CYA Protection
 

I am wondering what, if any, measures you guys are taking to protect your families in the unlikely event you injured/killed somone in a "pilot error" event.

For instance, the estate (including life insurance?) would be in jepordy. Not to mention legal fees your wife and kids would incure to defend said estate.

Some suggest an LLC for the home, and life insurance in a trust, but what other ways do you guys have to sheild your house, savings, etc.

My airline has insurance, the aircraft maker has insurance. Everyone but the crew seems somewhat covered. Just the legal fees alone could reach $100,000 +. What do you guys do?

BTW: I heard after the Comair Lexington crash, the crews family was dropped from health insurance. One of the wives was 9 mo's pregnant!

WOW!! Never even thought of this. I am interested to hear what some have done.

I do not plan on having an accident. And before you give me the argument that I carry insurance for my car, that is because the bank requires it when you take out a loan for a car.

That is an arrogant response. So you are saying that some of the people who have been involved in accidents expected it to happen? And just because you don't want something to happen doesnt mean it won't.

Note to self: do not fly on a/c when G-dog is in the cockpit.
I can't think of a single accident where the crew was "planning" to have one.

Does anyone have a serious answer? Or are we all really just burying our head in the sand and hoping we get thru this career w/o incident? I for one have my families financial well being at the top of my list. I just hope for the Buffalo/Cologan crews families the pilots had done their due diligence.

I have put anything that could be gone after is an LLC. I deposit my checks in to a separate acct and pay myself though another LLC. Ergo everything is protected.
I also have an umbrella policy for things like what you are inferring. I could not possibly cover these type of damages, but my wife and family would come out of it clean. That is the goal.

Umbrella Insurance Policy . . .
 

I carry an additional umbrella insurance policy to cover potential liabilities above an beyond standard liability coverage.

To G-Dog, a little forward thinking might do you and your family (future family?) well. After the accident you are never planning on having, and after your funeral that you are never planning on attending, and after the plaintiff's lawyers get finished bankrupting your estate, I would hope your (future) wife and (future) children will have something left to survive on while they transition to a new life without you.

Just something to think about. I am not attacking you personally.

I asked a lawyer this very question and this is my best recollection:

It's all about intent.

If you have an accident flying for a company, you are an agent for that company and are covered under the company's liability umbrella. So long as there was not a gross deviation from the FAR's, company FOM or pilot handbook that was intentional, you are covered.

So, unless you intentionaly try to take off w/out flaps where flaps are required, or intentionaly land in the middle of a thunderstorm when the airport was closed and you were warned not to, you are covered.

Also, if you intentionaly do something gross and have an accident, your personal liability policies may refuse to pay as well. A personal liability policy would cover you if you crashed a private plane on a personal flight, but again so long as you met the requirements above.

True, but that does not stop someone from suing you is civil court over awrongful death. It is conventional wisdom that they go after the biggest pot of money, but never say never.

Simply put & well said....Maybe some of the AA guys in the know can clarify this, but I had heard there were some legal wrangling of suits being pressed by individuals/or groups against the FO's family from the Cali Columbia accident back in the late 90's....:(

Best way to limit liability = midigate exposure. I have done the LLC, Trusts, Estate Planning ect....the stuff that some of the guys mentioned earlier in the thread. Definitely better than doing nothing at all.

SC

How would you go about doing these things? Whats the first step?

It is easy to incorporate yourself. It takes no time and you really do not need a lawyer for it. Then you open a bank acct and put your airline paycheck in to it and then pay yourself a salary from that LLC. This is the simplistic way to do it.
I would check places like Legal Zoom. I have a family of attorneys so it was easy for me. They thought it was fun.

If you form a LLC you have to incorporate in a state. You normally need a agent to do that. You also have to file annual reports with that state and pay a annual fee to maintain the LLC. The intent of the LLC can not be only avoiding legal exposure. It has to have a business aspect to pass that test or it could be voided.

Just as ALC65 said....LLC's are pretty boiler plate and easy to do. As far as the Estate Planning/Trust ect....Used an attorney in the SoCal area who is big into Estate Planning/Trust/MPOA/Directives ect. When I did those, we also constructed/launched the LLC in concert with the above.

