Recently I’ve been helping a number of small business owners sort through the confusing topic of Workers Compensation Insurance.

 Contractors who hire  workers as 1099 employees can get confused as to who they are responsible to cover.

 It gets a little tricky when they hire some legitimate contractors who may have their own coverage and some of the people they may hire for a few days  to help with a big job.

If  you hire another contractor like a plumber or electrician who has his own Workers Compensation policy, make sure you get a copy of their certificate for your audit at the end of the year or you could end up having to cover them.  You are charged a percentage of what you paid them.  It’s about 14.5% .

 Just because you hire someone as a 1099 employee does not let you off the hook for Workers Compensation Insurance.  A lot of contractors are having their guys go get their own Liability Insurance. That’s OK but it will not mean that you won’t have to pay for their Workers Compensation Insurance.

 If you hire guys (or gals) who have an LLC or have formed a corporation they will either need their own coverage or a form of exclusion from the state.

Hopefully this helps. Please feel free to call me at 231-744-9099 or start by visiting my web site at www.muskegoninsuranceagent.com for more information.

Most of us know the main reason for buying homeowners insurance is to have our homes rebuilt in case of a major catastrophie.  What I’ve learned is that many people don’t understand the importance of the Medical Payments to Other or the Personal Liability parts of their policy.

Medical Payments to Others covers small medical bills of a guest who is injured on your property. It covers on an “Excess” basis. That means that if your guest has health insurance it would pay first. This coverage is usually only $1000.  I would suggest raising it to $3-$5000. I want to be sure that if there’s an ambulance involved that there’s still enough money left to take care of the small things like stitches or setting a broken bone without having to besued or paying the bill out of my pocket.

Your Personal Liability helps pay the cost of your defense if you were to be sued. It also pays for things medical bills in access of what the Medical Payments to others covers

I had an attorney explain it this way; when you get sued, you have to disclose all of your assets. You not only have to disclose it to the judge and your attorney, but to their attorney as well. That’s right, they know about your 401(k), your investments, your CDs, Life Insurance, rental properties etc..

The best thing to do is to make sure that your Personal Liability limit is set well above your net worth (everything you own minus everything you owe)

We’ll talk more about this in person if you like. Jst give me a call at (231) 744-9099 or just start by checking out www.muskegoninsuranceagent.com