Represents the period of payment of dividends that can be declared or paid without approval of regulatory agency.

No definition available.

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Balance Type:	na
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- Definition

Represents the amount of dividends that can be declared or paid without approval of regulatory agency, as a percentage of the previous fiscal year end statutory policyholders' surplus.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	esnt_StatutoryAccountingPracticesStatutoryAmountAvailableForDividendPaymentsWithoutRegulatoryApprovalPreviousFiscalYearEndStatutoryPolicyholdersSurplusPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	esnt_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This element represents disclosure of the aggregate cash dividends paid to the entity by consolidated subsidiaries.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 235
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (SX 210.12-04.(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e24072-122690

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 235
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-06)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6882215&loc=d3e537971-122884

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of statutory capital and surplus computed using prescribed or permitted statutory accounting practice.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 505
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6486098&loc=d3e24708-158529

+ Details

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Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
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Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
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- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
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- Details

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Dividends Restrictions (Details) - USD ($)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Dividends Restrictions (Details) - USD ($)	Feb. 15, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Essent Guaranty And Essent PA
Dividends Restrictions
Dividend payment ability, period of payment of dividends (in months)		12 months
Dividend payment ability, as a percentage of preceding year-end statutory policyholders' surplus		10.00%
Essent Guaranty
Dividends Restrictions
Unassigned surplus		$ 13,600,000
Dividends paid to parent company		$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Essent PA
Dividends Restrictions
Dividend payment ability, period of payment of dividends (in months)		12 months
Dividend payment ability, as a percentage of preceding year-end statutory policyholders' surplus		10.00%
Unassigned surplus		$ 8,400,000
Dividends paid to parent company		$ 3,750,000	$ 0	$ 200,000
Subsequent event \| Essent PA
Dividends Restrictions
Dividends paid to parent company	$ 5,000,000