Beazley vs Heffernan Insurance Brokers Fiduciary Liability Insurance

Beazley underwrites fiduciary liability with published statutory sublimits; Heffernan places the line for businesses and family offices.

What Is Beazley?

Beazley is a specialty insurance group whose MediaTech product combines technology and professional E&O, media and cyber coverage. Separate offerings address executive liability, digital health and other specialty risks. 1,2,3,4

Read the Beazley profile

What Is Heffernan Insurance Brokers?

Heffernan Insurance Brokers is an independent, Walnut Creek–headquartered retail brokerage that arranges business insurance, employee benefits, and related services. Its technology practice markets to mid- and late-stage companies, including venture-funded and pre-IPO firms. 6,7,8

Read the Heffernan Insurance Brokers profile

What Is Fiduciary Liability Insurance?

Fiduciary liability insurance addresses covered claims alleging breaches of duties in managing employee benefit plans. 10,11

Read the full coverage guide

Key Differences in Fiduciary Liability Insurance

Who Issues the Policy

Beazley underwrites fiduciary liability for people who administer employer benefit plans, sold on a dedicated page and inside ExecuGuard with directors and officers and employment practices liability. Heffernan shops the coverage with insurers rather than issuing it, and its reviewed pages do not name which carrier would write a given placement. 5 3 8

Plan Wording Versus Placement Catalogue

Beazley publishes statutory-claim sublimits, omnibus plan language meant to pick up newly created or acquired plans, and settlor-capacity protection in the fiduciary insuring clauses. Heffernan’s family-office page lists fiduciary liability next to directors and officers, professional liability and trustee liability, without describing those insuring agreements. 5 9

Who Each Offering Is Built Around

Beazley frames the product around personal liability of plan administrators for health, pension and 401(k) plans. Heffernan splits the line between general business brokerage and a family-office book that also names trust companies, trustees, financial advisors, private equity firms and foundations. 5 9 8

Risk Tools and How You Start

Beazley says fiduciary policyholders get BeazleySure loss-prevention content, and its Tools list is a downloadable ExecuGuard application. Heffernan describes a Risk Management Assessment that itemizes structures and exposures, then routes family-office fiduciary work through a named Private Client Group contact rather than a self-serve quote. 5 9

What to Confirm in Fiduciary Liability Insurance Quotes

  • Ask whether Beazley coverage would sit standalone or inside ExecuGuard shared or separate limits. 3
  • Get Heffernan’s issuing insurer and whether the placement is for a general business account or the family-office practice. 8 9
  • Compare Beazley’s advertised limit up to US $20 million and statutory sublimits with whatever Heffernan’s market quotes; Heffernan’s reviewed pages do not publish a fiduciary limit. 5 8
  • Confirm choice-of-counsel on Beazley and how Heffernan would help navigate a fiduciary claim under its assessment process. 5 9

Offering Details

Beazley vs Heffernan Insurance Brokers Fiduciary Liability Insurance: documented features by provider

CriteriaBeazley Fiduciary LiabilityHeffernan Fiduciary Liability Insurance
Role in This Line

Beazley underwrites fiduciary liability coverage for the individuals who administer employer benefit plans, sold standalone on its dedicated Fiduciary page and as one of three coverages bundled in its ExecuGuard package policy alongside D&O and employment practices liability. 5,3Company-reported. US fiduciary liability as described on the two reviewed product pages; does not establish which entity issues a particular policy.

Heffernan places fiduciary liability coverage within its general corporate/executive-protection lineup and again within a dedicated family-office and financial-institution practice. It shops and places the coverage with insurers rather than underwriting it. 8,9Company-reported. Business Insurance and Family Office page listings; no dedicated fiduciary-liability product page was found.

Issuing Insurer

The Fiduciary product page does not name the specific Beazley insurance entity that issues the policy. 5Not found in reviewed sources. Fiduciary page as read on 2026-09-23; the issued policy's declarations control the actual insurer.

The reviewed pages do not name the insurer or insurers that issue fiduciary liability policies Heffernan places for either business clients or family offices. 8,9Not publicly disclosed. Business Insurance and Family Office pages as read on 2026-09-23.

Who It’s For

Not described in the reviewed sources.

Heffernan offers fiduciary liability to two named segments: general business clients through its business-insurance brokerage, and family offices, trust companies, trustees, financial advisors, private equity firms, foundations, and other financial institutions through its family-office practice. 8,9Company-reported. Direct practice-page listings; no minimum size or asset-under-management threshold was published for the coverage specifically.

Coverage Features

Beazley explains that fiduciary liability protects the individuals responsible for running employee benefit plans, such as health plans, pension plans and 401(k) accounts, from personal liability if a claim is made against the plan, a personal exposure the page says many plan sponsors don't realize they have. 5Company-reported. Fiduciary product page description; exclusions and conditions are set by the issued policy.

The policy includes statutory-claim sublimits of US $250,000 for claims under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, ERISA Section 502(c), Internal Revenue Code Section 4975 and the PPACA, plus a separate US $1,000,000 sublimit for HIPAA claims and up to US $1,000,000 in coverage for HIPAA civil fines. 5Company-reported. Fiduciary product page sublimit list; these sublimits sit inside, and are lower than, the overall policy limit.

