What the Kansas Casualty Line Covers
K.S.A. 40-4903 lists Casualty as its own qualification, separate from Property, and Kansas will license either alone. Pearson VUE names the exam "Casualty and Allied Lines" — the "allied lines" phrasing runs through all Kansas exam material.
Three routes, three prices. Casualty alone is 12-KS-04 at $57. Property and Casualty together is 12-KS-06 — 140 scored questions in 150 minutes for $64. And 12-KS-55 Personal Lines covers both sides at a personal-lines depth in a single 100-question paper for $57.
Sitting the two single-line exams costs $114 and three hours. The combined paper costs $64 and two and a half. Since the $10 application fee is per application rather than per line, passing both and filing once costs no more than filing for one — so the only reason to take Casualty alone is genuine certainty that you will never write property business.
One consequence worth knowing. Kansas requires an underlying property and casualty producer licence before you may add a surplus lines licence. Casualty alone does not open that door.
Exam Options & Format
KS Casualty and Allied Lines Producer, series 12-KS-04: 84 scored questions plus 5 unscored pretest items (89 presented), 1 hour 30 minutes, $57, passing at 70%.
The Kansas content outline gives this paper 20 questions on laws and rules common to all lines plus 7 on property-and-casualty rules — about 27 of 84 on Kansas law. Kansas scores one integrated exam; there is no separately graded state block, though the state material is clearly delineated in the outline.
On the passing score: the handbook says "the passing score required on each examination is 70%" and stops there — no statement about whether that is raw or scaled, and no KID page states a passing score at all. Aim at 70.
Every attempt is in person. Kansas insurance is absent from Pearson VUE's OnVUE program list and the July 2026 handbook makes no mention of remote proctoring. The Property guide covers test centers, booking and the 48-hour reschedule rule.
Retakes: 24 hours to rebook and a seven-calendar-day wait to retest, with no cap on attempts and a fresh $57 each. A passing score is good for two years, and Kansas will accept your licence application before or after you test.
Most Tested Topics on the Kansas Casualty Exam
Kansas is a no-fault state, and that single fact reshapes the casualty block relative to almost every neighbouring state. From the TESTivity Kansas regulations curriculum, verified against the code:
| Concept | The Kansas rule |
|---|---|
| Minimum liability limits | 25/50/25 — "not less than $25,000 because of bodily injury to, or death of, one person," "$50,000 because of bodily injury to, or death of, two or more persons," and "$25,000 because of harm to or destruction of property of others" — K.S.A. 40-3107(e) |
| Fault system | NO-FAULT. PIP is mandatory under the Kansas Automobile Injury Reparations Act, and extends to the named insured, resident relatives, operators, passengers and pedestrians struck by the vehicle — K.S.A. 40-3107(f) |
| PIP — medical | Not less than $4,500 |
| PIP — rehabilitation | Not less than $4,500 (a separate limit, not part of the medical $4,500) |
| PIP — disability / loss of income | Not less than $900 per month, up to one year |
| PIP — substitution (essential services) | $25 per day, up to 365 days |
| PIP — funeral and burial | Not to exceed $2,000 per individual |
| PIP — survivors' benefits | Not less than $900 per month, up to one year after death |
| The six categories, by name | "Disability benefits, funeral benefits, medical benefits, rehabilitation benefits, substitution benefits and survivors' benefits" — K.S.A. 40-3103 |
| Tort threshold | $2,000 in medical treatment — or permanent disfigurement, a fracture to a weight-bearing bone, a compound, comminuted, displaced or compressed fracture, loss of a body member, permanent injury within reasonable medical probability, permanent loss of a bodily function, or death — K.S.A. 40-3117 |
| Uninsured motorist | Mandatory, at limits equal to the policy's bodily injury liability limits, with underinsured provisions included — K.S.A. 40-284 |
| Rejecting UM | Only above the statutory minimums, and only in writing. The rejection binds all insureds under the policy and carries forward to renewals with the same insurer unless coverage is later requested in writing. UM cannot be rejected below the minimum |
| Stacking | Prohibited — recovery is limited to "the highest limits of any single applicable policy, regardless of the number of policies involved" |
| Workers' comp — who must carry | Every employer, with no employee-count threshold — K.S.A. 44-505 |
