Declarations page

While formats vary by insurance company, most dec pages include:

• Named insured: The business or individual listed on the policy, including any legal business names.
• Additional insureds: People or organizations added to your policy for protection.
• Policy number: Your policy’s unique identifier.
• Policy period: The start and end dates of your coverage.
• Insurer information: The insurance company providing the coverage.
• Coverages and limits: The types of insurance included in your policy (such as general liability or commercial property) and their dollar-amount coverage limits.
• Deductibles: The amount you pay out of pocket before coverage applies.
• Premium: How much your policy costs.
• Endorsements or riders: Any added, removed, or modified coverages.
• Claims information: How to contact your insurer to report a claim.

Your dec page is especially useful when you need quick proof of what your insurance covers and how much protection you have.

A declarations page is only a summary. It tells you what coverage you have, but not always how that coverage works. For small business owners, this difference can lead to gaps or unexpected claim denials.

Here’s what your dec page likely won’t tell you:

• Exclusions and sub-limits. The dec page doesn’t list what your policy doesn’t cover. For example, your general liability policy might exclude certain professional services, or your cyber insurance may have lower sub-limits for social engineering or ransomware. These details appear only in the full policy.
• Important details inside endorsements. Endorsements are often listed by name only. You have to read the full endorsement text to understand what it adds, removes, limits, or requires.
• How limits apply. Your dec page may show a single limit, but not the type of limit, such as a per-occurrence or aggregate, and if it applies per claim, per year, or only to certain types of losses.
• Coverage territory or scope of operations. Some policies only cover work done in specific locations or for specific types of operations. Those details may not be obvious from the dec page alone.
• Policy conditions and requirements. Many policies—especially cyber, E&O, and professional liability—include conditions you must meet to keep coverage active. These won’t appear on the dec page.
• Policy type. The type of liability policy, such as a claims-made or a occurrence-based will determine when a claim must be reported to be covered. Dec pages usually don’t explain it, and retroactive dates often appear elsewhere.

These details make the difference between being covered and being exposed. Always refer to the full policy wording for the complete picture.

These two documents are often confused but serve very different purposes:

• A declarations page is part of your insurance contract. It summarizes your coverage for your own reference.
• A certificate of insurance (COI) is an external document you give to clients, landlords, or vendors as proof of insurance.

You may need both, depending on who’s asking—but they're not interchangeable.