Kentucky · Insurance Adjuster Sample Interactive Mind Map
Kentucky Adjuster Regulations
A visual breakdown of the Kentucky rules an adjuster is tested on — including the places where the answer lives in a regulation, a bulletin or a 2026 enrolled act rather than the statute.
Kentucky runs one of the most pro-policyholder claims environments in the country, and it gets there by deletion. In 1988 the legislature struck the words “with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice” out of the unfair claims statute, so in Kentucky one act is a violation rather than a pattern. The statute runs against “any person,” third-party claimants may sue on it, comparative fault is pure, and there is no joint and several liability.
Then it protects you in ways you would not predict. You cannot be sued personally for bad faith — a published 2024 appellate decision says so, and the 2026 legislature reinforced it. The claims regulation expressly creates no private cause of action. And a claim that is “debatable on the law or facts” may be litigated without exposure.
The licensing side is just as distinctive. There is no exam vendor and no candidate handbook — the Department gives the test itself, 50 items at a raw 70 percent set by regulation. Staff adjusters must be licensed, which most states do not require, yet they are not named in the continuing education duty. There are no fingerprints and no prelicensing course. And two acts of the 2026 General Assembly rewrote the subtitle in April — freezing new public adjuster licenses until 2028 — after every free codification of the Kentucky statutes had already gone to press.
Work through the six clusters, then take the ten-scenario quiz. Every scenario is a place where the plausible national answer is the wrong Kentucky answer.
Kentucky licenses staff adjusters, froze public adjuster licensing in April 2026, and makes you pick a side on the application.
Three license types, three lines of authority, an apprentice credential from 1984 — and two 2026 acts that rewrote the subtitle after every free codification had gone to press.
Three license types, three lines of authority, an apprentice credential from 1984 — and two 2026 acts that rewrote the subtitle after every free codification had gone to press.
| Credential | Lines of authority | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Independent adjuster | Property & casualty · Workers’ comp · Crop | $50 per line · 50 items · 70% |
| Staff adjuster | Property & casualty · Workers’ comp · Crop | LICENSED — most states exempt them |
| Public adjuster | Property & casualty · Crop — no comp | NEW LICENSES FROZEN to 4/13/2028 |
| Apprentice adjuster | Matches the supervisor’s line | $25 · 12 months, nonrenewable · no exam |
| Business entity | Form 8301-BE, with Form 8305 designating the licensed individual responsible for compliance | |
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New public adjuster licenses are suspended — this is not a drafting quirk
KRS 304.9-430(1)(b), as amended by 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 141 § 2: “for a period of two (2) years beginning on the effective date … An application for a public adjuster license shall not be accepted or approved by the commissioner; and The department shall not issue public adjuster licenses.” The section carried an emergency clause, so the freeze began April 13, 2026. Existing licenses may still be renewed and continue in force. The only new entrants are people who held a temporary or apprentice license on that date.
🔒 Two more bars run alongside the freeze
KRS 304.9-432 — no apprentice license to anyone who would be supervised by a public adjuster, same two years, from 4/13/2026
KRS 304.9-4331(7) — a public adjuster “shall not negotiate with an insurer on behalf of an insured” for two years. Not in the emergency clause, so it runs from 7/15/2026
Fee cap collapsed to a flat 10%. Rescission extended to 5 business days, from delivery of the physical copy — not from signature
⚠ Subsection numbers moved — cites above (10) are off by one
Old (11), the public adjuster exemption list — REPEALED ENTIRELY
Food spoilage exemption: (12) → (11)
“Home state”: (13) → (12)
Catastrophe registration: (14) → (13)
Nonresident reciprocity: (15) → (14)
You elect a side at application, and you cannot serve both806 KAR 9:030 § 1(1) is absolute: an adjuster “shall not represent the interest of both insurer and the insured or claimant.” Section 1(2) then requires the applicant, on the application, to “elect to act solely on behalf of: (a) Insurers; or (b) Persons claiming benefits.” And § 1(3): “A licensed adjuster shall act in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of his or her principal.” Most states police this conflict after the fact. Kentucky makes you declare in advance, and the election defines the license. There is no dual-capacity adjuster in Kentucky.
