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Church insurance Legal expenses

Legal expenses

Church insurance Legal expenses
Here you''ll find an overview of the cover provided in our church insurance policy and details of how to get legal advice or make a claim.
In this article:

Whether you are looking to make a claim or access the legal advice helpline, call DAS directly on 0345 601 2791. Policyholders have unlimited access to a specialist who can provide telephone legal advice on all areas of UK and EU law.

What does legal expenses insurance cover?

Legal expenses insurance is usually included in a church insurance policy as standard. It is designed to help protect your ministers, employees, and authorised volunteers during civil legal disputes, which we believe you are likely to win. Your Methodist insurance cover also includes criminal disputes.

DAS Legal Expenses Insurance

Our legal expenses insurance is provided in collaboration with our selected specialist partner, DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company Limited.

We are responsible for paying your claims, which DAS manages on our behalf.

The benefit of using DAS is that it gives you access to specialist law firms who can resolve your problems with speed and expertise. If you are considering using your own solicitor, before you appoint anyone, please make sure you speak to DAS.

Legal expenses – conditions of cover

Most legal expenses claims have key conditions that apply. Please be aware of the following:

  • Prospects of success – in civil cases, other than employment disputes and legal defence claims, your solicitor must believe you are more likely than not to win your case (51% or higher). If your solicitor no longer thinks this is the case, DAS will cease to cover the claim. In this situation, all agreed costs up until this point will be paid for by DAS.
  • Costs that DAS has not agreed to – we will not cover any costs that DAS has not agreed to. This includes situations where you have incurred costs before they accept a claim. You must contact DAS before speaking to a solicitor yourself.
  • Incidents before policy inception – any claim where the event happened before your legal expenses insurance started will NOT be covered.

Unlimited access to legal advice helpline

Providing 24/71 confidential telephone advice on every area of UK and EU law. For example, when organising an event, you may want to know your legal responsibilities.

The helpline service cannot help in the following circumstances:

  • If your legal query does not relate to a specific legal problem
  • We cannot legally assess correspondence, provide correspondence, or provide written advice.

For legal help, please call 0345 601 2791.

124/7 in England and Wales. Countries outside England and Wales can call the helpline 9am–5pm Mon–Fri, excluding public and bank holidays.

Contact us

Speak to the team on:

0345 606 1331

8am – 6pm Monday to Friday

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Here you''ll find an overview of the cover provided in our church insurance policy and details of how to get legal advice or make a claim.