Glossary · UK
What is After the Event (ATE) Insurance?
Insurance taken out after a legal dispute has started to cover the risk of paying the other side's costs, and sometimes your own, if the case is lost.
Full Definition
After the Event (ATE) insurance is a specialist legal expenses insurance policy taken out after a dispute or potential claim has already arisen -- as distinct from Before the Event (BTE) insurance, which is often included automatically within home or motor insurance policies and taken out in advance of any dispute -- designed to cover the financial risk of losing a case. A typical ATE policy covers the opponent's legal costs that a losing party may be ordered to pay under the normal "loser pays" principle in most UK civil litigation, and often also covers the claimant's own disbursements, such as court fees, expert witness fees and barrister's fees, that would otherwise be lost if the case failed. ATE insurance is commonly used alongside a Conditional Fee Agreement to give a claimant a genuinely low-risk way to pursue a claim they could not otherwise afford to risk funding, since the ATE premium itself is usually only payable if the case succeeds (deducted from any damages recovered), though this is not universal and policy terms vary. Because ATE premiums, cover limits, and what exactly is included (or excluded, such as costs incurred before the policy started) differ significantly between providers and case types, the policy documents should always be reviewed carefully, ideally with the solicitor's guidance, before relying on ATE cover to fund or de-risk a legal claim.