Liability
- Damage to third parties
- Employers' liability
- Care, custody and control as an extension
Liability for genealogists
Family history research only becomes a liability question at the moment someone else bases a decision on it: a notary dividing an estate, a publisher going to print, a family submitting a claim.
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The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
- Independent advice
- Several insurers
- Switching arranged
- Help with claims
In brief
As long as genealogical research serves an enthusiast, the risk is small. It is different once you carry out heir tracing for a notary, an executor or a probate research firm. Your findings then become the basis for the division of an estate. If a branch of the family turns out to have been overlooked, that division has to be reversed, with all the costs involved, while nothing has been damaged and nobody has been injured.
That difference determines your cover. Public and employers' liability insurance covers property damage and injury. A mistake in your research produces neither: that is pure financial loss, and it only falls under professional indemnity insurance. For this profession, professional indemnity cover is therefore the main policy and the business liability cover the addition.
The addition is not an empty one. You work physically in archives, with fragile originals in your care, and you process data on living people. The latter falls under the GDPR and often touches on special categories as well: religious belief in baptismal registers, health data, or a line of descent that was not known within a family.
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We compare your personal liability insurance (AVP) across dozens of insurers, explain where the real differences lie, and arrange the switch from start to finish — without you having to chase it yourself.
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What does liability cover for genealogists?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
- Business contents at replacement value as new
- Goods at cost price
- Business interruption or additional costs
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
- Continued pay for 104 weeks
- Group personal accident
- WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV | Cyber |
|---|---|---|---|
| Injury to a visitor or customer | Yes | No | No |
| Damage to a client's property | Sometimes | No | No |
| Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error | No | Yes | No |
| Downtime after a ransomware attack | No | No | Yes |
| Data breach involving personal data | No | Sometimes | Yes |
| Damage to property in your care | No | No | No |
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
What does your premium depend on?
- Type of assignments. Private family history research weighs lightly; heir tracing for notaries and executors weighs heavily.
- Annual turnover. Turnover is the rating basis and says something about the number of files you deliver each year.
- Sum insured per claim. In probate files that sum is determined by the size of the estates you advise on.
- Publication and publishing work. Books, websites and databases containing data on living people increase the privacy and copyright risk.
- Working with originals. Physical research in archives or taking away private documents calls for care, custody and control cover.
- Your own terms and limitation of liability. A written limitation to the fee for the assignment reduces the exposure and counts in the underwriting.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
- You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
- We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
- You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
- We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Why arrange it through Finass Verzekert?
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
Independent
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
One fixed adviser
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
Switching without hassle
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
9.5New policy
9.8Claims handling
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Record your sources and your caveats
Completeness can never be guaranteed in genealogical research: registers have burned, children were not registered, names were corrupted. Set out in every report which sources you consulted, which periods you could not cover and what reservation you make. A report without that passage is read as a watertight conclusion, and it is on that reading that you will be held to account if an heir turns up later.
Living people fall under the GDPR
The GDPR does not apply to deceased people, but it does apply to their descendants. A family tree you put online or publish in a family book contains names, addresses and dates of birth of living people. Ask for consent or anonymise. A claim about this is an invasion of privacy and not property damage; a fine from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch data protection authority) is, moreover, not insurable on any policy.
Archive material is in your care
A tear in a baptismal register, a coffee stain on a charter or a mislaid deed is property damage, to an object that is often irreplaceable. That falls under the care, custody and control exclusion, which on a standard AVB is precisely what is excluded. If you regularly work with originals or take documents from private individuals away to scan, have care, custody and control insured expressly, with a limit that matches the nature of those documents.
What you have to redo, you pay for yourself
If your research turns out to be incorrect, doing it again, correcting the report and refunding your fee are not covered: that is redoing your own work. Withdrawing a print run of a family book and the printing costs are also your own costs. What is covered is the loss suffered by a third party, such as the cost of reopening an estate.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
An heir has been overlooked. What does the policy cover?
The loss third parties suffer because the division has to be reversed: notary's costs, legal costs and recovering amounts already paid out. That is pure financial loss and falls solely under professional indemnity insurance, not under public and employers' liability insurance. Your own fee and redoing the research always remain for your own account.
So do I need an AVB as a genealogist?
Yes, for the physical part of your work. You may damage archive documents, you work in other people's premises, you may receive clients. Those are property damage and injury, and that is exactly what the AVB covers. The combination of the two covers is usual in this profession; see also professional indemnity for self-employed professionals.
May I publish a family tree that includes living relatives?
Only with a valid legal basis under the GDPR, consent, or by anonymising the data of living people. That applies to private family websites too, as soon as they are publicly accessible. Special categories of data, such as religious belief taken from church registers, call for extra restraint. Administrative fines are not insurable; the loss suffered by an injured party may well fall under professional indemnity cover.
When must I report a claim?
As soon as you become aware of it, and in any event within the period stated in your policy; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires this. Do not wait until the claim has been worked out or until you think you know whether you were at fault. Do not admit liability either, and make no undertaking to the client before the insurer has assessed the file, because that can affect your cover.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Compare personal liability insurance (AVP)The main page
- Liability for education specialistsAdvice, implementation, scope
- Liability insurance for secretarial servicesTime limits, correspondence, confidentiality
- Liability for photographersOn location, equipment, image rights
- Liability for private investigationLicence, privacy, methods
- Liability for research agenciesRespondent data, methodology, publication
- Liability for trade associationsAdvice to members, the board, publications
- Liability for bailiffsOfficial acts, time limits, professional discipline
- Liability for remedial teachersDiagnosis, boundaries, referral
Read more
Ready to compare?
Request a quote without obligation. We will look at which insurer best matches your activities and your risk.
Prefer to call? 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 09:00–17:00.
Claim on the road? Emergency line 06 - 55 20 40 72.
About our service
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
This page was compiled by Finass Verzekert. Last updated on .
The information on this page is general in nature and is not personal advice.