Disability Solutions for High Income Lawyers

Many lawyers do not have enough financial protection against a disability, especially those earning substantial incomes.  Some have no coverage, while others may have a policy whose maximum limit only replaces a small amount of their income.  Others may not be familiar with the options to supplement their current coverage.

Why do these situations occur?  Typical responses are: 1) fully insuring against disability costs too much; 2) ineligible due to health history; and 3) appears to be a complicated, time consuming process.  However, these concerns can be met with confidence and ease. 

Consider a recent case handled through our agency:

Situation: A law firm with 8 partners, each earning $300,000 per year, and a handful of staff have no disability coverage.

The first step was to lay a foundation of coverage with a Group Disability policy (we think we have about the best and lowest cost program out there for law firms of 5-25 employees). 

Due to the substantial income of the partners, we wrote a policy covering 60% of income up to a $10,000 maximum monthly benefit as base income protection. Our product offered ‘Own Occupation with Specialty’ definitions to age 67, no medical underwriting, and no offset for benefits received from individual disability policies. We set it up so that benefits were also non-taxable for the partners.  Keep in mind too, that group rates are often lower per individual due to multiple lives, so it was friendlier on their budget. 

However, each partner was still underinsured by approximately $6,000 per month.  We addressed this by enrolling the 8 partners into a $6,000 non-taxable Multi-Life Guaranteed Issue product, insuring them for nearly 64% of their income!  In addition, since all the lawyers in the firm participated, there was no medical or financial underwriting, so only a census and brief enrollment forms were required.

In short, no matter your income level, solid disability solutions exist for you.  With affordable rates and simplified issue, there is no reason not to have enough coverage.