Personal liability insurance
Page reviewed on 15 September 2026 Written by an FSMA-registered broker.
Belgians call it assurance familiale, RC familiale or RC vie privée: one and the same policy, the one that pays for damage you, your family and your animals cause unintentionally to other people. The law does not require the policy. It requires you to make good the damage, which is far heavier.
A policy costing under 130 EUR a year, not compulsory, covering the damage you, your children, your animals and the people who help you at home cause to other people. It is the cheapest policy in the portfolio, and the one most often used.
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What it coversDamage your household causes to other people, outside any professional activity
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CompulsoryNo, but essential: the law does not require the policy, it requires you to make good the damage
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What separates offersEntrusted-property cover: included by some insurers, absent at others
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Watch out forThe exclusions your insurer keeps, and the exact circle of insured people
Assurance familiale, RC familiale, RC vie privée: one single policy
Three commercial names for one product, whose legal name is "insurance of extra-contractual civil liability relating to private life". That name says exactly what is covered, once you break it into its parts.
It covers damage that is unintentional, caused to a third party, outside any contract. Three conditions, all three required.
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First filter
Damage that is unintentional
Carelessness, clumsiness, negligence. Chance is the very substance of insurance.
So not: damage caused deliberately, except by a child under 16 in most policies.
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Second filter
Caused to a third party
A third party is someone your policy does not insure. The neighbour, a passer-by, a shopkeeper.
So not: damage between people insured under the policy, nor damage to your own property.
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Third filter
Outside any contract
The cover is extra-contractual: it stops where a contract binds you to the injured party.
So not: work, hiring a machine, property lent or entrusted to you.
"Insurance of civil liability that is extra-contractual and relates to private life"
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The first wordInsurance
An optional annual policy with a modest premium. It creates no obligation: it funds an obligation the Civil Code already places on you.
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The second wordFamily
The circle of insured people reaches beyond the family: partner, children even when studying away, domestic staff, babysitter, animal minder. The law names them explicitly.
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The third wordPrivate life
The decisive border. Anything belonging to a professional activity leaves this policy and falls under professional indemnity or operating liability.
Is it compulsory? No. Essential, yes
No Belgian law requires family liability insurance. Unlike motor liability, you can go through life without it. But it is not the liability that is optional: it is the policy. The Civil Code does require you to make good the damage you cause to others. Without a policy, that money comes out of your own assets. Several countries have made this cover compulsory, precisely because it is the foundation of a household's protection.
The real trap is not going without: it is assuming you have one. Many households do have cover without knowing it, because it sits inside their home and fire policy. It is then set at the legal minimums, with the standard exclusions, and nobody has read it since the day it was signed. A move, a dog, a child leaving to study: each of these changes the risk while the policy stays put.
What we always check when a new client brings in their policies: does the family liability cover exist, and where does it sit. One time in five it is doubled up, in the home policy and in a separate one. One time in ten it does not exist at all.
What changed on 1 January 2025
Book 6 of the Civil Code, which deals with extra-contractual liability, came into force. It rewrites the liability of minors and of their parents. Parents used to be released by showing they had brought up and supervised their child properly. That is no longer possible for a child under 16: liability is now strict, with no way out.
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Under 12Never liableA child under 12 cannot be held liable, whatever the act. The victim must turn to the parents.
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From 12 to 16The judge decidesBetween 12 and 16, the court may hold the minor personally liable, taking age and judgement into account.
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Parents, child under 16Strictly liableNo way out any more: proving a good upbringing and proper supervision is no longer enough. Liability is automatic.The change
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Parents, child 16 and overRebuttable presumptionFor a child of 16 or more, parents are still presumed liable but can still rebut that presumption.
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During school hoursSupervision changes handsWhen the child is in the care of a school or a club, responsibility for supervision moves to the institution, which has its own insurance.
In practice: the victim is certain to be compensated, and it is the parents' assets, therefore their family liability policy, that pay. A policy that used to be a comfort has become a cornerstone.
No children? It is still essential
The name is misleading: this is not an insurance policy for parents. It is an insurance policy for anyone who leaves the house. Four situations, four stages of life.
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At the shops
The trolley that scrapes a car door
One second on a car park, one wing to repaint: a body shop invoice is worth several years of premium.
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In a holiday rental
The scorched worktop
A hot pan in a holiday home. The owner is a third party, but the property was entrusted to you: here everything depends on entrusted-property cover.
