Don't get freaked out by Mr. Marman. It seems to me his answer is always either "hire a lawyer," or "hire me." First off, your insurance company is required to hire you an attorney. Many larger insurance companies actually have staff attorneys who do nothing but represent insureds. They should have already provided you an attorney since you say they are handling the case.
If you have not been contacted by an attorney to represent you within a week to ten days of submitting the lawsuit to the insurance company, OR at least a week before the answer is due, call me or another attorney immediately so we can help you demand immediate representation from the insurance company.
Second, a $1M case filed two years after the fact is highly suspect and pretty unlikely to have much merit, at least at that value.
Third, your insurance company is obligated to settle the case for policy limits or less if at all possible. If, at any time, they come to believe the facts and law are likely to support a judgment outside of policy limits, they are obligated to notify you and then pay the policy limits. You would then be on your own, but unless and until that happens, there is no reason to hit the panic button. You should, however, keep on the attorney they hire for you to make sure he or she is doing a running analysis of the case value so you don't get surprised by them suddenly paying policy limits and telling you you need to find your own attorney.
Lastly, even if you were not insured at all, there is no reason to go liquidating assets and certainly do NOT transfer assets to kids or relatives. Liquidating assets will just make them more easily accessable in case a judgment is entered against you, and will lose you many exemptions from judgment collections, most notably the automatic homestead exemption on your personal residence. And don't get suckered by anyone who tells you you must record a homestead declaration, the homestead exemption is automatic. The declaration only designates which property you consider your homestead. Unless there's some doubt as to which is your home, between the rental and your house, it is a pointless exercis).
As for transferring assets away, that is simply illegal when it is for the purpose of trying to put them out of reach of a judgment or other creditor. If you file for bankruptcy, the bankruptcy trustee will go seize those assets and bring them back into your bankruptcy estate as voidable preferences. And if you don't file for bankruptcy, they will be illegal under state fraudulent conveyance laws, subjecting you and the recipients to attorneys fees on top of having to undo the transfers.
So the thing to do is sit tight, work with your insurance company and the lawyer they give you. Keep on them to actively defend your case. Then if, and only if, it looks like the plaintiff really could recover more than the policy limits if the case goes to trial, and they refuse to settle for policy limits, you should talk to a bankruptcy attorney.
