Best Legal Insurance in Germany (ultimate guide)

If you’re considering purchasing legal insurance in Germany, we know figuring out the best option for you and how it works can get confusing.

There are several insurance providers to choose from, the conditions can be challenging to understand, and sometimes there isn’t even information in English.

Which, for an expat like you, can make everything ten times more complicated. 

Worry not, we got you.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the options for the best legal insurance (Germany), comparing what 5 insurance companies bring to the table.

We’ll take a closer look at the legal insurance plans from ARAG, HUK-COBURG, Allianz, Getsafe, and Feather.

We’ll also answer all your questions about what may be the best legal insurance in Germany and share with you some important things to keep in mind while choosing legal insurance in Germany.

Let’s dive right in!

Comparison Table

As you know, life is full of surprises. Legal insurance in Germany can be a very powerful resource in protecting you from unexpected legal disputes and high legal fees arising from every sphere of life.

Good legal insurance covers expensive legal costs arising from legal issues related to your private and professional life.

This includes lawyer fees and court costs that without legal insurance can amount to hundreds of euros.

In this next table, we’ll compare the main features of five legal insurance companies.

It’s certainly not easy to synthesize all the information in one table, considering the number of variables involved in the insurance policies.

The cost of your legal insurance policy depends on factors such as your professional and civil status, the deductible you choose, and the type of coverage you want. 

Which legal insurance is right for you?

The best legal insurance in Germany for you is going to depend on what you’re looking for and what you value the most. As you can imagine, there isn’t one definitive answer, and no one can make the choice for you. 

These are our recommendations based on our analysis of 5 legal insurance companies. 

Best Legal Insurances in Germany 2024

Let’s take a closer look at five legal insurance providers that offer legal insurance in Germany.

1. ARAG

ARAG is a German family-owned legal insurance company founded by Heinrich Faßbender in 1935. The company, active in 19 countries, specializes in legal insurance, and it’s one of the leading legal insurers in the world.

ARAG offers an extensive and customizable tariff offer. Their classic legal insurance has 3 plans: “Base”, “Comfort” and “Premium”.

All the plans have private legal insurance included. Then, you can choose between traffic legal insurance, professional insurance,  and home rental legal insurance.

In the “Base” plan, you have to choose a minimum of 3 covered areas. On the “Comfort” and “Premium” plans, if you want to combine private protection with professional protection, then it’s mandatory to pick at least one more area.

Let’s take a look at ARAG’s plans.

ARAG’s legal insurance offers a lot of flexibility when it comes to deductibles.

You can choose between no deductible, or 150€, 250€, flex 0/150€ or Flex 150€/300€. In the “flex” options, if you choose a lawyer brokered by ARAG, your deductible lowers to 0€ or 150€. 

In each plan of this legal insurer, you can choose additional protection, such as marriage, alimony, or internet protection.

Another highlight is their “legal protection with immediate assistance” product.

This product offers legal assistance with no waiting time and can help with cases that happen before taking out the insurance. However, they can’t help you if you already contacted a lawyer or if legal proceedings are pending. 

The obvious drawback is that the prices for this plan are higher than the classic product and the coverage is limited for out-of-court legal expenses. They also have individual products with immediate assistance for traffic and tenant protection.

2. HUK-COBURG

HUK-COBURG is a mutual insurance company founded in 1933. It’s one of Germany’s biggest insurers, with over 10 million clients. 

HUK-COBURG offers two legal protection insurance plans covering the legal costs for personal, professional, and traffic protection. The latter is also available individually for a smaller price.

Home legal protection is not immediately included, but can be added to the package. Home protection includes legal assistance with landlord disputes, for example.

If you choose just the traffic legal protection plan, your yearly costs will be 58,41€ or 78,21€ (Plus plan).

The deductibles are either 150€ or 300€ and can decrease to 0€ if you stay claims-free for a few years. However, if you make multiple claims within a certain time, the deductible can increase to 550€.

Extended services in their advanced plan include:

• Advice on protection for private copyright infringements on the Internet
• Extended legal insurance coverage in connection with a photovoltaic system
• Mediation in construction matters
• Mediation in family matters
• Extended advisory legal protection in family, civil partnership and inheritance law
• A living will, power of attorney

3. ALLIANZ

Allianz is a multinational German insurance company founded in 1890, and based in Munich. 

They offer four legal expenses insurance plans: “Base”, “Smart”, “Comfort”, and “Premium”. 