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Catastrophe: five days in, ninety days out — and the Governor declares
KRS 304.9-430(13) lets an unlicensed but qualified person adjust if, “within five (5) days of deployment,” the insurer notifies the commissioner — name, Social Security number, insurer, catastrophe or loss control number, event name and date — on Form 8307. Registration lasts “not to exceed ninety (90) days, unless extended.” Independent and staff adjusters only — not public adjusters. And since April 2026, KRS 304.9-020 defines a catastrophe as an event producing a Governor’s declaration under KRS 39A.100 and at least one of five consequences. Many states never name the declaring authority; Kentucky now does.
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Four Negatives, Each Proved by Structure
Kentucky asks for less than most states — and each absence has a contrast case inside the same rulebook
- No insurer appointment. 806 KAR 9:025 § 7 is titled “Agent Appointment” and reaches only “individual and business entity agent appointments.” Adjusters are licensed under § 3, which has no appointment step. The contrast sits in the same regulation.
- No fingerprints. § 3(1)(b) asks for “a completed background check through the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts” — a name-based court check — and only “If the applicant is designating Kentucky as his or her home state.” No fingerprint requirement exists for any Kentucky insurance license.
- No prelicensing education. 806 KAR 9:025 § 1 opens “An individual applying for an agent license…” and by its own words does not reach adjusters. The standalone prelicensing rule was repealed.
- No designation waiver. No AIC, no CPCU, no SCLA. The only credential accepted in place of an exam is the federal Crop Adjuster Proficiency Program card — crop only. And 806 KAR 9:350 proves Kentucky knows how to recognize designations when it intends to.
The apprentice trap: the statute says one, the regulation says twoKRS 304.9-432(2)(d) reads “An individual may hold only one (1) temporary license as an apprentice adjuster,” which sounds like a career-long bar. 806 KAR 9:030 § 2 says the limit runs until the individual receives a full adjuster license — at which point they may hold one additional apprentice license. Statute alone gets this wrong. Note too that the apprentice license requires Kentucky residency and an in-state address, while the ordinary adjuster license requires no Kentucky office or residence at all.
There is no PSI, no Pearson VUE, no Prometric — and therefore no candidate handbook.
The Department gives the test itself. You apply first, the Department processes, and only then do you schedule through eServices.
The Department gives the test itself. You apply first, the Department processes, and only then do you schedule through eServices.
| Item | Kentucky | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Exam vendor | NONE | Department-administered, scheduled via eServices, proctored at KCTCS colleges |
| Exam length | 50 items | Department study outlines — the P&C outline states “50 Items” |
| Time limit | NOT PUBLISHED | No official Kentucky source states one, for any adjuster exam |
| Passing score | 70% of questions | 806 KAR 9:025 § 3(4) — a rule, not a handbook. 35 of 50 |
| Exam fee | $50 each | 806 KAR 4:010 § 1(17) — including every retake |
| Prelicensing | None | The agent rule does not reach adjusters; the standalone rule is repealed |
| Retakes | Unlimited · next business day | … but the application dies at 120 days |
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“150 questions, 190 minutes” is the CONSULTANT exam
That sentence appears on the Department’s testing page mid-paragraph, bracketed on both sides by consultant text — and the page never mentions adjusters at all. The Department’s testing-sites PDF separately flags extended time (three hours) only for consultants. Third-party sites have republished the figure as the adjuster specification. It is a lift. No official Kentucky source publishes a time limit for any adjuster exam — not the three study outlines, not the retake form. Do not accept one.
Unlimited attempts, bounded by the calendarThere is no waiting period and no cap on the number of retakes — you may rebook “on the next business day,” though not the same day. But the Department’s testing materials state an applicant “may test an unlimited number of times within 120-day timeline,” and Form 8304 supplies the mechanism: the application “becomes invalid 120 days from the date it was received by the Department of Insurance.” Fail on day 115 and you have five days left, not another cycle.
