Does liability insurance pay for damage within the family?
In short
Mostly no. Liability insurance does not pay for damage within the family if the injured person lives in your household or is co-insured in your policy. That is what the German model terms say. Relatives with their own home are different: if you break a EUR 300 vase at your parents' flat, your liability insurance pays if you are liable.
Guide values from published premium ranges for liability and contents insurance.
Example
Typical range
Personal liability, family or couple
about EUR 60 to 180 a year
Personal liability, single
about EUR 40 to 120 a year
Contents insurance, 75 to 80 square metres
about EUR 25 to 120 a year
Excess in personal liability
EUR 0 to 250 per claim
Guide values, May to September 2026, from publicly quoted premium ranges.
The EUR 300 vase is a guide value from advisory practice.
Who is co-insured is set out in your terms.
Worked example
Two mishaps in one weekend
On Saturday the son knocks his mother's phone off the balcony. On Sunday the father breaks the grandparents' glass cabinet during a visit.
Mother's phone, son in the same household
liability insurance does not pay
Contents insurance for the phone
does not pay, a fall is not an insured peril
Grandparents' cabinet, own flat
father's liability insurance pays the current value
Excess, if agreed
for example EUR 150
The family bears the phone itself. The cabinet is an ordinary liability claim because the grandparents neither live in the household nor are co-insured.
Why liability insurance does not pay within the family
Personal liability insurance pays for damage you cause to a third party. The German insurers' model terms expressly exclude two groups: relatives living with you in the same household, and anyone co-insured in your policy. Otherwise a family could compensate itself through the insurer.
Relatives include spouses and partners, parents and children, adoptive, step and foster parents and children, parents-in-law and children-in-law, grandparents and grandchildren and siblings. If your son knocks your wife's laptop off the table, liability insurance pays nothing.
When liability insurance does pay within the family
The exclusion only applies if one of the two conditions is met: a shared household or co-insurance in the same policy. Parents with their own flat are neither. If you damage their TV on a visit, it is an ordinary liability claim.
The same applies to adult siblings with their own home or to a daughter who has moved out and is no longer in your family tariff. You must still be legally liable, meaning you acted negligently.
Injured person
Does your liability insurance pay?
Spouse in the same household
no
Child in the same household
no
Parents with their own flat
yes, if you are liable
Brother with his own home, not co-insured
yes, if you are liable
Daughter in a student residence, still in the family tariff
no, because co-insured
Mother-in-law living permanently with you
no
Spouses and parents are liable more mildly
Even without the exclusion, family law is special. Under section 1359 of the German Civil Code, spouses are only liable to each other for the care they apply to their own affairs. Section 1664 says the same for parents towards their children. A small mishap in daily life often creates no claim at all.
Which insurance helps instead
Contents insurance (Hausratversicherung) covers your own belongings, but only for insured perils: fire, water from pipes, storm, hail, burglary and vandalism after a burglary. If your child sets the curtain alight with a candle, contents insurance pays. If the tablet is just dropped, it does not.
When contents insurance pays, section 86(3) of the Insurance Contract Act bars it from recovering the money from a household member unless that person acted intentionally. For expensive devices there are separate device policies; what they cover is set out in their terms.
Personal injury within the family
If one family member injures another, health insurance pays first. Under section 116(6) of the Social Code Book X, it cannot recover its costs from someone living in the same household as the injured person if the harm was not intentional. Car accidents are the exception; there motor liability insurance pays.
For lasting effects of an accident at home, private accident insurance helps. It pays regardless of who was at fault.
When you need nothing extra
Most families bear small damage within the family themselves. An expensive extra policy just for that is rarely worth it. More important are good contents insurance including gross negligence and liability insurance with high cover for damage to outsiders.
Step by step
Check whether the injured person lives with you or is co-insured in the policy.
For your own belongings check whether a contents insurance peril applies.
For relatives with their own household report the claim normally.
Never hide anything: state living arrangements truthfully.
Consider a separate device policy for expensive equipment.
Checklist
Who lives in the household
Who is co-insured in the policy
Contents insurance with surge and gross negligence
Private accident insurance for accidents at home
Liability insurance with high cover for damage to outsiders
Common mistakes
Reporting family damage as damage to a friend: that is insurance fraud
Assuming parents with their own flat are automatically excluded
Expecting contents insurance to pay for every damage to your belongings
Not updating the family tariff when a child moves out
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Does liability insurance pay if I damage my father's car?
If he does not live with you and is not co-insured, it can be a liability claim.
While driving his car, however, motor insurance pays, not personal liability.
Does the exclusion apply to an unmarried partner?
Yes, if you live together or the partner is co-insured.
The model terms expressly mention comparable partnerships.
What about damage to our shared rented flat?
That is not damage within the family but to the landlord's property.
Liability insurance covers it through the rented property module.
Does it pay if my child breaks the neighbour child's phone?
Yes, if your child is liable.
The neighbour's child is a third party.
For children under seven, the module for children not legally liable matters.
Does it pay if my child breaks something at the grandparents'?
Yes, if the grandparents have their own home and your child or you as supervisor are liable.
For children under seven, the module for children not legally liable helps.
