Follow-Form Excess
What this clause says
Except as otherwise provided herein, the coverage afforded by this Policy shall follow the terms, conditions, definitions and exclusions of the Followed Policy, subject to the Limits of Liability stated in the Declarations.
What this actually means
A follow-form excess policy adopts the wording of the underlying policy it sits above, so it responds to the same claims on the same terms and simply adds limit. A non-follow-form excess, including most commercial umbrellas, brings its own wording and its own exclusions.
What it means for an operator
This decides whether your tower actually covers what your primary covers. The two provisions most likely to differ are the ones that matter most in senior care: how defense costs are treated, and whether abuse is covered and at what sublimit. An excess that does not follow form over the abuse coverage part will not respond to the claim most likely to exhaust the primary, which defeats the reason it was bought. Confirm follow-form status layer by layer rather than for the tower as a whole, because in a quota shared tower one participation in one layer can carry different wording from the rest of that same layer.
Why the Policy Checker does not score this
This term is worth understanding and cannot be checked from a declarations page. There is no single field that would answer it, and scoring it from an assumption would produce a confident wrong finding, which is the one thing a tool like this must never do. It is defined here and left out of the check.
See this in your policy
Check this term against your own program.
Run the Policy CheckerRelated clauses
Common questions about this clause
- Does my excess policy follow form over abuse coverage?
- What is a quota share layer in a senior care excess tower?
- What is the difference between neglect and negligence in a senior care claim?
- What covers a foodborne illness outbreak in our dining room?
- What is a sublimit, and why does it matter so much in senior care?