💰 The money — and the citation trap
KRS 304.4-010 states NO dollar amounts. It is a pure delegation. Citing it for a figure is a citation error — the amounts are in 806 KAR 4:010
License $50 per line · renewal $50 · late penalty $50 · apprentice $25 · exam $50
Nonresidents pay the SAME $50. The same regulation surcharges nonresident agents — $50 v $40, $120 v $100. The absence for adjusters is deliberate drafting
No technology fee, no processing surcharge, no convenience fee anywhere in the schedule
📅 Renewal keys off your BIRTH YEAR
Even birth year → renew in even years. Odd → odd. Always by the last day of your birth month
Business entities expire March 31
Late window 60 days, “with no interruption in license” if the penalty accompanies it — $100 all in
Your first term is not two years — the section excludes licensees not licensed a full year before the renewal year ends
NIPR’s 90-day early window appears in no statute or regulation. Operational practice, not law
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CE reaches independent and public adjusters — staff adjusters are not named
KRS 304.9-295(5): 24 hours per biennium, 3 of them ethics, inside the 24 rather than on top. The duty runs to “an individual who holds an independent or public adjuster license.” Staff adjusters are absent — and when HB 527 restructured the renewal statute in 2026 it enumerated who must show CE proof and left them out again, through a full rewrite. Renewal and CE are different duties: a staff adjuster licence is issued under Subtitle 9 and must be renewed. There is no CE regulation at all — 806 KAR 9:220 was repealed with no successor, so the whole requirement lives in statute. Carryover is permitted, but any cap must come from a regulation and none exists.
A live Department document says adjusters are exempt from CE. It is wrong.
insurance.ky.gov/ppc/Documents/cereq032210.pdf, dated March 2010, is still hosted on the Department’s own site and states that adjusters have no continuing education requirement. It predates the mandate, which the statute dates “Beginning July 31, 2012.” A candidate who finds it on an official state website gets the answer exactly backwards. Kentucky hosts several documents like this — check the date on anything you pull from a state site.Nonresident CE is conditional — and this is the classic inversion pointKRS 304.9-295(3)(c) exempts “Licensees holding nonresident licenses who have met the continuing education requirements of their home state and whose home state gives credit to Kentucky resident licensees on the same basis.” Most states stop after the first leg. Kentucky adds reciprocity as a second, independent condition. Satisfying your home state is not enough on its own.
In 1988 Kentucky deleted the frequency element. One act is a violation.
The statute runs against “any person.” Third-party claimants may sue on it. But you cannot be sued personally, and the regulation creates no private cause of action at all.
The statute runs against “any person.” Third-party claimants may sue on it. But you cannot be sued personally, and the regulation creates no private cause of action at all.
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No “general business practice” requirement — the single most dangerous carry-over
KRS 304.12-230: “It is an unfair claims settlement practice for any person to commit or perform any of the following acts or omissions.” The NAIC model requires conduct “with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice.” Kentucky struck that phrase effective July 15, 1988, and Reeder records the deletion in terms: “this statute has been amended … so as to eliminate the requirement that the prohibited conduct be performed ‘with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice.’” The words frequency and general business practice appear nowhere in the current statute. One mishandled file is a violation — in a Department proceeding and in a private suit alike.
Seventeen practices, not fourteenSubsections (1)–(14) are the familiar NAIC-derived list. Subsections (15)–(17) are Kentucky’s health-insurance additions — failing to comply with an external review decision, and knowing and wilful failures on provider overpayment collection and retroactive claim denial. Reeder says fourteen because fourteen was the count in 1988. A course quoting Reeder’s number is quoting a thirty-eight-year-old total.
✅ The STATUTE creates a private right of action
KRS 446.070 — “A person injured by the violation of any statute may recover…”
Reeder (Ky. 1988) applied it — and for a third-party claimant: “We find no reason to excuse this matter because it is brought by a third party claimant.”
