High Net Worth Insurance
High net worth households face risks that standard insurance policies are not designed to handle. Higher property values, complex assets, and increased liability exposure require coverage that goes beyond modified standard policies.
High net worth insurance is built for individuals and families whose financial picture demands greater precision, broader protection, and higher limits. The goal is not simply to insure assets, but to keep continuity, accuracy, and protection when significant losses occur.
Most underinsurance at this level does not come from neglect. It comes from relying on policies that were never designed for the complexity of high value homes, vehicles, collections, and personal liability.
High Net Worth Insurance Is Not a Single Policy
High net worth insurance is not a single policy, but a coordinated insurance program. Coverage is typically structured across multiple policies to address different asset classes and risk exposures.
These programs often include tailored solutions for:
Each component is designed to work together, reducing gaps, inconsistencies, and coverage limitations that commonly exist in standard personal insurance portfolios.
High Value Home Insurance Requires a Different Approach
High value homes require a fundamentally different approach to insurance. Standard homeowners policies, even when enhanced with endorsements, are often insufficient for homes with custom construction, premium materials, or unique architectural features.
Proper coverage depends on accurate valuation, detailed underwriting, and policy language designed to reflect the true cost of rebuilding. This includes extended replacement cost provisions, broader coverage definitions, and fewer restrictive exclusions.
Coverage is structured intentionally, not retrofitted.
Our High Value Home Quoting Process
Thorough Evaluation
High value homes typically require an in-depth review of construction quality, materials, and property characteristics. This may include on-site inspections, detailed documentation, and third-party valuation tools.
Documentation & Submission
Information is compiled and submitted to carriers that specialize in high value risks. These carriers underwrite differently than standard insurers and require more detailed submissions.
Coverage Refinement
Initial terms are reviewed and adjusted for accuracy before binding. Final policies are issued with the expectation that values and coverage align precisely with the exposure.
Carrier Verification
Post-binding inspections are often conducted by the carrier to confirm accuracy and completeness.
High value homes and California wildfire risk, explained
What happens when a high value home is non-renewed for wildfire risk?
The standard market tends to withdraw first from the places where rebuilding costs most. A non-renewal notice is not a verdict on you, and it is not the end of the options. What changes is the shape of the program. Instead of one policy doing everything, the fire coverage and the rest of the coverage usually come from two different places, and the seam between them is what needs attention.
Does the California FAIR Plan work for a high value home?
Only up to a point, and the ceiling is the reason. The California FAIR Plan writes residential dwelling coverage to a maximum of $3 million per property. The Insurance Commissioner ordered that limit in November 2019, doubling what it had been, and it took effect on 1 April 2020.
For most California homes that ceiling never comes up. For a high value home it is the whole problem. Where the cost to rebuild the house runs above $3 million, the FAIR Plan cannot insure the top of it, and that part has to be arranged another way or carried by you.
Rebuilding cost is also not the market value and not the purchase price. A custom home with specialist materials, long lead times and a difficult site can cost considerably more to rebuild than to buy.
What does the FAIR Plan ask for above $1.5 million?
More documentation than most owners expect. Above $1.5 million in combined limits the application calls for exterior photographs and a rebuild estimate from a licensed contractor or an appraiser, with the dwelling limit set at or above that estimate. Getting that estimate early is worth the trouble, because it sets the limit, and the limit governs everything downstream.
What does a FAIR Plan policy leave out?
Most of what a homeowners policy does. It is built around fire and a short list of named perils. There is no personal liability, no theft, and no water damage from a burst pipe or a failed appliance. A household carrying only a FAIR Plan policy has fire coverage and very little else.
That gap is what a difference in conditions policy exists to close. A DIC sits alongside the fire policy and adds back liability, theft and water damage, and often earthquake or flood as well.
Do the two policies stack on top of each other?
No, and this is the part most often misunderstood. The FAIR Plan and the DIC are companions rather than layers. Each answers the causes of loss it covers, and their limits do not add together. A fire loss runs against the FAIR Plan. A loss from a peril the FAIR Plan excludes runs against the DIC. You do not collect under both for the same loss.
DIC wording is also less standardized than an admitted policy, because these are frequently written in the surplus lines market. Reading the two forms alongside each other is the only way to see whether the seam between them is closed.
