Insurance · 6 min read
Legal expenses cover already sits inside your Danish contents, house or car insurance and can pay for a lawyer and a court case in many private disputes. But it covers court cases — not complaints to boards — and it is activated through a lawyer. Here is exactly how the cover works and how to use it.
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Describe Your SituationKey takeaways
Legal expenses insurance is rarely a standalone policy. It is a standard component of most Danish contents (indbo), house and car policies — look in your policy terms under the "retshjælp" section.
If you hold several policies, several covers may be in play; which one applies depends on what the dispute is about — the car policy’s cover handles disputes about the car, for example.
The cover applies to court cases in private disputes — for example cases about tradesmen, property purchases, landlord disputes, purchases or boundary disputes. Within the policy cap, typically in the order of a couple hundred thousand kroner, it generally covers:
The most important limitation surprises many: legal expenses insurance covers court cases — not complaints to complaints boards or public authorities. A complaint to the rent tribunal (huslejenævnet), the Insurance Complaints Board (Ankenævnet for Forsikring) or the Consumer Complaints Board does not use the cover. Those routes are, by design, cheap and manageable without a lawyer.
Certain case types are also typically excluded in the terms — among them most cases against employers, family law cases and business-related disputes.
You do not call your insurer and "use" the cover yourself. It is activated when a lawyer takes on the case and applies for legal expenses cover with your insurer on your behalf. In practice it works like this:
Step by step
There is usually an excess (selvrisiko) of typically around 10% of the costs with a minimum amount, and a cap on the total cover — both stated in your specific terms.
If you meet the financial conditions for free legal aid (fri proces), the excess typically lapses entirely. So the order is always: check the policy, and check the fri proces thresholds with the Civil Affairs Agency (Civilstyrelsen), before calculating what the case costs you.
A refusal of legal expenses cover is a decision you can appeal — first to the insurer's complaints officer (klageansvarlig), then to the Insurance Complaints Board (Ankenævnet for Forsikring). Always get the refusal in writing with references to the terms.
No — the cover applies to court cases. Complaints to the rent tribunal, complaints boards and public authorities are not covered, but those routes are cheap and built to be handled without a lawyer.
Once the dispute is concrete — that is, when the other side has rejected your claim — and before costs run up. In practice your lawyer applies for the cover as one of the first steps after taking the case.
Generally yes. You choose the lawyer who will run the case, and the lawyer then applies for the cover with your insurer on your behalf.
The insurance generally also covers the legal costs you are ordered to pay the other side — within the policy cap and less the excess.
Then the refusal is itself a case: complain to the insurer's complaints officer, and if the refusal is upheld, take it to the Insurance Complaints Board (Ankenævnet for Forsikring).
Guide: how to appeal a rejected insurance claimYour insurer — through your lawyer
Refusals of legal expenses cover can be appealed to the insurer's complaints officer and then the Insurance Complaints Board (Ankenævnet for Forsikring).
Describe your dispute — in your own words — and get help assessing whether legal expenses cover, free legal aid or another route fits your case.
Read next
The full overview: rejected claims, the complaint route and when legal expenses cover comes into play.
The complaint route from the insurer's complaints officer to the Insurance Complaints Board — step by step.
Housing cases are the classic legal-expenses case — know your rights as a tenant.