Bramble (Ky. 2023) — a violation “creates a private cause of action both for the named insured and for those who have claims against the named insured, and the same standards govern both”; no prior coverage determination needed
SB 195 (2026) would have abolished third-party bad faith. That provision did not survive.
❌ The REGULATION creates none
806 KAR 12:095 § 2(4): “A violation of this administrative regulation shall be found only by the commissioner. This administrative regulation shall not create or imply a private cause of action.”
So a claimant cannot sue you for missing the regulation’s 15-day acknowledgment. That clock is the Department’s to enforce
§ 2(3) adds a cure — a violation is noted “after the insurer or agent has been given an opportunity to pay the claim and any interest”
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You cannot be sued personally for bad faith — even though the statute says “any person”
Breedlove v. State Farm (Ky. App. 2024), a PUBLISHED opinion: “Because Binion was under no contractual obligation to pay Breedlove, no action for bad faith may lie against him,” and “adjusters employed by the insurer are not liable for UCSPA or common law bad faith claims.” The court met Davidson’s “(and their agents)” language head-on and resolved it against liability, because Wittmer element (1) requires an obligation to pay under the policy that an adjuster never has. And in 2026 the legislature reinforced it from the other side: KRS 304.9-035 now makes the insurer liable for the acts of its “agents and adjusters.” Your real exposure is licensing discipline and the $2,000 per violation civil penalty — plus ordinary torts. Not bad faith.
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The Wittmer Test — and the Defense Built Into It
864 S.W.2d 885 (Ky. 1993) · governs first-party and third-party claims alike
- (1) the insurer must be obligated to pay the claim under the terms of the policy;
- (2) the insurer must lack a reasonable basis in law or fact for denying the claim; and
- (3) the insurer knew there was no reasonable basis, or acted with reckless disregard for whether one existed.
- The safe harbor is in the same case. An insurer is “entitled to challenge a claim and litigate it if the claim is debatable on the law or facts,” and there must be evidence warranting a punitive damages instruction — conduct “outrageous, because of the defendant’s evil motive or reckless indifference” — before the claim reaches a jury at all.
- A genuine coverage dispute, properly investigated and documented, is not bad faith. The claim file answers elements (2) and (3).
The punitive damages statute in the printed code is VOIDWilliams v. Wilson (Ky. 1998) held KRS 411.184(1)(c) unconstitutional under the jural rights doctrine. The stricken language required “a subjective awareness that such conduct will result in human death or bodily harm” — “a vastly elevated standard … and a clear departure from the common law.” The current rule is the common-law gross negligence standard: wanton or reckless disregard. The voided text is still printed in the statute books, and secondary sources still recite it. KRS 411.186, the procedural section, was not invalidated.
👤 Who is INSIDE the statute
Insurers, and their agents — persons “engaged … in the business of entering into contracts of insurance”
Demetre (Ky. 2017) — a liability insured seeking defense and indemnity “is most assuredly making his or her own claim”: a first-party claimant against his own carrier
Demetre also: emotional distress damages need NO expert testimony in a bad faith case — Osborne is confined to free-standing emotional distress torts
🚫 Who is OUTSIDE it
Self-insureds — Davidson (Ky. 2000): “Absent a contractual obligation, there simply is no bad faith cause of action, either at common law or by statute.”
