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Julie: 00:00

Hello, hello. Welcome to The Risk Rundown, This is our Halloween episode, and, um, Tyler, I am very disappointed that you didn't come with a costume. So you have, you have a smaller child, you celebrate,

 

Tyler: 00:22

I do, I have a six year old.

 

Julie: 00:23

No. So please tell me what would you dress up with? Uh, dress up as, if you know you were gonna be dressing up.

 

Tyler: 00:33

Funny you should ask. Actually, for the last 20 years I've dressed up as a samurai. I've got the same outfit each and every year. My wife's like, can you please switch it up? You know, once in a while, because I'm always dressed up as a samurai. I've got the sword, I've got the outfit.

 

Julie: 00:49

A power ranger. I could have seen a red Power Ranger.

 

Tyler: 00:53

Oh yeah.

You know, I got home last night. My little guy was actually dressed up as a firefighter, so it was really cute. 6-year-old firefighter. The last two years he's been Spider-Man, so we're, you know, progressively graduating to new costumes, but it's really exciting. So today's gonna be a fun, fun conversation.

 

Julie: 01:07

You're right!

So we are going to do a little thing called a rapid fire. I'm gonna—and, and you, I, we didn't talk about this— but I'm just gonna give you a couple, a few scenarios and you're gonna tell me if it's a tricky type of situation and claim situation or if it would be a treat for the client to just get paid out easily, right?

So it's a trick or a treat.

So, first scenario, there is a “Mysterious disappearance” of a very expensive bottle of wine.

 

Tyler: 01:36

Well, was that bottle of wine disappearance due to consumption?

 

Julie: 01:41

No, because that would, that would definitely be a treat, at least for me, that would be definitely a treat.

 

Tyler: 01:46

Yeah, consumption is not covered by the insurance policy, but mysterious disappearance, absolutely, it's a treat. Um, that's something that's covered by the insurance policy and something that, you know, a client would get paid out for whatever coverage they had for that bottle of wine.

 

Julie: 01:59

But also it may or may not, depending on the cause of loss, right? And you may have to have an extra insurance policy to have that bot, that bottle of wine covered, right? It's not just necessarily always covered underneath your contents coverage,

 

Tyler: 02:35

No, actually—so my apologies. So the caveat to that is that they need to have it scheduled. So if you've got an extensive wine collection that goes for any collection for that matter, you know if, especially if it's got a per-item limit of over, like $10,000, we highly recommend that you schedule those items because if you do have a mysterious disappearance, it's gonna be covered under that policy.

 

Julie: 02:14

Okay. So honestly, if it were underneath a valuable articles policy, it could be a treat, right? It could be a very straightforward claim, but if it wasn't, then it could be very tricky.

 

Okay. Scenario number two. You have a ghoulish gathering, at your house and all of a sudden someone gets injured and something goes wrong. Is it a tricky scenario and tricky claim, or is it a treat

 

Tyler: 03:02

Oh, that's very tricky.

Because was alcohol served, right? Was there unsafe conditions? You know, uh, who was attending this event? You know, was alcohol served with minors? Present, right. So a lot of these things are very tricky. And listen, our clients unfortunately get sued quite often for this type of situation.

So I would gander to say that, you know, if there is, you know, an umbrella policy in place, if they have liability coverage on their homeowner's policy, you know, the defense coverage would be covered under that policy. You know, we always recommend, hey, that that defense coverage is actually one of the most important, um, aspects.

Liability coverage because that can rack up, you know, fees pretty quickly depending on the law firm and who you're using. So yeah, very tricky situation.

 

Julie 03:52: Third and final scenario. Tricky or treat. It's a dark and stormy night. Tyler. It's dark and stormy?

 

Tyler: 03:58

I love the premise to this question.

 

Julie: 04:01

It's a dark and stormy night, and it's really, really windy, and your neighbor's tree, not your tree, but your neighbor's tree, falls on a fence and your house. Tricky or treat?

 

Tyler: 04:15

Well, it's tricky for the fact that, you know, could you [00:05:00] subrogate against your neighbor? But it's a treat because that's something that would be covered under your homeowner's policy.

