ARAG

Turn to ARAG for Legal and Financial Solutions

Seventy-five years ago, Heinrich Faßbender, an attorney and entrepreneur in Düsseldorf, Germany posed an important question, “What good is equality under the law if not everyone can afford to assert their rights?” 

While the question could have remained philosophical, Heinrich chose to create a practical answer. He developed an insurance solution that offered people an affordable means to legal protection.

ARAG U.S. Founded Under Similar Principles

Forty years later and several thousand miles away, Faßbender’s question was echoed when Chad Hensley, a Des Moines, Iowa attorney and insurance executive, noticed that he was often asked for legal guidance from employees. He saw how distracting a legal issue could be for his employees and the relief they felt when he could help guide them in the right direction.

Realizing that life issues like divorce, credit problems and property disputes were happening to more people than just his employees, he developed a legal insurance concept that made access to legal advice affordable and accessible. In 1973, Midwest Mutual Insurance Company was founded to make legal insurance plans available for Americans, largely through employer-provided benefits.

While separated by time and distance, the underlying integrity of these two men eventually brought the companies together. Their ideals were merged when Midwest Mutual was purchased by ARAG in 1989 and became the U.S. subsidiary of ARAG.