FAQs

Legal protection

What is legal insurance?

Legal insurance provides coverage in situations in which a person feels obliged to consult a lawyer or resort to the courts, mediation or arbitration.
For a monthly premium, policy-holders can obtain information on their rights and recourse and be represented in court.

“Legal insurance” is offered in three forms:

• legal assistance given to the policy-holder by a lawyer by telephone
• financial assistance to defray the cost of lawyer’s fees in cases specific to certain domains
• financial assistance to defray the cost of lawyer’s fees in cases related to inheritance or protection of a person.

Caution: One should not confuse legal insurance with legal assistance. Several companies offer legal assistance by telephone in the form of a service included in an insurance policy (e.g. home insurance).
 
Five key features of legal insurance:

1. Areas covered
These are the six areas in which litigation is covered by legal insurance, with examples of cases.

• Consumer rights: untruthful or misleading advertising, problem with a merchant, non-respect of a sales or rental contract for a product and the guarantees related to it, problems experienced due to misfeasance of travel contract, non-fulfillment of sales or rental contract and its associated guarantees
• Physical or material damage: Injuries caused by falling on poorly maintained flooring; Injuries sustained by a child in the school yard due to unsafe environment; physical suffering or handicap resulting from medical negligence
• Property and premises: hidden defects or defects in construction, demarcation, neighbourhood problems of which the policy-holder is the victim, disputes between owner and tenant (eviction, unsafe or unhealthy building, property damage)
• Income security: Difficulty enforcing one’s rights before public or private bodies that should provide financial compensation, such as: the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail, the Société de l'assurance automobile, the Canada Employment Insurance Commission, private disability insurers
• Identity theft (offered only by certain companies)

The family, penal and criminal fields not covered by legal insurance.

2. Insurers
Nine insurance companies offer this product in Quebec (source: the Quebec Bar):

• Allstate
• Aviva Traders
• Axa
• La Capitale
• Échelon
• La Fédération
• ING insurance
• Missisquoi
• l’Union canadienne

Except for Aviva Traders and Échelon, which offers separate legal insurance contracts, legal insurance is generally offered as a supplement to an insurance contract.

3. Policy-holders
Generally, the policy covers both the policy-holder and the members of his/her family.
 
4. The premium
The annual premium varies between $30 and $100 dollars depending on the type of protection.
 
5. The per-claim ceiling
The majority of insurers offer protection of up to $5000 dollars per litigation and annual maximum claims coverage of $15,000 dollars. However, certain companies may pay up to $10,000 per claim.

To find out more about legal insurance, go to www.assurancejuridique.ca (supported by the Bar of Quebec) and www.educaloi.qc.ca