Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a self-employed administrator (bewindvoerder)
You manage the assets of someone who cannot do so themselves. If something goes wrong, the loss is immediately measurable: an allowance missed, an eviction, a growing arrears.
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In brief
Protective administration (beschermingsbewind) is the management of someone else's money under the supervision of the subdistrict court. What goes wrong almost always involves money missed: a housing or healthcare allowance not applied for, special assistance left unclaimed, rent arrears leading to eviction, an insurance policy that lapses so that a fire or liability loss is uninsured, or an application for admission to the debt restructuring scheme filed too late. The person under administration then suffers pure financial loss, and professional indemnity insurance is intended for that. The structure of the product is set out on the hub page on the BAV.
The standard is in the statute itself. Article 1:444 of the Dutch Civil Code makes you liable for loss caused by a failure in the care of a proper administrator. That standard is filled in by what the subdistrict court judge expects of you: a complete inventory of the estate, sound records and the annual rendering account under Article 1:445 of the Dutch Civil Code. Anyone administering the affairs of three or more people counts as a professional administrator and falls under the Besluit kwaliteitseisen curatoren, beschermingsbewindvoerders en mentoren (the Dutch decree on quality requirements for guardians, administrators and mentors), which requires professional indemnity insurance among other things.
Distinguish your roles. Protective administration, mentorship, guardianship and Wsnp administration under the debt restructuring scheme are legally different tasks with their own obligations. Insurers describe the business activity precisely; if the policy schedule mentions only protective administration, a claim about a mentorship or a debt restructuring file can fall outside the cover. If you also do budget management or debt counselling without an appointment, have that included as well.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
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What to look out for
Four points that make the difference in an administrator's practice between cover and a bill of your own.
Loss of money is not the same as a professional error
The BAV pays for loss caused by a mistake in your work. If money disappears from an estate account through misappropriation or fraud, that is not a professional error but a property offence, and it is excluded. Conduct on your own part also falls under the exclusion for intent in Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code. For the risk of a member of staff taking money, separate fraud or money insurance exists.
The subdistrict court judge is not an insurer
If you are dismissed as administrator or the court imposes a measure, that is a disciplinary or supervisory consequence, not an insured loss. Fines and penalty payments are likewise excluded. What can be covered is the claim by the person under administration or their heirs for compensation of the detriment caused by your failure.
Your practice stands or falls with your own availability
As a one-person practice you are appointed personally. If you are out of action for a long period, deadlines, applications and payments are left undone and the loss grows week by week. Put a cover arrangement in place with a fellow firm and make sure your records are accessible to your locum without your passwords. Insurers ask about this in underwriting.
What falls outside the cover
The policy does not pay for: debts of the person under administration, which were not caused by you; fines, sanctions and punitive damages; and circumstances you already knew about at inception, such as a current complaint or a file about which a complaint has already been made. Non-disclosure when applying can lead to the payment lapsing or being reduced under Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What does your premium depend on?
- Number of files under administration: the main measure of your practice's exposure
- Type of administration: protective administration, guardianship, mentorship or Wsnp administration
- Complexity of the files: problematic debts and home ownership require more management
- Sum insured and excess: set per claim and per insurance year
- Set-up of your records: separate estate accounts and complete file management count
- Retroactive and run-off periods: administration files run for years, including after transfer
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A healthcare allowance is not adjusted after a change of address and is later reclaimed | No | Yes |
| An attachment-free threshold passed on incorrectly causes deductions to be too high for months | No | Yes |
| The heirs blame you because the estate is smaller after years of administration than expected | No | Provided that |
| During a home visit you knock the television off the cabinet | Yes | No |
| A person under administration trips over the mat in your consulting room | Yes | No |
| Your laptop with the files of forty people under administration is stolen from your car | No | No |
For the loss of data and the notification duty that follows, you look to cyber cover and not to these two.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Am I required to have professional indemnity insurance?
For professional administrators the Besluit kwaliteitseisen curatoren, beschermingsbewindvoerders en mentoren applies, which alongside requirements on training, business operations and accountability also requires professional indemnity insurance. The subdistrict court judge can ask for evidence of cover. If that insurance is missing, it affects your eligibility for appointment and you stand personally behind any claim.
A person under administration missed an allowance. When is that my liability?
When a proper administrator would have made that application in time. The standard in Article 1:444 of the Dutch Civil Code looks at the care that could be expected of you, not at the result. If you could not make the application because information was missing, record when you asked for it and from whom. Without a file that defence is hard to run afterwards.
I am transferring my files to another firm. What do I arrange?
Claims about the period in which you were the administrator can still arrive for years, for example after the successor has reviewed the accounts. Because the policy works on a claims made basis, the moment of notification is decisive. Arrange run-off cover before you cancel and keep your files for the statutory periods. Without a file you cannot defend yourself.
What if personal data of people under administration leaks?
Administration files contain information about debts, health and family circumstances. A data breach produces restoration costs, notification duties and possibly claims from those affected. The BAV is not intended for that. For that there is cyber insurance. A fine from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch data protection authority) remains excluded on both policies, because it is a sanction.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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