One of the hardest things for anyone to do is to really see things from someone else’s perspective. As a lawyer I can tell you that sometimes things seem so obvious to us that we can’t imagine why our client or potential client, or even our adversary, doesn’t see it or didn’t do it.
In preparing to meet with a financial planner recently my wife and I had to complete a worksheet so that he could understand our issues and concerns. One of the things it asked for was to list our Long Term Disability policies. Although I have been practicing disability law for over 30 years and can’t imagine how many times I’ve told people (not clients—by then it’s too late) to get disability insurance and to make sure they increase it as their salary increases, when I got to that part of the form I must admit I was at a loss.
I thought I had a Long Term Disability policy for myself for one amount and two for my wife. Coincidentally, I had just received a solicitation from the insurance company asking me to increase the coverage and it stated I had a far different amount of coverage in force than I thought. I sheepishly told the planner that even though this is my field, I really was unclear about my own coverage.
It turns out when I went through the policies a few days later that in fact I had two policies, and they actually totaled more than I thought! As for my wife, her two policies were there, but I really couldn’t tell the amount of coverage without making some additional phone calls.
So the moral of this story is that once again, like the “caregiver” entry from last year and maybe one or two others I’ve posted here, I once again have a better insight when I meet with people who don’t know if they have insurance, or what the coverage amounts are.
And for all of you, go check now. And make sure your coverage has kept up with your salary!
Lewis B. Insler, Esq.