How is a total loss settled without replacement cost on the policy?
At actual cash value, measured by fair market value. That distinction decides how much of a rebuild the settlement will fund. After a fire that has destroyed much of the surrounding housing, market value and reconstruction cost separate sharply, and the policy pays the first of the two.
On the FAIR Plan, dwelling replacement cost is included automatically for a dwelling 25 years old or less unless it is specifically declined. For an older dwelling the roof must have been updated within the last 25 years, and inflation guard is required alongside it. A house that fails that test is written at actual cash value, so depreciation comes out of the payment.
Guaranteed replacement cost, which pays whatever the rebuild turns out to cost, is largely unavailable in California. Extended replacement cost, which adds a stated percentage above the dwelling limit, is what the market offers instead, and that percentage is worth reading closely on a house that would be expensive to reproduce.
Where does earthquake coverage fit alongside all this?
Beside the property policy rather than inside it. Earthquake is excluded from residential property policies in California and is arranged separately. Insurance Code 10081 requires an insurer selling a residential policy to offer earthquake coverage, and where the offer is not accepted the obligation comes round again every other year.
A DIC form can carry earthquake, which is one reason to structure the DIC deliberately rather than treat it as a gap filler. Whether that route or a standalone earthquake policy suits the house depends on the deductible, the contents limit and how the two forms handle loss of use.
What should you check before the next renewal?
Four things, and none of them takes long. Whether the dwelling limit still reflects what rebuilding would cost today. Whether replacement cost is actually on the policy rather than assumed. Whether the DIC still lines up with the fire policy underneath it. And whether the liability limit still matches what the household has to protect, since a FAIR Plan policy carries none of its own.
A note on our role: the California FAIR Plan is an association of California-licensed property insurers, not a state agency, and Schneiderman Insurance Agency is not affiliated with or appointed by it. When we help you obtain a FAIR Plan policy, we act as your insurance broker and represent you, not the FAIR Plan.
We review the rebuild figure with you, structure the DIC around the fire policy, and read the two forms together so you can see where the seam sits. Some placements are quick. Others need underwriting review or a wholesale market, and we tell you which applies before you decide. If you would like to start, begin a home insurance quote or call the Granada Hills office.
FAIR Plan limits, underwriting conditions and program terms are revised from time to time. The figures above reflect the position published by the Department of Insurance and the California FAIR Plan Association at the time of writing, current as of September 2026.
High Value Auto Insurance
High value vehicles often require coverage beyond traditional auto policies. Agreed value options, broader usage definitions, and specialized claims handling are common features of high value auto insurance programs.
Whether the vehicle is a daily driver, collector car, or specialty automobile, coverage should reflect its true value and intended use. These policies are designed to reduce ambiguity and preserve value in the event of a loss.
High value auto coverage is typically coordinated with home and umbrella policies for consistency across the entire insurance program.
Start Your High Net-Worth Insurance Quote
High net worth insurance requires coordination, accuracy, and intentional design. Whether you are reviewing an existing program or building coverage for the first time, the process begins with understanding the full scope of your assets and exposures.
When working with Schneiderman Insurance Agency, coverage is reviewed holistically. The objective is to reduce gaps, eliminate unnecessary complexity, and structure protection that reflects the reality of your financial picture.
If you would like to review your current coverage or discuss how a high net worth insurance program should be structured, we can walk through the details and outline appropriate next steps.
Scheduling jewelry, art or collections replaces the sub-limits that would otherwise cap a claim on a homeowners or renters policy, giving each scheduled item a stated limit of its own. Check what your own form does, because these sub-limits vary by carrier.
Areas we serve
We write high-value home insurance across the San Fernando Valley, greater Los Angeles, the Conejo Valley and Ventura County, the Santa Clarita Valley, and the South Bay, from our office in Granada Hills. For local detail, see high-value home insurance in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Calabasas, San Marino, Hidden Hills, Pacific Palisades, and La Cañada Flintridge. Or browse all the areas we serve in California.
A high-value program coordinates the umbrella with the underlying limits it sits on, and earthquake is the exclusion most often left open on a high-value home. The wider program is on our personal insurance page.