Beazley includes "omnibus" pension and welfare plan language (intended to automatically cover newly created or acquired benefit plans), a US $25,000 sublimit for IRS and DOL voluntary compliance programs other than HIPAA, and settlor-capacity protection now written into the fiduciary insuring clauses. 5Company-reported. Fiduciary product page feature list; actual plan-coverage scope depends on the issued policy wording.

On the family-office page, fiduciary liability insurance is listed alongside directors and officers, professional liability, employment practices liability, trustee liability, and other management-liability-adjacent lines as coverage the practice can arrange, without describing the policy's insuring agreement or exclusions. 9Company-reported. Family Office page as read on 2026-09-23.

Limits and Retentions

Beazley advertises fiduciary limits up to US $20 million, with an optional additional defense limit available; the statutory sublimits described above apply within that overall limit. 5Company-reported. Advertised maximum capacity, not a guaranteed quote amount.

Neither page publishes a fiduciary-liability limit, retention, or premium range. 8,9Not found in reviewed sources. Business Insurance and Family Office pages as read on 2026-09-23.

Risk Services

Fiduciary policyholders get free access to BeazleySure, Beazley's online risk-management platform, which the Fiduciary page describes as providing loss-prevention content on employee-benefits topics. 5Company-reported. Fiduciary product page service description; actual entitlements depend on the policy purchased.

Heffernan's family-office practice describes a Risk Management Assessment: itemizing a client's structures, assets, and exposures; crafting insurance and risk-management strategies to close coverage gaps; and helping navigate claims, for its fiduciary and financial-institution client base. 9Company-reported. Family Office page as read on 2026-09-23; a company-described service, not a measured outcome.

How to Apply

The Fiduciary page lists a downloadable ExecuGuard application as its Tools & Resources item, rather than a fiduciary-only application, indicating fiduciary coverage is typically quoted together with the combined ExecuGuard package. 5Company-reported. Fiduciary product page Tools & Resources section as read on 2026-09-23.

The family-office practice's fiduciary-liability coverage is reached through a named Private Client Group specialist contact rather than a self-service online quote flow. 9Company-reported. Family Office page as read on 2026-09-23; the general business-insurance page's fiduciary listing routes through Heffernan's general Contact Us form instead.

Claims Support

Beazley says fiduciary policyholders get pre-approved choice-of-counsel flexibility, but the reviewed page does not otherwise describe fiduciary-specific claims handling beyond that; general policy notice and claims-contact guidance is provided on Beazley's separate claims-notification page. 5Company-reported. Fiduciary product page as read on 2026-09-23; claims-handling quality is not independently assessed.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

Full Comparison

More Beazley vs Heffernan Insurance Brokers Comparisons

Other Fiduciary Liability Insurance Comparisons

Sources

Beazley

  1. MediaTech for Small Businesses. Beazley; Opening product description; What we offer: E&O (Tech and Professional), Media, Cyber coverage includes; How can we help; SME placement paragraph; Tools & Resources. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. Execuguard (Combined EPL, D&O, and Fiduciary). Beazley; What we offer: separate or shared limits among EPL, D&O and fiduciary; Limits up to US $20,000,000, both admitted and non-admitted available. Accessed 2026-09-23.
  3. Virtual Care. Beazley; Available Coverages; Who we can help; Where is this offered. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  4. Fiduciary. Beazley; What we offer: personal liability for individuals running benefit plans; Up to US $20,000,000; How can we help: PPA/ERISA/IRC/PPACA and HIPAA sublimits, omnibus plan language, voluntary-compliance sublimit, settlor-capacity protection, BeazleySure; Tools & Resources: Execuguard application. Accessed 2026-09-23.

Heffernan Insurance Brokers

  1. Our Story. Heffernan Insurance Brokers; Headquartered in Walnut Creek; nationwide presence; founded 1988; employee owned; niche practices including technology. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. Technology Company Insurance. Heffernan Insurance Brokers; Pre-IPO and venture-funded heading; mid to late stage specialization; global expansion copy; self-insurance strategies; Key Markets list; Why Heffernan broker history; Joseph Talmadge practice leader; FAQ. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  3. Heffernan Business Insurance Brokerage. Heffernan Insurance Brokers; Corporate and executive protection, such as employment practices liability, directors and officers liability, fiduciary responsibility, cyber liability, and kidnap and ransom are also available through our comprehensive business insurance programs. Accessed 2026-09-23.
  4. Family Office. Heffernan Insurance Brokers; We serve: Family offices, Trust companies, Individual and professional trustees, Financial advisors/CPAs/attorneys, Private equity firms, Foundations, Financial institutions; Coverage for Family Offices, Trustees & Financial Firms: ... Fiduciary liability insurance ...; Risk Management Assessment section; contact Lacey Garrison. Accessed 2026-09-23.

Fiduciary Liability Insurance Guide

  1. Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2008-04: Guidance Regarding ERISA Fidelity Bonding Requirements. U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration; Q2 pp.2–3. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. Fiduciary Liability Insurance. Travelers; What Is Fiduciary Liability Insurance? Accessed 2026-09-16.

Updated . Spot, a product of Tools for Enlightenment, publishes this research and works in the commercial insurance market. The comparison applies the same criteria to both providers. Editorial policy. To suggest a correction, contact Spot with the page URL and supporting source.

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