Farm lease = 300k in personal liability insurance?!?

[dixiedrifter]

Ok here is the deal, my mother and I have entered into a farm lease agreement wherein she leases her property to me to farm in exchange for cash. The deal is that the lease is the minimum amount necessary to keep the property in TN's greenbelt wherein land taxes are devalued to 25% of the assessed value. Part of this deal is that I have to maintain personal liability insurance of $300k, which I think is absurd considering the property is not fenced, I have no livestock running on it, and the only thing I will be doing is haying it 2x a year on about 30 acres with the remaining 120 acres being woodland. Now if I had cows on it, that would be a different story, but as it is I just think that is money being thrown down the drain. Thoughts?

 

[RickB]

$300K is chump change when related to liability coverage. Consider yourself lucky you are not being asked to provide a million in coverage. Buy the policy & move on.

 

[TripleR]

We keep a one million dollar policy on our farms, so I don't see the 300K excessive, if anything too little.

 

[nc redneck]

300K would be the minimum I would think. If you use any labor involved in hay operation I would at least double it. IMO

 

[oosik]

I have a one million dollar policy on my property. WOULD NEVER consider less. I don't have any livestock. In a liability case anything less than 1 million will be gobbled up in a heartbeat. Actually a million dollar policy only ensures you will have an attorney that gives a s++t.

 

[MossRoad]

Million dollar coverage is fairly common here, too.

 

[dmccarty]

Liability insurance is CHEAP. Not having but NEEDING liability insurance is expensive. Bankruptcy expensive.

Later,
Dan

 

[eddie48]

I've sold insurance for years. I wouldn't sleep well at night if I let you take only $300K of liability insurance. The difference in cost to you to go to $1 Million would be minimal. I would hope that, as the owner of the property, your mother has similar coverage to protect her if she gets dragged into a personal injury lawsuit because of something that happened on the property. DMCCARTY said it exactly right.

 

[smstonypoint]

Part of this deal is that I have to maintain personal liability insurance of $300k.

I agree with others that having liability insurance is prudent, but I am curious as to who is requiring the liability coverage. Your mother? Her attorney?

Steve

 

[murphy1244]

I have a 2 million dollar umbrella policy that costs less than 250 a year