 

Julie: 04:24

So, a lot —we again get a lot of questions, right? People think that since it's the neighbor's tree, it automatically is their insurance, but honestly, it's not. It's your own insurance. Not unless for some reason that, you know, the tree has been dead for years and years and there's been, you know, conversations about that it's a hazard and all that.

 

Tyler 04:41

Yeah. Neglect of the tree that wasn't properly maintained, you know, and, and, and insurance in general, we have to remember that it's sudden and accidental. If it's sudden and it's accidental, you know, there, there's a good chance that's gonna be covered under your insurance policy. But when you have neglect and you've known of the issue for some time, that's where it can get very tricky.

 

Julie 05:44

And so, and the thing is, is that there's like, um, you know, it's sudden and accidental and there has to be a trigger event. Within the contract of the policy. Right. So that's the, that's the thing that there has to be a trigger event in order to trigger coverage. That's kind of how I, I [00:06:00] tell people there's a trigger event and there's trigger of coverage and that's when we can kind of dive into, you know, if there's coverage or not.

And we are actually very fortunate, um, that Alliant Private Client, we actually have a whole dedicated claims team, right? We have a whole team that can help our clients do those types of things and kind of when the rubber hits the road, that they can help them walk through that, um, and hold their hand through that process.

So do you have any kind of interesting kind of scenarios?

 

Tyler: 05:46

We have so many different scenarios and, and actually I, I got on the phone with the head of our claims yesterday. Just have a conversation, you know, what are some kind of interesting claim scenarios, situations, you know, obviously we deal with, you know, the auto claims on a daily basis, you know, even property claims losses with water, but because it's Halloween season, right? You know, one, one thing that he brought to my attention, and I didn't even think about this—so a lot of people have Halloween parties. And in those Halloween parties, they are dressing up in some scary or spooky costumes. And when you come to the door of that home, and if you have a dog and they see you as a threat, there is a possibility that they could attack.

Because they're defending their owner, right? If, if it's a threatening situation or if you're wearing a threatening, you know, costume. So something to just be aware of, you know. Um, dog bite claims unfortunately are a thing, you know, and there's actually certain dog breeds that have exclusions on the policy for that very reason. 

So just take care of your pets, you know, during Halloween season.

06:51

Why don't you share some scary or spooky situations around collectibles? 'cause obviously our clients collect some pretty outrageous items that we're familiar with, right?

 

Julie: 07:02

They do. They do. And that's, you know, to your point earlier is that it, this is when we need the, the additional coverage, right. Um, for the unique scenarios and the, and the unique, um, assets. But there have been all sorts of. Collectibles and artifacts, right? It could be movie memorabilia, it could be, locks of someone's hair. It could be a movie star's bed. It could be Egyptian artifacts of like mummies and sphinx and coffins and all sorts of different kind of stuff, right? And those are all kind of very unique, kind of mysterious kind of things to collect for sure. But they can be very valuable and sometimes, um, irreplaceable for sure.

 

Tyler:07:41

So what's another one you got?

 

Julie 07:43

So I know that with car accidents, one of the scariest things is when my kids were starting to drive and that they'd have kids in the car with them. Right? And I know that on previous podcasts I've talked about, my son's car accident, and how scary it was for me. He had flipped his car bumper to bumper three times and thankfully he was, completely okay. Had a scratch on his finger, but that was it.

But those types of scenarios are very scary for a parent, and especially if you have, your child has a friend in the car with them. Right? One of the things that we actually talk to our clients about, and I know, um, we do across the entire Alliant Private Client is the uninsured/underinsured.

And if you are, if you or your child or someone in your household is driving and gets in a really bad car accident, that uninsured/underinsured is not just in case someone, hits you that either doesn't have insurance or doesn't have enough insurance, but it could be, um, that they're, that, you know, they're walking across the street. And they get hit by a car.

It could be that your child is a passenger in someone else's vehicle that doesn't have enough insurance. And um, there have been scenarios that, here, you know. In the Mid-Atlantic that there have been scenarios that kids have gotten, there have been, let's say five kids in a car smashed into a car, right? And they're, they're exceeding the speed limit and they get in a car accident and all of a sudden there's unfortunately major injuries and all of these passengers are now suing the, the parents of the driver and is there enough coverage?

And so that type of thing, the, the whole minor and you know, kids driving is—you know, you have children of driving age—it's a very scary thing every time they leave the house. So those are all scenarios that it's just really important that there's proper liability coverage and proper coverage across the board.

