Key takeaways

• Legal protection insurance in Germany usually has a waiting period of 3 months.
• Legal insurance does not cover the legal expenses of issues that arise during the waiting period.
• Legal insurers introduced a waiting period to avoid customers who already expect or have legal conflicts.
• Some legal areas, like traffic and criminal legal insurance, have no waiting periods.
• There is no waiting period when you change the legal insurance provider. But the waiting period is waived for the services you had with the previous insurer.

This is how you do it

• Beware of the legal insurance plans with no waiting period. They are too expensive and offer worse services than those with a waiting period.
• Get a legal insurance policy sooner rather than later. You can compare the legal insurance offers on Check24* or Verivox*. If you want a service in English, check Getsafe* legal insurance and Feather*.
• When you change the legal insurance company, ensure that there is no gap between the end of old and beginning of new insurance. It ensures uninterrupted legal insurance coverage.

Table of Contents

What is a legal protection insurance waiting period (Wartezeit)?

A waiting period is the time for which your legal insurance policy does not insure you. 

It means, legal insurance company will not cover the lawyer’s fee and court costs of the disputes arising during the waiting period. 

Why do legal insurance companies have waiting times?

Waiting periods are a way for legal insurance companies to protect their interests. This way, the legal insurance providers avoid customers who already expect or have legal disputes. 

Suppose there is no waiting period in legal insurance. Hence, you postponed taking legal insruance until you are in trouble.

And once you had legal problems, you took the legal protection insurance. Now, the insurance company must cover the legal costs.

If everyone starts doing the same, it would cost the insurance companies dearly. It’ll force the legal insurance providers to significantly raise the legal insurance contributions. 

Hence, this makes legal protection insurance expensive for everyone. So, to keep the legal protection insurance costs reasonable, insurance companies introduced the concept of the waiting period. 

Are there legal insurance plans with no waiting periods in Germany?

There are different types of legal insurance in Germany. In some areas of the legal insurance there are no waiting periods.

However, legal protection insurance in Germany usually comes with waiting periods of 3 to 6 months.

You can find plans with no waiting periods in the following type of legal insurance.

• Criminal legal protection
• Traffic legal protection

The reason behind the lack of a waiting period in these legal areas is that anyone can fall victim to a traffic accident or crime. However, legal insurance providers apply waiting period in the legal areas where disputes are more predicable or controllable.

What are the typical legal insurance waiting periods in Germany?

You can usually expect these waiting times:

• Work or employment legal insurance: 3-month waiting period.
• Tenancy legal insurance protection: 3-month waiting period.
• Landlord legal insurance protection: 3-month waiting period.
• Private legal protection insurance. No waiting period for some legal areas like criminal law or private internet use. For others, you can expect a 3-month waiting period.
• Traffic legal protection insurance: No waiting period.
• Legal protection insurance for maintenance payments: 1-year waiting period.
• Marital legal protection insurance: Up to three years of waiting period.

Beware of legal insurance policies claiming no waiting period

You can find some insurance tariffs with no waiting period. But there is always a catch in such legal insurance policies.

Here are a few to mention

• They will be too expensive.
• The coverage will not be as good as legal insurance plans with a waiting period.
• You may have to enter a longer contract term. It’s usually a 3-year contract.

In short, it’s rare to find legal insurance tariffs with no waiting period. And if you find one, it’s not worth it.

No waiting period when you change legal insurance provider in Germany

There are times when you want to change your legal insurance provider. Maybe you found a better and cheaper tariff, or you are unhappy with your current insurance provider.

However, the only thing stopping you from changing the insurer is the waiting period. Don’t worry, new legal insurance providers usually waive off the waiting period when you switch to them.

The only prerequisite is that there is no gap between the end of old and the beginning of new insurance policy. 

NOTE: The waiting period is waived only for the services you had with your old legal insurance provider. The new legal insurance company may apply a waiting period for new services.

The new legal insurance company waives the waiting period because they assume you are taking out the new policy because of better conditions than an existing legal dispute.

Is taking legal insurance in Germany early on worth it?

In Germany, people take the law seriously. But to assert your rights, you need legal assistance from a lawyer.

Unfortunately, lawyers are expensive in Germany. The out-of-court disputes can cost you couple of hundered euros.  And if the dispute goes to court, it’ll cost you thousands of euros in legal fees.

Thus, having a legal insurance policy is highly recommended.

As you know, legal insurance in Germany is precautionary insurance. Hence, it doesn’t covers the legal issues that arise before or during the waiting period – even if you take the dispute to court or get lawyer after the waiting period.

Thus, we recommend getting legal insurance sooner rather than later. Moreover, you should get a legal insurance plan immediately for the areas where you expect a higher probability of dispute. 

For example, you are unhappy with your landlord. In this situation, the probability that an issue may arise over the course of time is high.

Thus, you should get a tenant’s legal insurance immediately to avoid any coverage issues later. Moreover, having legal insurance also offers mental piece.

Read our guide on legal protection insurance to learn more. 

You can compare the legal insurance offers on Check24* or Verivox*. If you want a service in English, check Getsafe* legal insurance and Feather*.

References

• https://www.allianz.de/recht-und-eigentum/rechtsschutzversicherung/ohne-wartezeit/
• https://www.finanztip.de/rechtsschutzversicherung/rechtsschutzversicherung-ohne-wartezeit/
• https://www.zurich.de/de-de/pk/haftpflicht-recht/rechtsschutzversicherung/rechtsschutzversicherung-ohne-wartezeit
• https://www.verivox.de/rechtsschutzversicherung/ohne-wartezeit/
• https://www.roland-rechtsschutz.de/rechtsschutzversicherung-ohne-wartezeit/