You can be like "G-Dog" the wonder boy earlier in this post and do nothing at all to let your 'junk' swing in the wind! If you want to be that stupid and uninformed, you deserve to get your butt in a law suit and loose it all and more. Don't know from what rock he crawled out, but this is not 1940 when everything was done and a hand shake and 'word'. We are living in the 2000's, every body and thing is litigious to say the least.....news flash, people will put you in a suit over the smallest crap....not to mention stuff slight bigger....ie Wrongful Death suit.:confused:

Exactly, and like I said that was the 2 cent explanation. S-corp could work too!

You can contruct and LLC and "shelf" it for later use....just b/c you have one, it does not have to be up/running/sustained just b/c it has been established. You are correct on holding it as a sole intent to avoid legal exposure, but believe me, this is a small obsticle and extremely easy to "construct" around....I have seen it first hand in motion.

All in all....LLC's are a great vehicle to midigate the risk, hands down.

Wow. Here I was worrying about furloughs and ever being able to retire. Now this! I love this job.

Why don't you get a legal opinion from your union attorney.

Yes..on my way to do this.

However, not all lawyers are created equal, so I'm looking into alternatives for my family ahead of time.

Some have suggested transfering titles into my kids names. And Putting the savings and 401k into a trust for kids. Whats do you think...?

I have some questions. How many flight hours are flown by all airlines combined each year? On average, how many fatal accidents are there per year (less than 1, I'm guessing)? How many active airline pilots are there in the country?

Even if you flew 1000 hours per year every year, your odds of getting into a fatal accident are extremely small. Your odds of doing something negligent in that accident are even smaller.

It never hurts to plan, but some of you seem downright paranoid!

I have a lot of things in "Irrevocable Trusts"

No one plans to be in an accident, that is why it is an accident. It also serves the same purpose to insulate your family if you are in an auto accident. It gets very complicated on how this works, so just go consult with an attorney.
I can tel you some say you are paranoid, whereas I say it is just being smart. Do not leave you family with a mess if you can avoid it. That is my mantra.

During my years at Delta, the company made the pilots "agents of the company". This means the company took full responsibility for pilot`s actions and the pilots were not liable for any legal action, the company was. Now, after the bankruptcy, things may have been changed. Someone needs to look into this. Many other airlines did the same thing. Putting assets an your wife`s name is another way to protect assets. She`s gonna get them in a divorce anyway.

I did this a long time before I was here.

Great point. I heard that if you fly on a jet airplane 24 hours a day for your entire career statistically you will not have an engine failure. What happens more often, fatal crashes or engine failures?

Nothing wrong with being prepared, seems like you guys are jumping through hoops for something that statistically will never happen.

IMO additional medical coverage is a much better investment. How many pilots are forced to retire early because of medical issues? Lots more than those who are fatally killed on the job.

Talking about statistics, driving to work is the most dangerous thing you can do. But I know this group would never talk on a cell phone while driving.

To each their own.

If you have a family, additional disability insurance is a good idea. Most airline disability plans pay 50% which could mean a change in lifestyle w/out extended disability.

Would keep the little lady happy, or less unhappy, in some cases. :D

For the record, virtually all "umbrella" policies will not cover work-related accidents. I looked into this with State Farm and it would not cover any incidents while doing my job as an airline pilot.

As stated above, should you be unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident (or incident) while flying your airliner, an LLC will most likely NOT protect any of your assets from good attorneys. If it can be demonstrated that the LLC was set up solely (or primarily) just to attempt to legally shield assets and not in conjuction with a viable business for tax purposes, it will be picked apart. This actually might cost even MORE in legal fees.

Sorry, but as it stands now, most of us are screwed (even those that think they aren't). In the future, it might be best for all airline pilots to 25 year old kids, living at home with mom and dad and having no assets other then a corvette they're making payments on.

Those of us with homes, retirement accounts and families have picked a risky career in these greedy litigeous times. You'll have to treat EVERY flight like everything you've worked for is one the line.....................................because IT IS !