| Workers' comp — the exemption | Gross annual payroll of $20,000 or less for all employees, private employers only. Wages paid to a family member by marriage or consanguinity are excluded from that calculation |
| Workers' comp — notice | 30 calendar days from the accident or from injury by repetitive trauma; 20 calendar days after the last day of actual work if no longer employed |
| Workers' comp — filing | An application for hearing within three years of the accident or two years of the last payment of compensation, whichever is later — K.S.A. 44-534 |
| Workers' comp — benefits | TTD at 66⅔% of the average gross weekly wage, not less than $50, after a one-week waiting period reimbursed if disability lasts three weeks. Caps: $225,000 TTD, $400,000 permanent total, $500,000 death; funeral to $10,000; a self-selected physician limited to $800 |
| P&C guaranty fund | Kansas Insurance Guaranty Association — $300,000 per covered claim, but workers' compensation claims are paid in full with no cap — K.S.A. 40-2906 |
The PIP schedule is the most testable block on this exam, and the trap inside it is the pair of $4,500s. Kansas sets medical benefits at not less than $4,500 and rehabilitation benefits at not less than $4,500 — two separate limits, not one shared pool. Learn the six categories by their statutory names and attach the number to each: medical 4,500 · rehab 4,500 · disability $900/month for a year · substitution $25/day for 365 days · funeral $2,000 · survivors $900/month for a year.
Then the threshold, because no-fault only matters at the point you want to sue. Kansas lets an injured person step outside the no-fault system at $2,000 in medical treatment — a dollar figure — or on any of the listed serious injuries, which are qualitative rather than monetary. A fact pattern with a modest medical bill and a broken weight-bearing bone clears the threshold on the second branch, not the first.
On workers' compensation, the tested fact is the shape of the exemption. Most states set a headcount — three employees, five employees. Kansas sets a payroll figure: coverage is mandatory for every employer, and the relief is a gross annual payroll of $20,000 or less. The detail that gets asked about is what comes out of that calculation — wages paid to family members by marriage or blood are excluded, which can drop a small family business under the line even where the raw payroll would not.
Kansas Fingerprinting — Free If You Go to the Right Place
Kansas requires fingerprints of every resident applicant, and the statutory hook is K.S.A. 40-4905: the Commissioner may require applicants to be "fingerprinted and submit to a state and national criminal history record check." The same section puts the cost on you — "whenever the commissioner requires fingerprinting, a background check, or both, any associated costs shall be paid by the applicant."
Two fees, and only one of them is unavoidable. The $60 criminal background check is paid to the Kansas Department of Insurance through NIPR when you apply, and is non-refundable. The fingerprint capture is a separate transaction, and its price depends entirely on where you go:
Free — the Kansas Department of Insurance, Topeka. No cost. If you are within reach of Topeka, this is the simplest option.
Free — Department of Children and Families offices. Six locations across the state, also at no cost. Between DCF and KID, most Kansans have a free option within a reasonable drive.
May charge — local law enforcement or the KBI in Topeka. Prices vary by agency.
$20 — a Pearson VUE Professional Center. Available at Overland Park, Topeka and Wichita, and the handbook is specific that the fee "must be paid at the time of the reservation." If you are already travelling to one of those centers for the exam, the $20 buys a single trip.
The ORI code is universal, not personal. Enter KS920161Z, KS Ins Comm, Topeka, KS on the card if it is not already preprinted. Note whose code that is: it belongs to the Kansas Insurance Department, not the KBI. The KBI runs the criminal history check; KID is the agency that receives and holds the result. If you have seen the code described as a KBI code, that is the source of the confusion.
Order of operations — you may print early, but nothing happens until three other things land. KID is explicit that prints are not processed until all of the following are in: (1) the completed NAIC application submitted through NIPR with fees paid; (2) the online Fingerprint Waiver Form; and (3) the Kansas Department of Revenue tax clearance. The exam can come before or after any of it. In practice the sequence that works is tax clearance → application → waiver → prints, because the tax clearance gates everything and expires in 90 days.
