Protect the financial security of your family with Legal insurance in Switzerland

Legal issues are common in a litigious society where everyone is under more and more pressure to perform and to earn money.

Switzerland is one of the most blessed and forward-thinking countries in the world, and we attract people from multiple continents in all works of life. Despite this Switzerland is not utopia, and if we get unlucky and find ourselves in a legal procedure with a neighbour, landlord, employer, a random third party, an insurance company or injure someone in a car or skiing accident our world can fall apart in an instant.

This article hopes to ring an alarm bell in the heads of those that have not anticipated the unforeseen. The Swiss legal system is among the most expensive worldwide. Every single step you take from the moment you decide to seek Legal Advice in Switzerland or to make or defend a claim is charged at exorbitant hourly rates. To make it worse ten hour provisions are common practice for attorney fees and advances must be paid out for court costs. In sum, simple legal advice with a letter and follow-up to prevent a case going to court will require four or five hours of work and an invoice of over CHF 2000. If mediation does work and the case does go to court the cost is rarely less than CHF 20’000. These are amounts the majority of us cannot improvise on, forcing us to back-off or settle, even if we are innocent victims or have been manipulated.

Understanding Swiss Legal Insurance

Legal protection insurance in Switzerland is a form of private law insurance geared towards protecting policyholders from the financial ramifications of legal disputes. All legal protection policies include legal advice in Switzerland, attorney and expert fees, legal and procedural costs, advances on bail and various administrative costs.

In Switzerland, whoever is filing a lawsuit is required to pay an advance or provision to their lawyer. The defendant becomes liable to reimburse the costs of the proceedings when the claimant wins their case. If you lose your case as a claimant you will be left to bear the costs associated with your lawsuit, costs which can put the financial security of your family at risk.

Swiss legal insurance allows you to protect your family from the financial impact of legal actions and empowers you to fight against injustice fearlessly. Legal insurance contracts are not created equally; the coverage, terms and conditions can vary from one provider to another.

Hypothetical Case Study

Picture this scenario; your landlord just issued you an eviction notice out of the blue or seriously increased your rent. In either of these scenarios, there's only one thing that can be done; you have to sue your landlord because you are clearly being discriminated against.

Now that you've decided to protect your constitutional right, your first course of action would be to contact an attorney to represent your interests. Due to the nature of the law profession in Switzerland, it'll cost you around CHF500 per hour to employ an attorney. The attorney will only accept the case under one of two conditions:

1. You have a legal insurance policy which has been in place for more than 90 daysor2) You pay a ten hour retainer fee, which in this case will be CHF 5000

This is how a common case can cost you thousands of Francs before you even have the opportunity to tender your opening statement.

The solution

We've gone over the high costs associated with litigation in Switzerland, and now it's time to look into the solution or better still ways to tilt the odds back into your favour.The most obvious way to avoid the high costs of litigation is to avoid situations that'll lead to legal disputes, but that's easier said than done and borderline impossible in the litigious society we live in. Since it is impossible to avoid ill-fate or accidents we can't be sure to avoid legal conflicts, the only solution for our families peace of mind is to purchase legal protection insurance, which can be subscribed to for as little as CHF 25 per month.

Experts Advice

I hope that this article has been a useful guide to legal insurance in Switzerland. Charles McHugo, the Expat-Expert recommended certified insurance special is thighly recommends purchasing a legal insurance policy with combined road user and family benefits to be sure you avoid putting the financial security of your family at risk because you become the defendant or claimant in a legal dispute.

Legal insurance in Switzerland should be part of your family’s life.

Expat Experts represent a panel of English speaking experts that have the professional and personal skills required to facilitate the arrival & individuals moving to Switzerland.