Umbrella and excess liability insurance: what state insurance departments say
California, Texas and New York publish plain descriptions of umbrella and excess liability policies. This page sets out what each office says, including the retention that sits before an umbrella pays.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It describes how three United States state offices word the idea. It does not say how much cover any business holds or needs, and the policy wording decides what a policy pays.
Side by side
| Office | What the page says |
|---|---|
| California Department of Insurance, commercial guide | A commercial umbrella covers the amount of loss above the limits of a basic liability policy. It may also cover if a basic policy is not in force, and may cover gaps in basic policies. It is common to have a self-insured retention of at least US$10,000, similar to a deductible. |
| Texas Department of Insurance, commercial general liability page | Excess liability insurance pays for covered losses that exceed the dollar limit of a general liability policy. Umbrella liability insurance is excess cover above the limits of automobile liability and general liability policies, and also covers exposures the primary policies do not cover and the umbrella does not exclude. |
| New York Department of Financial Services, gap and umbrella page | A personal umbrella adds liability cover against judgments that exceed primary policies, with limits typically of US$1 million or more. Insurers may require minimum underlying limits, and not all insurers offer it. This page is about personal policies. |
California
The California commercial guide first explains that a general liability policy has separate limits for several heads of claim, and an aggregate limit. When total claims pass the stated annual aggregate, it says, the policy limits are exhausted and no more claims are paid for the policy period. It then describes the umbrella as the layer that applies to the excess judgment. It says commercial automobile, general liability, workers compensation or any liability policy can sit under an umbrella.
The guide says that when an umbrella responds to a basic liability loss it does not pay from the first dollar. If there is no underlying policy in force, it says, the owner pays the first US$10,000 of the loss before the umbrella responds. It does not say that US$10,000 is a fixed figure for every policy: it says an amount of at least that is common.
Texas
The Texas page defines general liability insurance as protection against claims for bodily injury, property damage, and personal and advertising injury. It then separates two ideas. Excess liability sits above the dollar limit of the general liability policy. Umbrella liability is excess cover above both the automobile and general liability limits, and can respond to exposures not covered by the primary policy. The same page explains occurrence policies and claims-made policies, which decide which claims a policy answers by the date of the injury or the date the claim is reported.
New York
The New York page is written for personal policies, so only its wording of the idea applies here. It describes additional liability protection against lawsuit judgments that exceed primary policies, and says insurers may require owners to buy and keep certain minimum underlying liability limits. A business policy is a different product from the one this page describes.
Where the pages do not agree
The Texas page uses the words excess and umbrella for two layers. The California guide uses the one word umbrella for the layer above the basic policies and the New York page uses it for personal policies. The names differ by office, so each row above keeps the office's own words. For the base policies that sit below, see the page on what tree-work insurance covers.