Retirement Planning for Design Professionals – Are Your Clients Covered for Professional Liability?

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By Barbara Block
Vice President, Supervising Underwriter
Berkley Design Professional, a Berkley Company

June 6, 2023

Retirement for a design professional doesn’t just happen, it takes careful planning and preparation. Having a transition plan, a buy-sell agreement, successor development and planning are all considerations, but one area retiring professionals may overlook is having adequate professional liability coverage.

Given the current climate of increasing litigation, simply relying on the design professional’s prior firm to maintain their professional liability insurance policy in addition to having necessary limits to protect their assets in retirement is not necessarily the best or safest option.

When it comes to professional liability coverage for architects and engineers, claims don’t just occur when the project is underway. Claims can arise years after the project is complete and if the design professional is no longer a named insured under their prior firms’ policy, problems can occur.

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Wherever Your Next Adventure Takes You, Have Peace of Mind with a Run-Off Policy

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By Barbara Block
Assistant Vice President, Senior Underwriter

May 5, 2022

You’ve worked hard for many years. Started your own business. Weren’t sure if you would make it, but you did. And, you fulfilled your dream of being the owner of a design professional firm. Congratulations!

Now the beach – or mountains or lake – summon you. It’s time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor with family and friends. Put all the pressure and stress of owning a business behind you. You’ve earned it and deserve it. But there is one more thing that you have to take care of to protect your future – purchase a run-off policy from Berkley Design Professional.

We know, another insurance policy? I thought I was done with that process, you say. Unfortunately, not. You see, even though your firm has closed its doors, you could still be liable for claims alleging wrongful acts for the services provided prior to the closure.

To protect yourself, you should purchase a form of tail coverage. Tail coverage covers incidents (claims) that happened during the time your professional liability policy was active, but were not reported until after the policy expired.

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Ask an Underwriter

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How are weighted fees calculated?

For the Prime program: by using an average of 4 years of fees – the current year and the last 3 complete years. Adjustments are made for years that are less than 70% of the following year.

For the Express program: by using an average of 3 years of fees – the current year and the last 2 complete years. Adjustments are made for years that are less than 70% of the following year.

– Barbara Block | Assistant Vice President, Senior Underwriter