It is hard to say how high or low the premium for legal expenses insurance will be. The final cost depends on the cover and on many other factors besides. Below is a clear overview of the factors that influence the cost of legal expenses insurance. For a correct estimate, however, it remains advisable to request a number of quotes or to use a comparison tool. This page describes the situation in the Netherlands.
Legal expenses insurance cover
A first decisive factor is of course the cover of the legal expenses insurance. Many legal expenses insurance policies are modular. This means you can choose for yourself which situations you want to be insured for. A retired person, for example, may have no use for cover for tax disputes, but an entrepreneur obviously does. Such cover can easily result in a premium increase of 40%. It is therefore a good thing that some unnecessary cover can be left out. There are countless modules that come on top of the basic cover, and these will of course increase the price considerably. Think, for example, of the following modules:
- Traffic module: conflicts arising from taking part in traffic as a driver, pedestrian, cyclist …
- Consumer module: conflicts about consumer products
- Housing module: conflicts with a contractor, with the neighbours, with the landlord etc.
- Income module: conflicts with an employer, with the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) etc.
- Assets module: conflicts with the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst), about the transfer of shares etc.
- Divorce mediation module: reimbursement for divorce mediators and sometimes also when ending a cohabitation agreement
Insured persons and household composition
The more people are covered by the legal expenses insurance, the more expensive the insurance becomes. As a result, people with a large family will pay more for a family policy than someone who only lives with a son or daughter. A policy for a single person is of course cheaper still.
Conditions and exclusions
Insurers often impose all kinds of conditions, so that they have to pay out on claims less often. In general, insurers with more favourable conditions are also more expensive. It is of course up to the consumer to decide which insurance they want and whether or not they accept the strict conditions and exclusions. Things to look out for include:
- The presence of a franchise (threshold amount)
- Specific exclusions
- Waiting periods
- Limited areas of cover
In addition, the external costs incurred by the legal aid provider, such as the costs of an external lawyer or court costs, are often only insured to a limited extent. With a low premium, the insured amount is often a good deal lower as well. In fact, it is always a bit of a choice between price and quality.
Excess
With an excess, the insured person has to pay part of the legal costs themselves, but in return can count on a lower premium. With most insurers there is no excess as standard, but with a number of insurers it can be increased voluntarily in exchange for a discount.
Commercial discounts and benefits
Some insurers grant commercial discounts, for example to loyal customers or to policyholders who take out several insurance policies with them. Anyone who pays the full annual premium at once can also get such a discount. The exact conditions and discounts differ from insurer to insurer and are not always equally large. Moreover, all-in-one insurance packages with such a discount are sometimes still less interesting than shopping around at different insurers … Comparing legal expenses insurance therefore remains advisable.
Compare insurers
8.7
8.0
8.5WA.nl may receive a commission if a policy is taken out via one of these buttons.
Frequently asked questions about legal expenses insurance
Does legal expenses insurance cover legal costs in neighbour disputes?
With some insurers that is the case, but there are also a number of insurers where an additional Housing module has to be added to the basic cover for this. Moreover, there are also insurers, such as the legal expenses insurance from a.s.r., that do not cover it at all. Most Dutch insurers offer their website and policy documents in Dutch only. A cheaper insurance policy is therefore not always a better one.
Does legal expenses insurance cover legal help in criminal cases?
Legal expenses insurance generally does not cover this when there is fault or intent, but there are also insurers that do pay if the insured person is acquitted or not prosecuted. When there is no fault or intent, the legal expenses insurance will in principle pay out. Also bear exclusions in mind. For example, criminal cases related to employment are often not covered, or only covered for specific professional groups such as nurses or police officers.
I have an additional income module. Does the legal expenses insurer always cover employment disputes?
No. There is often a waiting period, for example, during which there is no cover at all, but even after that the rule is that the employment dispute must not have been foreseeable. For example, there may already have been performance reviews and poor assessments before the insurance was taken out. A dismissal procedure based on that is therefore not a new fact. The legal expenses insurer can then refuse to reimburse the legal assistance.
Does legal expenses insurance cover disputes relating to divorce?
Most legal expenses insurance policies offer cover for divorce mediation, but there are often restrictions. For example, the reimbursement is usually very limited. There are insurers that reimburse up to €40,000 in mediation costs, but there are also some that stop at a meagre €1,500. Waiting periods of up to three years are not unusual either. Moreover, divorce mediation is often only covered with an additional module. At FBTO, for example, only with the Family, Tax and Assets module (Familie, Belasting & Vermogen), if that module was taken out at least a year earlier, and up to €2,500 (source: FBTO, November 2026).
I'm having trouble with an online shop. Does legal expenses insurance cover this?
A lot depends on the conditions and the value of the purchase. Most legal expenses insurance policies have a threshold amount. Only when the value of the conflict is higher than a certain minimum can the legal expenses insurance provide cover. Such threshold amounts are often somewhere between €100 and €250. Moreover, the insurer must also see merit in legal proceedings, and the insurer always has the option of buying off a claim. With a limited claim, the costs needed to see justice done can be higher than what there is to gain. The insurer will then often simply pay out the claim.
In fact, the answer to this question therefore depends heavily on the type of conflict and the value of the claim. For a problem with the delivery of a pair of new shoes, legal expenses insurance will rarely offer a solution. For someone who bought defective solar panels for several thousand euros, that is of course a different story.