Extended private services such as family, civil partnership, and inheritance law are available on the premium plan, but only up to 1000€. 

As we can see, the basic legal insurance policy only includes private and traffic legal protection, leaving out professional and home rental legal insurance. Besides family law assistance, they also offer landlord protection, but only as an additional option.

4. Getsafe

Getsafe is a digital insurance company founded in 2015 by Christian Wiens and Marius Simon.

As an alternative to traditional companies, they replace manual paperwork with a simple, intuitive digital platform. They also offer services in English.

Getsafe has one simple legal insurance plan – “Getsafe Comfort” – which includes the private, professional, and traffic sectors.

Home Protection can be added to the package for an extra 3,22€ a month. They also offer an extension for criminal law protection, for an extra 2,20€/month.  

Another perk is the possibility of choosing an English-speaking lawyer. The professional advice of a lawyer who can easily communicate with you is invaluable.

5. Feather

Feather is a 100% digital insurer, specializing in providing insurance services to expats in Germany.

The company was founded in 2018 by Rob Schumacher and Vincent Audoire after both struggled to navigate the insurance system, including legal insurance, in Germany.

Feather offers two simple legal insurance plans, “Basic” and “Advanced”. The prices shown are for a single employed individual. 

Both plans cover the 4 main legal insurance areas, up to 500,000€ worldwide in the advanced premium. They also cover legal advice for family and inheritance law up to 2,500€.

Things To Keep In Mind While Choosing A Legal Insurance in Germany

There are a few things that you should be on the lookout for if you want to buy legal insurance in Germany for yourself.

Legal insurance works just like other types of insurance (liability insurance, health insurance, or car insurance, for example) and can be a huge money-saver.

Legal insurance helps you feel empowered to seek justice when legal issues arise, so make sure you are well-informed about everything.

Most Common Legal Insurance Types

Make sure you choose legal insurance that can cover all or most of these areas:

• Private Legal Insurance: this covers legal disputes with administrative entities, such as the German tax office (you may disagree with a tax assessment for the tax office, for example); consumer protection; legal issues with a private purchase contract (if you receive a defective product, for eg.); issues with private contracts (energy company or gym, for eg.); travel; home reparations; and several other private matters that require legal assistance.
• Employment legal insurance: this can cover a legal dispute with your boss, and legal issues pertaining to unfair termination, workplace discrimination, negotiating severance packages, and any professional German law violation.
• Home rental legal insurance: this covers legal expenses related to legal disputes with a landlord, rent increases, eviction proceedings, noise complaints, and property disputes.
• Traffic legal insurance: this covers legal conflicts that may arise with traffic accidents, parking ticket disputes, and license suspension appeals.

Most legal insurances cover these four areas, paying for legal expenses such as attorney fees, court fees, witness and translation costs are covered by legal insurance.

Waiting Period

Waiting time refers to the amount of time you have to wait after purchasing the insurance before you can make a claim. 

Certain areas have shorter or no waiting time, like traffic insurance, while others can have a much longer period, like divorce or university issues (can go up to 5 years).

Make sure you read your policy well and check for waiting periods. 

Deductibles 

A deductible is a specific amount you have to pay before your legal insurance policy pays for the remaining costs.

Let’s imagine, the legal case you want covered costs a total of 1000€. If you have a deductible of 300€, the insurance provider will pay the remaining 700€.

Some companies offer flexibility when it comes to deductibles, some even starting at 0€. Always pay attention to the amounts they offer and choose according to your preference.

Contract Period and Coverage Limits

Be aware of the contract period before signing a policy.

Also, take a look at coverage limits. This is the maximum amount of costs the insurance will pay for your legal case.

Make sure there’s at least 300k-500k coverage. There are also several options with an unlimited maximum cover.  

English customer support 

Legal insurance in Germany can be tricky to navigate for foreigners because of possible language barriers.

Make sure you look for an insurer who has robust customer support, ideally in English.

Conclusion

There isn’t one single best legal insurance in Germany. The best insurance for you is going to depend on your motivations and budget.

As we saw, several insurance providers offer a wide range of coverage for legal issues, including lawyer fees and court costs.

When choosing your insurance policy, make sure you keep in mind certain things, such as deductibles, waiting periods, contract coverage and limitations, and English-speaking service.

You can also talk to an independent insurance broker to help you choose the best insurance for you.