Heffernan Insurance Brokers vs Marsh Fiduciary Liability Insurance

Heffernan places fiduciary for family offices and businesses; Marsh’s FINPRO practice describes typical grants, a contractual-liability gap and claims advocacy.

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. ^1,^2,³

Read the Heffernan Insurance Brokers profile

What Is Marsh?

Marsh is a global insurance broker and risk advisor. In the United States it places coverage through core Marsh teams and through Marsh McLennan Agency for many middle-market buyers, including technology, cyber, property, casualty and benefits programs. ^5,^6,^7,⁸

Read the Marsh profile

What Is Fiduciary Liability Insurance?

Fiduciary liability insurance addresses covered claims alleging breaches of duties in managing employee benefit plans. ^11,¹²

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Key Differences in Fiduciary Liability Insurance

Family Offices Versus Retirement-Plan Sponsors

Heffernan and Marsh both place fiduciary liability; neither reviewed page names the issuing insurer. Heffernan offers the line to general business clients and to family offices, trust companies, trustees, financial advisors, private equity firms, foundations and financial institutions. Marsh’s FINPRO practice places it for retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries, and Marsh McLennan Agency also lists fiduciary inside executive and professional liability. ³ ⁴ ⁹ ¹⁰

What Marsh Says a Policy Typically Pays—and Does Not

Marsh says a typical policy covers defense costs, damages, judgments and settlements from a fiduciary’s breach of duty or from negligence, errors or omissions in administering a benefit plan, but does not cover contractual liability, so it cannot guarantee a plan’s obligation to pay benefits due. Heffernan’s family-office listing does not describe that contractual-liability limit or those payment types. ⁴ ⁹

Marsh also says a typical policy insures the sponsor organization, the benefit plans and plan fiduciaries who are directors, officers or employees of the sponsor. ⁹

Risk Assessment Versus Control Review and Advocacy

Heffernan’s family-office practice describes a Risk Management Assessment of structures, assets and exposures, then insurance strategies and claims navigation, via a Private Client Group contact. Marsh says FINPRO helps identify red flags in fiduciary controls, builds programs from limit assessment through carrier selection, and provides claims advocates from the outset of a claim. ⁴ ⁹

What to Confirm in Fiduciary Liability Insurance Quotes

Ask Marsh how the contractual-liability exclusion would treat unpaid benefits on your plans. ⁹
Ask Heffernan whether you sit in the family-office book or general business book, and who is named as an insured versus Marsh’s sponsor, plan and employee-fiduciary list. ⁴ ⁹
Confirm whether the Marsh quote comes through FINPRO or MMA, and who the selected carrier is. ⁹ ¹⁰
Compare claims help: Heffernan’s navigation language versus Marsh’s claims advocates. ⁴ ⁹

Offering Details

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

Criteria	Heffernan Fiduciary Liability Insurance	Marsh Fiduciary Liability Insurance
Role in This Line	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. ^3,⁴Company-reported. Business Insurance and Family Office page listings; no dedicated fiduciary-liability product page was found.	Marsh's FINPRO (financial and professional) practice places fiduciary liability insurance for retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries; MMA also lists fiduciary coverage within its executive and professional liability practice. ^9,¹⁰Company-reported. Marsh fiduciary liability page and MMA executive and professional liability page.
Issuing 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. ^3,⁴Not publicly disclosed. Business Insurance and Family Office pages as read on 2026-09-23.	The reviewed pages do not name a specific fiduciary liability insurer. Marsh describes its own role as advising on limit assessment and carrier selection, implying the issuing insurer depends on the placement. ⁹Not publicly disclosed. Fiduciary liability page as read on 2026-09-23.
Who It’s For	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. ^3,⁴Company-reported. Direct practice-page listings; no minimum size or asset-under-management threshold was published for the coverage specifically.	Marsh says a fiduciary liability policy typically insures the sponsor organization, the benefit plans it operates, and plan fiduciaries who are directors, officers or employees of the plan sponsor. ⁹Company-reported. Fiduciary liability page, Who is covered? FAQ.
Coverage Features	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. ⁴Company-reported. Family Office page as read on 2026-09-23.	Marsh says a fiduciary liability policy typically covers defense costs, damages, judgments and settlements from a fiduciary's breach of duty or from negligence, errors or omissions in administering a benefit plan, but does not cover contractual liability, so it cannot guarantee a plan's obligation to pay benefits due. ⁹Company-reported. Fiduciary liability page FAQs; illustrative policy description, not a specific policy form.
Limits and Retentions	Neither page publishes a fiduciary-liability limit, retention, or premium range. ^3,⁴Not found in reviewed sources. Business Insurance and Family Office pages as read on 2026-09-23.	Not described in the reviewed sources.
Risk Services	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. ⁴Company-reported. Family Office page as read on 2026-09-23; a company-described service, not a measured outcome.	Marsh says its FINPRO practice helps clients identify red flags in fiduciary controls, builds fiduciary liability programs from limit assessment to carrier selection, and provides claims advocacy to help resolve claims from the outset. ⁹Company-reported. Fiduciary liability page, Why Marsh section.
How to Apply	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. ⁴Company-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.	Not described in the reviewed sources.
Claims Support	Not described in the reviewed sources.	Marsh describes its claims advocates as helping clients resolve fiduciary liability claims from the onset, without publishing outcome statistics for this line. ⁹Company-reported. Fiduciary liability page, Why Marsh section.

Full Comparison

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