home insurance for possible conviction

tortoiseshell21

I've checked a few insurance T&Cs and they talk about convictions or criminal convictions pending. I don't know at this point if he will be charged and I won't know either by the date of the insurance renewal so would I be ok to go ahead as if nothing had happened?

Also, what exactly does criminal convictions pending mean? Am I right in thinking that this means that a trial has taken place and that he has been found guilty and is awaiting sentencing? In short, that he has been found guilty?

justjohn

tortoiseshell21 wrote: »

I've checked a few insurance T&Cs and they talk about convictions or criminal convictions pending. I don't know at this point if he will be charged and I won't know either by the date of the insurance renewal so would I be ok to go ahead as if nothing had happened?

Also, what exactly does criminal convictions pending mean? Am I right in thinking that this means that a trial has taken place and that he has been found guilty and is awaiting sentencing? In short, that he has been found guilty?

Unsure its down to interpritation.

Sorry i assume he has been charged and the cps is deciding whether to take it to court.

eg. the police have have charged him. not the police are deciding whether to charge him?

zzzLazyDaisy

I would understand 'criminal convictions pending' to mean that someone has been found (or has pleaded) guilty and is awaiting sentence. But that is a personal comment, and in no way intended to be legal advice.

But in the light of the comments in this thread, I think I'd have to say don't try and guess what it means - speak to the insurer, or your broker, and ask the question.

One thing you should be prepared for - if the alleged offence involves arson, burglary, theft, fraud, or other offences of dishonesty, then the insurer is likely to take a more serious view than if, say, the allegation involves a drunk and disorderly, for example - because the former offences are the sort of thing that might normally be covered by the insurer, and therefore pose a higher risk.

I am sorry that you are having to deal with this, it must be a very stressful time for you. Do let us know what happens.

Mrs_justjohn

Hi Op

I think justjohn (my other half...LOL) has got a bit side tracked on this thread (he says sorry!....LOL)

I have done a bit of "googling" and will paste what I have found below - I will also PM it to you. It explains the definitions of certain 'legal terminology'. (I will put my understanding of this in red and it does not form part of the website I found!)

DEFINITIONS

[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]The following terms have the following meanings. [/FONT][/FONT]

"Pending criminal charge" [FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]means any charge that is currently pending or threatened to be brought against you. [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia](I don't think you are asked this - as I think it asks about convictions)[/FONT][/FONT]


"Criminal conviction" [FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]means any instance in any state or country where you have plead no contest, guilty or were found to be guilty by a judge or jury to charges that you committed a crime, other than those excluded below. [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]1. conviction that you are currently appealing; [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]2. juvenile conviction- a conviction for which the record has been [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]expunged [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]and/or a conviction for which you have received a [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]pardon, [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]unless the law of the state where such juvenile conviction, expungement or pardon expressly permits you to lawfully withhold its disclosure. [/FONT][/FONT]


(He has not yet been charged so there is no Criminal Conviction yet)


"Criminal conviction" [FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]does [/FONT][/FONT]not [FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]include, and therefore you need not disclose, any instance where you were: [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]1. arrested but not charged; [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]2. arrested and charged but the charges were dropped; [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]3. arrested and charged but not found guilty by a judge or jury; [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]4. arrested, found guilty by a judge or jury but the conviction was overturned on appeal [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia](My understanding of this is that to have a criminal conviction pending you must have first been charged with an offence...based on the fact that if you are arrested and not charged you do not have a criminal conviction (No 1 above) although I guess others could read this differently? )[/FONT][/FONT]



[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]I would say until he is charged with anything he is "helping police with their enquiries" - obviously when/if he is charged he will then have a conviction pending. If he is then found (or pleads) guilty he will have a criminal conviction. If however he has the charges dropped before he is convicted, or is found not guilty, or has a guilty verdict overturned on appeal then he neither has a criminal conviction nor a pending criminal conviction.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia,Georgia][FONT=Georgia,Georgia]IN short I am saying that IMHO you do not need to declare anything on renewal...but if he is then charged you need to advise them he has a criminal conviction pending, depending on the outcome of the case you will then either need to tell them he has a criminal record or he has hasn't and no case is pending.[/FONT]
[/FONT]

zzzLazyDaisy

Mrs J-J can I ask where you found this information? The terminology suggests that it may be a US site, which may not be helpful to the OP.

Mrs_justjohn

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Mrs J-J can I ask where you found this information? The terminology suggests that it may be a US site, which may not be helpful to the OP.

It was indeed a US site. It was for the purpose of explaining to people what they needed to disclose when asked certain questions on application forms.

I can't see that the terms "criminal conviction"..."charges pending"...etc..etc...change their meaning from the US to the UK

IMHO I think the fact he has not been charged means that he does not have a criminal conviction pending. At the moment he is helping police with their enquiries....we obviously do not have all the details but there may be 10 others all in the same situation as the OPs son, and it may be that only 1 or 2 of them will have charges brought against them. I would say then that it is just that 1 or 2 that have a criminal conviction pending and not the others, they were just helping police with their enquiries. All the OP's son has is a criminal charge pending (and so could anyone, as anyone walking the streets today could be charged with any offence at any time....it doesn't mean anything until a charge is brought and you then have a conviction pending. That then goes when the case is finished and you have either been found guilty and have a criminal conviction or you are found not guilty and you then have neither)

Mrs_justjohn

Selden wrote: »

What is the nature of the alleged offence?

I am not sure that is relevant in terms of this thread / the OPs question. Yes it may be relevant to the insurance company as some convictions will load premiums more than others...but I don't think the OP needs to disclose this to get her question answered?

dacouch

Mrs_justjohn wrote: »

I am not sure that is relevant in terms of this thread / the OPs question. Yes it may be relevant to the insurance company as some convictions will load premiums more than others...but I don't think the OP needs to disclose this to get her question answered?

It does have relevance as certain types of convictions can with some Insurers not be a problem as Daisy mentioned earlier.

Mrs_justjohn

dacouch wrote: »

It does have relevance as certain types of convictions can with some Insurers not be a problem as Daisy mentioned earlier.

My point is it is upto the insurance company to decide what to do on the basis of what the conviction is for.

The question that most insurance companies ask is ...Are there any criminal convictions or criminal convvictions pending?

They do not ask:

Are there any muder convictions pending?
Are there any traffic convictions pending?
Are there any child abuse convictions pending?

They just ask for convictions so you would have to disclose all and any that you have?

I am not sure that knowing what the OPs son is 'potentially going to be charged for' would help you answer the question as to whether it should be disclosed or not.

Anyway as I have said previous he has no convictions, no convictions pending, no charges brought against him as yet...therefore at this stage NO obligation to disclose anything.

dacouch

The type of conviction is highly relevant, if we knew the type of possible conviction we may be able to point the OP to Insurers who may not see it as being a problem.

Here is the assumption from one motor Insurer which disproves your generalisation that Insurers do not differentiate between different convictions and / note this in their questions / assumptions.

"No driver to be covered by this insurance has had any criminal convictions or pending prosecutions relating to fraud, robbery, theft or handling stolen goods during the past five years"