Every year in August, kids leave for college with parents wondering if their home insurance covers them while they are away. To start, it needs to be determined if they are insured under the policy. Being “an insured” requires that they be a family member. This is not automatically assumed and situations can vary. It takes more than simply living in the same house to be considered a family member and “an insured”. In one court case the parents’ child was living in an apartment with an annual lease although they still had full access to their parents’ residence. They were found to be a “family member” of the named insured and were granted coverage. In another case 2 courts in Florida ruled that military personnel (one was stationed in Germany) are still residents of their parents’ home because they were “absent of any manifest intention to change residence.”
Some questions to consider when trying to determine whether or not your child is a family member under your miami home insurance policy are: Does your child receive any kind of financial support from you?, Do you claim your child on your tax return?, Do you provide any health insurance for your child?, When the college has breaks (ex: Spring Break) does your child return to your home during that time?, Are you paying for their college bills?, etc.
The more yeses you have, the greater the likelihood your child is a family member, and therefore “an insured”, on your home insurance policy. Based on cases like those mentioned above it’s likely that, for insurance purposes, most college kids keep their status as a family member.
It could be determined that they are not a family member – they are self sufficient with no money from you, rarely visit your home and set up their own residence. The parents’ home insurance policy does not cover the child at all in that kind of situation and they need their own policy.
But, let’s assume that your child is a family member. What parts of your policy would cover your child?
Home insurance policies refer to “relatives” as people that are related to the named insured and are “residents of your household.” With your child still insured, they take with them to college most of the coverage from your homeowners policy. Issues that would arise are property and liability. Personal property is covered under Section 1 of the policy “…while it is anywhere in the world.” So, anything taken with your child to school is covered under Coverage C in Section 1… but, they only get 10% of that coverage because living on campus or an apartment means the “insured’s residence is other than the residence premises.” With items kids take along such as computers, electronics, (possibly) costly clothing, etc., the 10% may not be adequate in the event of a loss.
Two options exist if 10% of Coverage C is insufficient. Option 1 is to increase coverage for property at a separate residence via an endorsement on the policy. If your insurance company does not have an endorsement for that, then your second option could be to purchase an HO-4 policy for your child. Doing so would not be a bad idea due to child-incurred property claims not being reported under the parents’ policy. There is an exclusion regarding theft coverage for kids away at school, though, that says, “…if the students has been there at any time during the 45 days immediately before the loss.” Short breaks from school are fine but summer break is long and theft coverage ceases with 45 days of absence. Solutions to that would be to keep the property in a mini-warehouse (it would not be subjected to the 10% limitation), send the child back before 45 days (may not be possible if living in a dorm or frat/sorority house) or have them bring everything home with them for the summer.
This covers the issue of property but what about liability? Situations involving liability could arise during school sporting events, activities during spring break, parties, etc. Section 2 provides liability coverage for the child since they are only “temporarily residing” at school. No definition seems to be offered for “temporary” and residing at college for a period of several years can still be considered a temporary residence. Home insurance policies may define the “insured location” as “any part of a premises not owned by an insured and where an insured is temporarily residing” so no endorsement should be needed for coverage. Should your insurance company question this, you can inexpensively add the school’s location as an additional residence to the declarations page. Regardless of the type of residence, liability coverage will apply. Also, since the home policy’s territory, including Sections 1 and 2, is worldwide there is coverage for your child if they are not at home or school during a short school break like Thanksgiving.
Since wording can be different between different policies (HO-3, HO-4, etc) and vary from one insurance company to another, what is covered, how much is covered, who is covered, how long coverage exists, and what endorsements are available may differ. If you have a child going away to school this August or in the near future, you may have questions regarding how much property and liability coverage there is if: your child will be living away from home, a possession is stolen, something happens during a break from school, or any other situation you may think of that could involve/happen to your child. Please give us a call at 305-270-2100 and we can help you with the answers to your questions.
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At Filer Insurance, Inc., we have been serving Miami and South Florida since 1919. We specialize in miami home insurance as well as miami auto insurance, miami life insurance and miami business insurance. Please give us a call, visit our website or come by our office for a free miami home insurance quote.