The waiver form does not go through NIPR. The Waiver Agreement and FBI Privacy Act Statement is filed directly with KID, and it must be filed electronically — "the form must be submitted electronically; a paper form will not be accepted." This is the most-missed step in the Kansas process precisely because every other document routes through NIPR.
How long the prints last: six months. KID's fingerprint FAQ says "fingerprints are kept on file for six months," and adds a detail worth understanding — "during that time, they can be used only until they are released for an application." So the prints are consumed on first release, not merely aged out. KID's applicant checklist matches: "applications and fingerprints are valid for six months." You may see a 365-day figure in the Pearson VUE handbook; that is vendor boilerplate carried across state handbooks, and KID is the licensing authority. Work to six months.
One relief worth asking about. K.S.A. 40-4905 lets an applicant submit proof of good standing from a background check completed within the past 12 months for another state's licence, potentially avoiding a repeat check. If you have been licensed elsewhere recently, raise it with KID Licensing before you book a capture appointment.
Nonresidents are not fingerprinted at all. The requirement runs to resident-licence applicants; K.S.A. 40-4906 conditions a nonresident licence on home-state good standing.
How long the check takes. KID gives one figure and it is the only quantified step in the whole process: background results "are usually returned to the Kansas Department of Insurance within 5-10 business days, depending on the KBI's workload." Everything else is processed "as quickly as possible in the order they are received and completed."
What a record actually does. A conviction is not automatically disqualifying, but K.S.A. 40-4909 lists seventeen grounds on which the Commissioner may deny, suspend or revoke — including conviction of a misdemeanor or felony, and separately including incorrect, misleading, incomplete or untrue information on the application itself. The omission is what sinks applications. Disclose, attach the documents, and let the Department weigh it.
What It Costs
Casualty alone: $57 exam + $60 criminal background check + $10 application (2026) — about $127, plus NIPR's transaction fee, and no course to buy.
Property and Casualty together: the combined 12-KS-06 is $64, so both lines run about $134 — against $191 if you sit the two singles at $57 each.
The $20 you can avoid. Fingerprint capture is free at KID Topeka and at six DCF offices. Only a Pearson VUE center charges, and only $20. The $60 background check is the real cost and it is fixed.
The application fee changes yearly. K.S.A. 40-4905 requires the Commissioner to set it each year and publish it in the Kansas Register, capped at $30 — $10 for 2026, $15 for 2025. Two figures you may encounter are not first-application fees at all: NIPR's $170 is the reapplication total ($10 + $60 + a $100 reinstatement penalty), and the Pearson VUE handbook's $30 is the statutory ceiling misprinted as the fee.
Renewal is $4 every two years.
Eligibility Requirements
Be at least 18, submit fingerprints for a state and national criminal history record check under K.S.A. 40-4905, hold a current Kansas Department of Revenue Certificate of Tax Clearance, and avoid the seventeen grounds in K.S.A. 40-4909.
No pre-licensing course, and no designation waiver — K.S.A. 40-4908's six waiver situations turn on prior licensure rather than credentials. The Accident & Health guide covers them.
The Life guide walks the NIPR application and the tax clearance; fingerprinting is covered above.
Keeping the License Active
Important CE details: The 18 hours are not allocated by line, so a casualty producer may take any approved coursework. Self-study courses require an independently monitored examination; classroom courses do not.
Biennial term ending the last day of your birth month, in odd years for an odd birth year and even years for an even one. CE is 18 hours per cycle with at least 3 in ethics (K.S.A. 40-4903), and the balance is unallocated — Kansas does not require the hours to match your lines.
No carryover: courses must be completed inside the biennium to which they apply, and K.A.R. 40-7-20a bars re-earning credit for the same course within a period.
The consequence of missing it is unusually mechanical in Kansas. Under K.S.A. 40-4903, failing to file proof of CE by your biennial due date triggers an automatic 90-day suspension of every corresponding licence, plus $100 for each licence suspended. The Property & Casualty guide covers the full renewal and reinstatement ladder.
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