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Out walking
The dog that brings down a cyclist
Whoever keeps an animal is liable with no fault to prove. A broken wrist runs into tens of thousands of euros.
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In sheltered housing or a care home
A push in a corridor
One resident knocks another over: broken hip, hospital stay, loss of independence. No age is beyond a claim.
Who is insured?
The word "family" is misleading: the circle of insured people is wider than the family in the strict sense, and it is set by law.
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The household
You, your spouse or partner, your children and anyone living under your roof.
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The student living away
A child studying elsewhere stays covered as long as they are your dependant and have not started their own household.
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Babysitter and animal minder
Anyone who looks after your children or your animals, paid or not, outside a professional activity, is insured by your policy.
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The cleaner
Domestic staff and family helpers are covered when acting in your private service.
One principle to remember: only third parties are compensated. Damage caused by one insured person to another insured under the same policy, or to your own property, is not covered. Your son breaking the television in your living room is not a claim; your son breaking the neighbour's television is.
The legal minimum covers geographical Europe and the countries bordering the Mediterranean. Many policies extend worldwide, often for stays of limited duration. If you travel outside Europe, that is the first line to check.
The legal expenses cover built into the policy
Almost every family liability policy carries a legal expenses section, and almost every client overestimates its reach. It covers two things only: extra-contractual civil recourse, meaning claiming compensation from whoever caused you damage outside any contract, and criminal defence. Nothing else. And often with very low limits.
What it covers
- Extra-contractual civil recourseClaiming compensation from whoever caused you damage outside any contract: the neighbour whose tree falls on your house, the driver who knocks you off your bike.
- Criminal defenceYour legal costs when you are prosecuted before a criminal court over a matter the policy covers.
- Low limitsOften a few thousand euros per claim, sometimes with a minimum threshold below which the insurer does not step in at all.
What it does not cover
- Disputes with a landlord or a tenantThey arise from the lease, therefore from a contract.
- Consumer and building disputesSupplier, builder, garage, seller: a contract binds you to them.
- Medical and fee disputesThe relationship with a care provider is contractual.
- Employment and family lawDismissal, divorce, inheritance: outside the scope, without exception.
- Disputes with a public authorityTax, planning, permits, administrative fines.
Anything born of a contract, which is to say most disputes in a lifetime, stays outside: lease, purchase, building works, supplier, employer, bank, public authority, medical fees. Those files need a full legal expenses policy, taken out separately. Do not count on the section included here: it was not built for that.
Fault, damage, causal link
Three conditions must be met at the same time for the insurer to step in. This is the grid applied to every claim, and it explains most refusals.
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01
The fault
Faulty conduct: carelessness, negligence, a failure to take the care expected of any reasonable person. It does not have to be serious.
Example: letting a dog off the lead along a busy road.
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02
The damage
Certain loss suffered by a third party: property damage, bodily injury, and the economic consequences that follow.
Example: a broken wrist, and the income lost while off work.
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The causal link
Without the fault, the damage would not have happened. It is the point experts examine most, and the one most often argued.
Example: the cyclist fell because the animal crossed in front of him.
One regime escapes the requirement of fault: damage caused by an animal. Whoever keeps it is automatically liable, with no carelessness to be shown. Establishing the damage and the causal link is enough.
The exclusions the law permits
The Royal Decree of 12 January 1984 sets a minimum floor, then lists what the insurer may exclude. Nothing forces it to: that is where policies differ.
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Damage subject to compulsory liability insuranceIt belongs to another policy required by law, motor liability first of all.The statutory exception: a minor driving without the required age, unknown to the parents, stays covered.
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Intentional acts from age 16Deliberate damage is not chance: it is never insurable.Under 16, most policies still compensate. It is the most useful clause in the policy.
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Damage between insured peopleOnly third parties are compensated: an insured person is not a third party under their own policy.Some policies buy back bodily injury between insured people. A rare and valuable extension.
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Your own propertyLiability cover repairs damage caused to others, not your own assets.Your property belongs to home insurance or a comprehensive motor policy.
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Contractual liabilityThe policy covers extra-contractual liability only: outside any contract.Damage to a rented home belongs to the tenant section of home insurance. Borrowed or entrusted property has to be negotiated.
