Legal expenses cover for self-employed professionals (zzp'ers)
As a self-employed professional you have no staff, but you do have a client who is bigger than you are. Most conflicts are about payment, about the ending of an assignment and about whether you are really self-employed.
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In brief
The personal legal expenses policy you have at home expressly excludes no disputes arising from a profession or business. So as soon as you invoice, your work falls outside it. That is the most common misunderstanding among self-employed people: only when a client fails to pay does it turn out that the existing policy does nothing. A business version is a separate contract, with its own modules and its own waiting period. The basic explanation is on the hub legal expenses insurance and the self-employed version at legal expenses insurance for self-employed professionals.
Three kinds of dispute occur by far the most often among self-employed people. The unpaid invoice, where the difference between an undisputed and a disputed claim determines whether the debt collection module is enough. The assignment ended early, where it comes down to what the order confirmation says about notice periods and volumes. And the classification of the working relationship: if in practice you work under direction and to a rota, the relationship may be regarded as a contract of employment under Article 7:610 of the Dutch Civil Code, with an additional assessment for your client and consequences for your own position.
Also note what, as a self-employed person, you should precisely not place on this policy. If you are held responsible for a mistake in your work, your liability insurer conducts the defence; see liability insurance for the self-employed. If you are off sick, that is an income question and not a legal dispute; the disability insuranceexists for that. Legal expenses cover is there for the situation in which you want to enforce something against someone else.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare personal legal expenses insurance (rechtsbijstandverzekering).
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Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four points that make the difference on a self-employed policy.
Your activities have to be right on the policy
Insurers accept on the basis of the activities you describe. If you do something on the side, for instance advisory work alongside hands-on work, report it. An unreported activity affects the duty of disclosure in Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code, and in a dispute the insurer can rely on Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code. Also report if you start hiring staff; many self-employed policies apply only without employees.
Disputed invoices are not a collection case
If your client says the work is not up to standard or that less was agreed, the case moves from debt collection to contract law. Not every policy handles that step. Ask as well whether your statutory commercial interest from Article 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code and the out-of-court costs are claimed too, and whether the file continues if your client goes bankrupt.
Record in advance what you deliver
An order confirmation with scope, rate, notice period and an arrangement for extra work makes a lawyer a hundred times more effective than a WhatsApp conversation. If your client complains about your work, Article 6:89 of the Dutch Civil Codealso applies: he has to protest within a reasonable time. If he does so months later, that is a defence you can only run if you can show when the work was handed over.
What is excluded as standard
Almost always excluded are tax disputes with the Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax authority), conflicts about financing, guarantees or investments, and cases connected with the bankruptcy of your own business. A dispute already running before the policy started is not handled either, however recent your report.
What does your premium depend on?
- Profession and activities: hands-on work has different disputes from advisory work
- Annual turnover: determines the risk class and sometimes the acceptance limit
- Whether or not you have staff: one employee often takes you out of the self-employed rate
- Modules chosen: contracts, debt collection, administrative law, traffic
- Number and type of clients: one large client weighs differently from ten small ones
- Waiting period and threshold: the lower limit of the interest per case
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What the lawyer handles
| Situation | Basic | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| A client leaves three invoices unpaid and stops responding to anything | Yes | Yes |
| That same client suddenly says the work was unfinished and disputes the bill | Provided that | Yes |
| You want to recover the damage to your van from the person who caused it, and he refuses | Provided that | Yes |
| After an audit the Belastingdienst questions whether you are really in business | No | Provided that |
| A competitor uses your business name and your logo on his website | No | No |
| You are fined after a check on load and driving hours on the way to a job | No | No |
Fines and disputes about intellectual property fall outside the cover on almost every business policy, whichever modules are chosen.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Does my personal legal expenses insurance cover my self-employed work?
No. Personal policies exclude disputes arising from a profession or business. That also applies if you work from home or invoice for only a few hours a week. You need separate business cover. An exception is sometimes the traffic module for a private car you also use for business. That too is set out expressly in the conditions and is not an assumption.
Does the policy help with a discussion about false self-employment?
That depends on the modules. The civil law side, the question whether a contract of employment exists between you and your client within the meaning of Article 7:610 of the Dutch Civil Code, can fall under contracts or employment. The tax side, an additional assessment or a duty to correct, falls outside the cover almost without exception. So work with a model agreement and make sure practice matches it.
My client suddenly stops the assignment. Can I do anything?
That depends on what was agreed. Without a notice period in the agreement your position is weak. With one you can claim performance or compensation. The lawyer first looks at the order confirmation, the correspondence and how long you worked together. Report cases like this straight away: the longer you carry on working after being told, the harder the claim becomes.
When do I have to report a dispute?
As soon as you reasonably know there is a conflict; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires it. In reality that is the moment of the first notice of default, the first letter of complaint or the first refused payment. Do not instruct a lawyer yourself and do not sign any settlement before the insurer has seen the file, because costs you incur yourself are usually not reimbursed.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Compare personal legal expenses insurance (rechtsbijstandverzekering)The main page
- Business legal expenses insurance and how a case is handledProspects, disputes procedure, cost maximum
- Legal expenses insurance (rechtsbijstandverzekering) for self-employed professionalsClients, debt collection, waiting period
- Agency workers, interns & volunteers for self-employed professionals through Nationale-Nederlanden
- Legal expenses insurance (rechtsbijstandverzekering) for an IT companyAcceptance, intellectual property, secondment