Free to choose lawyer
• 3 months waiting period
• Cancel anytime
• Low deductibles (150 Euros)

Neodirect

This insurance broker is based in Frankfurt, Eschborn, and Berlin. They are offering a lot of insurance products and services and working with over 150 insurance companies.

Key Features

• Simple and digital
• Transparent and efficient
• Personal assistance
• Mobile application

Difference Between Insurance Broker and Insurance Agent

Insurance Broker is an independent intermediary who works for clients and offer different policies from various insurers. Their main focus is on finding the best solutions for the client’s needs.

Insurance Agent is a representative of an insurance company who sells policies from the companies they represent. They have limited range of products compared to the brokers as they only have knowledge about their company’s products.

Final Words

Choose an insurance policy that best fulfill your needs in Germany. You might have to pay a lot of taxes in germany including radio tax. If you fail to pay any tax, this could be expensive for you.