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Motor vehicles, motorboats, aircraftThese belong to specific insurance policies.Exactly where the line runs: jet ski, motorboat, drone, personal mobility device.
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Horses and non-domestic animalsThe risk is of a different nature from a dog or a cat.If you keep a horse, you need an extension or a separate equine liability policy.
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Sports and pastimes named in the policyThe insurer may list the activities it refuses to cover.The list: bungee jumping, parachuting, combat sports, motor competition. It varies widely.
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HuntingIt has its own compulsory insurance.That hunting cover genuinely exists elsewhere if you hunt.
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Professional activity and employmentPrivate life stops where work begins.If you are self-employed, professional indemnity and operating liability take over.
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Fines, penalty payments and criminal sanctionsA personal sanction is not insurable by nature.What the policy does pay in defence costs, which is separate from the fine itself.
Entrusted-property cover
You borrow your neighbour's lawnmower and break it. The neighbour is indeed a third party, but a contract binds you to him: a loan. So you are in contractual territory, which private liability excludes as a matter of principle. Result: the lawnmower is on you.
Unless the policy includes entrusted-property cover. It buys back exactly that gap: property lent, rented or entrusted to you, up to a set amount and often with its own deductible. Two policies at 90 EUR can differ there, and nowhere else.
- Is entrusted-property cover included or optional?
- Up to what amount per claim, and with what deductible?
- Does it cover rented property, or only borrowed property?
List based on the Royal Decree of 12 January 1984 setting the minimum cover conditions for insurance policies covering extra-contractual civil liability relating to private life, and on the general conditions most widely used on the Belgian market.
The legal limits, and why they are so lopsided
The law imposes two minimums per claim. The bodily injury limit is twenty times the property limit: serious injury is paid out as an annuity over decades, whereas property damage is settled against an invoice.
These amounts are index-linked to consumer prices: your policy must state the indexed figure, not the base figure.
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Bodily injury, per claim 12,394,676.24 EUR
Injuries, care, incapacity, lost income, the loss suffered by relatives. One serious file can absorb several million over a lifetime.
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Property damage, per claim 619,733.81 EUR
Property destroyed or damaged. Twenty times less than the injury limit, and yet enough in the vast majority of files.
E-scooters, electric bikes, speed pedelecs
The border between this policy and compulsory motor liability insurance does not depend on how fast you ride, but on the speed the device reaches without you pedalling.
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Ordinary bicycleNo motorNot a motor vehicle. No insurance required.Private liability cover
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Electrically assisted bicyclePedelec, assistance up to 25 km/hThe motor only works while pedalling and cuts out at 25 km/h: no compulsory liability insurance, no plate.Private liability cover
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Electric scooterSelf-propelled up to 25 km/hOutside compulsory motor liability insurance since the Act of 2 June 2019. Banned on public roads for under-16s.Private liability cover
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Fast self-propelled deviceOver 25 km/h without pedallingAs soon as a device exceeds 25 km/h on motor power alone, it becomes a motor vehicle again.Motor liability insurance
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Speed pedelecAssistance up to 45 km/hClass P moped: registration, helmet and licence. How it is treated for insurance is still debated.To be checked in the policy
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Moped, scooter50 cc or electric equivalentA motor vehicle beyond doubt: compulsory liability insurance and a plate.Motor liability insurance
Since the Act of 2 June 2019, devices whose self-propelled speed does not exceed 25 km/h fall outside compulsory motor liability insurance and come under private liability. How a speed pedelec should be treated is still debated, and general conditions differ from one insurer to the next: we check device by device before relying on this policy.
Deductible and recourse against a minor
The deductible
The law provides for a legal, index-linked deductible on property damage, currently around 330 EUR. It applies to property damage only: bodily injury is compensated with no deductible.
Since 2004 the parties may agree on a different amount, and many insurers do: some drop the deductible altogether, others raise it. On a policy costing 90 EUR a year, buying the deductible back is often the best euro spent, because claims here are frequent and small.
What we look at: the exact amount the insurer applies, how it is indexed, and whether it bites per claim or per victim.
Recourse against a young person
An intentional act is never insured. Yet most Belgian policies still compensate the victim when the person responsible is under 16. Above that age, the insurer may pay the victim and then turn against the young person: that is the right of recourse.