 

Tyler 09:44:

You, you speak truth here, Julie. That uninsured motorist coverage, you can't depend on the individual that caused the accident to actually have full coverage or full limits that's gonna protect you and your family so that uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage protects you and your family. And hopefully, in that event, you know, Julie, if they're, if your family or your loved ones are injured in an auto accident, that's the coverage that's gonna help you rest at night knowing that your family is gonna be properly protected and covered.

Julie: 10:13

There's actually even scenarios like, um, beach homes—or it doesn't even have to be a beach home—the one that I know is just a beach home. That someone is, there's you know, a whole bunch of people on a deck, um, on the back deck, and all of a sudden the deck falls. And there's multiple injuries. And now the homeowner is getting sued from every which way. Right?

And so those, one of the things that people always say is, you know, we scare US insurance, um, agents, we scare the daylights out of everybody. Right? And it's kind of the. We kind of do, but it's the only way really to kind of hit home and make it personal to people that, oh, I do have a kid driving, or, or I do have a home with a second story deck, and it could, you know, it could collapse.

 

Tyler: 11:09

The liability component though, is probably the scariest component that our clients have to deal with because if you are sued, and again, you can be sued at any time, anywhere for any reason. Right? And there's two things: Number one, the defense cost. That can really drive up, you know, the cost of the umbrella coverage itself, you know, that defense cost is embedded into it and make sure that you're being properly protected. Um, because if you have to go out on your own and get your own attorney, boy those hourly, you know, invoices are gonna rack up pretty quickly. So it's important that you have that defense cost.

And then secondarily, you know, in the environment, if you have significant wealth. You know, and people, it's so easy to find information on people these days to find out what their net worth is. So if you are sued and you don't know exactly what that number is gonna be, you know, we're always gonna err on the high higher limits versus lower limitsbut obviously that coverage is really important to make sure that you, you know, um, in the event of a liability claim, that you have the appropriate amount that's gonna cover you, your family, and your assets.

Um, because no one wants to make that call to their wealth advisor, Hey, I have to liquidate some funds because that has got sued. Now I have to pay out a certain amount of money in this, um, in this court order.

 

Julie: 12:25

You know, we've said a lot of spooky stories and a lot of we, uh, you know, sometimes people think that our job is to scare people, um, to, to buy insurance, but they really are all true scenarios. And so it's one of those things that I think it's just really important for us to educate our clients, but, thank you so much again.

For everyone joining us and listening today, please put in the comment field, uh, different things that you all have experienced and remember, for The Risk Rundown, always stay safe and protected.

Tyler 08:26: Thanks, Julie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hosts: Julie Rison – Director, Strategic Client Relationships and Tyler Banks – Executive Vice President, Growth & Strategy

00:00 – Welcome 
Julie and Tyler open a special Halloween episode with personal stories before uncovering real-life claims scenarios that help reveal where coverage gaps can create frightening risks.

01:07 – "Trick or Treat: High-Net-Worth Insurance Edition"
A fun, rapid-fire segment that covers:

01:07 - Why clients should schedule valuable items like wine, jewelry, and art under a separate policy

Julie and Tyler discuss how “mysterious disappearance” coverage works and why scheduling high-value itemscan make the difference between a covered loss and a costly surprise.

03:02 - What happens if someone gets hurt at your house during a party?

Julie and Tyler share insights on the complicated details that unfold when hosting a partyand why social host liability is critical.

04:15 – Understanding what homeowners' insurance covers damage in complicated situations

Julie and Tyler explain how most storm and tree damage claims work, and why your own homeowners' policy—not necessarily your neighbor’s—would kick in on a dark and stormy night.

07:43 – What does uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage protect?
Julie shares a personal story to illustrate how this coverage safeguards your family if an at-fault driver lacks adequate insurance.

11:09 – The scariest situation for affluent clients: Lawsuits and liability
Tyler discusses how attorney fees and lawsuits can quickly add up, emphasizing the need for sufficient coverage limits to protect personal wealth. 

12:25 – Why understanding your coverage matters most
Julie wraps up with a reminder that education and preparation—not fear—are the best ways to protect yourself, your family, and your assets.