Georgia Life Study Guide

Thirty of the eighty scored questions on Georgia’s Life exam come out of the O.C.G.A. and the OCI rules — twenty-four on law common to life and accident & sickness, six on life alone. That is more than a third of your score sitting in one chapter, and most of it is numbers. The good news is that Georgia’s life provisions track the NAIC baseline closely; the points are won in three places where Georgia words things its own way, and in one place where nearly every study guide sends you to the wrong statute.

The standard provisions — the baseline you must know cold

Georgia individual life policies carry a 2-year incontestability period from the date of issue, excepting nonpayment of premium (O.C.G.A. § 33-25-3(a)(2)); a grace period of not less than 30 days (§ 33-25-3(a)(1)); and a 3-year reinstatement window from the date of premium default (§ 33-25-3(a)(8)). The required nonforfeiture options are the classic three — cash surrender value, reduced paid-up insurance, and extended term insurance — under Georgia’s Standard Nonforfeiture Law at § 33-25-4.

Two smaller numbers ride along and get asked more often than you would expect. Overdue premiums on a reinstatement bear interest not exceeding 6 percent per year, compounded annually. And an insurer may defer a policy loan for six months — unless the loan is being taken to pay a premium, in which case there is no deferral.

The free look — right number, wrong statute in half the study guides

Georgia’s free look for individual life is 10 days from receipt, and the authority is O.C.G.A. § 33-25-8 — a stand-alone section titled for exactly this purpose. Its language is worth reading once, because the exam borrows it: the owner may return the policy within ten days and have the premium refunded, and if he does, the contract “shall be void from the beginning and the parties shall be in the same position as if no policy or contract had been issued.”

Here is the trap. A great deal of Georgia study material cites the free look to the replacement regulation, Subject 120-2-24 — and it isn’t there. Subject 120-2-24 imposes notice, signature and record-keeping duties on the agent and the insurer; it creates no right to return anything. The only place ten days appears in that subject is inside Exhibit A, the consumer notice form, which simply restates § 33-25-8.

And the consequence of that distinction is itself testable: because Georgia’s free look lives in the policy-provisions chapter rather than in the replacement rules, replacement does not extend it. Georgia never adopted the newer NAIC replacement model with its twenty- or thirty-day extended right to return. Ten days on a new policy, ten days on a replacement.

Suicide, and the sentence Georgia actually wrote

The suicide exclusion runs up to 2 years from the date of issue. Georgia’s phrasing is the old-fashioned one and it shows up verbatim in questions: death “as a result of suicide, while sane or insane” (§ 33-25-5(a)(5)). Group insurance, reinsurance and annuities are excepted, and an insurer is always free to write a provision more favorable to the policyholder.

Replacement — what the agent must actually do

If replacement is involved, the duties fall on you before anything is signed. Present the Replacement Notice — Exhibit A or a substantially similar form — “not later than at the time of taking the application.” Both you and the applicant sign it and the applicant keeps a copy. Obtain the applicant’s signed statement as to whether replacement is involved, and add your own signed statement as to whether you know or believe it is. Leave the original or a copy of every written or printed advertisement you used in the presentation. Compile a list of all existing life insurance to be replaced, identified by insurer, insured and policy number. On the carrier’s side, policy summary statements are due within 10 working days (Rules 120-2-24-.05 and -.06).

Annuities and the secondary market

Annuities are sold under the Life line — no separate license — but two Georgia rules attach. Georgia adopted the NAIC best-interest standard as Rule 120-2-94, effective August 1, 2023, and it carries a mandatory producer-training requirement; agents licensed before that date had to complete the Annuity Best Interest course by January 31, 2024. The annuity free look runs 10 days on the same § 33-25-8 footing.

On the secondary market, Georgia has a full Life Settlements Act at O.C.G.A. Chapter 33-59. The owner may rescind on or before 15 days after the contract is executed by all parties — that substantive right is at § 33-59-11(i), while § 33-59-9(a)(5) is the separate duty to disclose it. Two sections, one number.

Variable products — a separate line, not a separate exam route

Variable Products is its own Georgia line of authority (Rule 120-2-3-.06(1)(e)). It requires an 8-hour course and its own exam, 12-GA-62, and it can only be added on top of a Life license alongside your FINRA registrations. The structure is what gets tested: life first, variable second, never variable alone.