That recourse is capped by law, and standard policies limit it further: some insurers cap it at a few thousand euros. The general rule for liability insurance:
- First tranche, fully recoverable 11,000 EUR
- Above that, half of the excess 50%
- Absolute cap on recourse 31,000 EUR
A dog off the lead for two seconds, a cyclist on the ground, 45,000 EUR of damage.
A client from Ciney walks his dog off the lead on a country lane. The animal crosses in front of a cyclist, who falls. Broken wrist, surgery, a pin. The cyclist is self-employed: he invoices nothing for eleven weeks.
The file settles at around 45,000 EUR, most of which is not medical but economic: lost professional income, calculated by the expert from the last three sets of accounts. Whoever keeps the animal is liable without any fault having to be proved: there was nothing to argue about on principle.
The policy paid. Annual premium: 94 EUR.
- Bodily injury is almost never about medical bills: lost income is what builds the invoice.
- Whoever keeps an animal is liable with no fault to prove. There is nothing to argue about.
- A comfortable property limit is no protection in an injury file. They are two different worlds.
What it costs, and how to compare
Expect roughly 70 to 130 EUR a year for a household, a little less for a single person. At that premium level, comparing on price makes almost no sense: fifteen euros of difference weigh nothing against one badly placed exclusion. What separates two policies is the six points below.
Note too that this cover is often bundled with motor insurance. The discount is real, but it ties you in: change motor insurer and the discount goes.
Place this cover with the same insurer as your home insurance. Several covers overlap between the two policies: the student flat, holiday property, damage caused in temporary accommodation. With one insurer, one handler owns the file. With two, each has an interest in passing it back to the other, and you are the one waiting.
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01
What are the limits, and are they index-linked?
The policy must state today's indexed figures, not the 1984 base amounts.
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What deductible, and on what does it bite?
Exact amount, indexation, and whether it applies per claim or per victim.
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Who exactly is inside the circle of insured people?
The student living away, the person who minds the children, the cleaner, a separated spouse.
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How far does the territory reach?
Geographical Europe only, or worldwide, and for what length of stay.
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Which exclusions has the insurer kept?
The law permits eleven families of exclusions: every insurer keeps a different selection.
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06
What exactly is in the legal expenses section?
Extra-contractual civil recourse and criminal defence only, with low limits. Any dispute born of a contract is excluded.
On a policy costing 90 EUR, a broker's work is not to negotiate the premium: it is to read the general conditions for you, compare the exclusions each insurer keeps, and check that your actual situation, the animals, the student flat, the person who minds the children, really falls inside the circle of insured people.
We work with more than 40 insurers. See how we work.
Have my policy reviewed →"It is the cheapest policy in the portfolio and the one we use most. I have never seen a client regret having it. I have seen families regret never having read it again."
When a client brings me two quotes for this cover, he shows me two premiums that look alike. I do not look at the premiums: I look for entrusted-property cover, the exact circle of insured people and the territory. That is where policies part company, and it decides the outcome on the day something happens.
Offices in Ciney, Dinant, Eghezée and Brussels. FSMA-registered broker no. 111917.
Ask a question →What people ask us about this cover
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Ask my question →-
Is personal liability insurance compulsory in Belgium?
−No. No Belgian law requires personal liability insurance. But the liability it covers is imposed by the Civil Code: without a policy, your own assets pay. Around nine Belgian households out of ten have one, often built into their home insurance.
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What changed for parents on 1 January 2025?
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My ten-year-old breaks a window: who pays?
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Is our student in a shared flat still covered by our policy?
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Is damage caused by my dog covered?
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Does the policy cover e-scooters and electric bikes?
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How much does it cost and what is the legal minimum cover?
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Does it cover damage I cause to rented or borrowed property?
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Send us your current policy, we will tell you what is missing.
We read the general conditions, compare the exclusions and check the circle of insured people. No commitment, and no sales pitch.
Further reading
- Individuals Home & fire The policy that often hosts this cover. →
- Individuals Car & mobility Where this policy stops and motor liability begins. →
- Self-employed & SME Operating liability Private life stops where the business begins. →
This page is for information only and does not replace the general conditions, the particular conditions and the insurance product information document (IPID), which are the only contractual documents. The legal amounts quoted are index-linked and may change. The figures in the examples are reconstructed from real files and are not a commitment to compensate. Cinassur is the trade name of Jacis SRL, an insurance broker registered with the FSMA under number 111917.