Captive insurers — Merritt (Ky. 2020)
Individual adjusters — Breedlove (Ky. App. 2024, published)
Comp carriers — Zurich v. Mitchell (Ky. 1986): the Act is the exclusive remedy
| Duty | Clock | Instrument |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledge the claim | 15 BUSINESS | 806 KAR 12:095 § 5(1) |
| Answer a Department inquiry, in duplicate | 15 BUSINESS | § 5(2) |
| Reply to claimant communications | 15 BUSINESS | § 5(3) |
| Begin the investigation | NO DEADLINE | 12:095 is silent — life/health 12:092 says 15 calendar |
| Affirm or deny | “reasonable time” | No day count exists anywhere |
| Offer payment due | 30 CALENDAR | § 6(1)(a) — from proof of loss |
| PAY the claim | 30 | KRS 304.12-235(1) → then 12% interest |
| “More time needed” notice | 30 CALENDAR | § 6(1)(c) — from proofs of loss |
| Recurring status letter | 45, then every 45 | § 6(1)(d) — from initial notification |
| Warn of a limitations bar | ≥30 CALENDAR before | § 6 — unrepresented first-party claimants |
| Total-loss right of recourse | 35 | § 7 — from receipt of the check |
| Record retention | current year + 5 | § 3(1) |
“Days” means BUSINESS days — and the statute and regulation disagree about delay§ 1(5): “‘Days’ means any day, Monday through Friday, except holidays.” Every unqualified 15-day figure runs on business days; Sections 6 and 7 say “calendar days” where calendar days are meant. Then the deeper conflict: KRS 304.12-235(1) imposes a flat 30-day duty to PAY with 12% interest running automatically and no extension mechanism — while § 6 expressly contemplates taking longer if you send the 30-day and 45-day letters. No Kentucky case, opinion or bulletin reconciles them. Work to the statute; document to the regulation.
12% and 18% are different statutesKRS 304.12-235(2) — 12% on any insurance claim unpaid after 30 days, plus attorney’s fees where the delay was “without reasonable foundation.” KRS 304.39-210 — overdue basic reparation benefits bear 12%, “except that if delay was without reasonable foundation the rate … shall be eighteen percent (18%).” KRS 304.12-235 has exactly three subsections, one rate, and no second window. The 18% lives in the no-fault act and nowhere else.
Kentucky is choice no-fault — and the choice runs the opposite way from every course that teaches Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
You are inside the system unless you filed a form with the State before the accident. Doing nothing is a binding choice.
You are inside the system unless you filed a form with the State before the accident. Doing nothing is a binding choice.
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Deemed acceptance — the election is made with the Department, not the insurer
KRS 304.39-060(1): “Any person who registers, operates, maintains or uses a motor vehicle on the public roadways of this Commonwealth shall … be deemed to have accepted the provisions of this subtitle.” The only escape is Form NF-1(a)(b)(c) P&C, prescribed by 806 KAR 39:030 § 6, filed with the Department and effective on the Department’s file-stamp date. Each household member executes individually. And KRS 304.39-060(7): rejection “shall result in the full retention by the individual of his or her tort rights and tort liabilities.” The form you will actually use on a file is Form NFV-1 P&C — the $5 verification that tells you whether your claimant rejected.
| Benefit | Policy issued/renewed on or after 7/15/2026 | Policy written before that |
|---|---|---|
| Total BRB per person, per accident | $10,000 | $10,000 — unchanged |
| Weekly cap — work loss, replacement services, survivor’s economic loss, survivor’s replacement services | $500/wk | $200/wk |
| Funeral / cremation / burial | $5,000 | $1,000 |
| PIP medical basis | Capped at the comp fee schedule; balance billing barred | Billed charges |
| Provider billing deadline | 180 days | None |
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The 2026 PIP figures phase in by POLICY RENEWAL — not by accident date
2026 Ky. Acts ch. 149 § 7 applies the increases only to benefits “issued or renewed on or after the effective date.” The trigger is the policy’s issuance or renewal date. For roughly the next year both schedules are live at once, and on every Kentucky PIP file you must determine which set of numbers this policy carries before you set a reserve. That determination — not the numbers — is the thing to learn. Note the history line that caught this: the $200 cap read “Created 1974 … effective July 1, 1975” and had been untouched for fifty-one years. Every free codification still shows $200.
The weekly cap is ONE aggregate figure, not four sublimitsKRS 304.39-130 caps “work loss, survivor’s economic loss, replacement services loss, and survivor’s replacement services loss arising from injury to one (1) person” at a single combined weekly amount. You cannot pay $500 of work loss and $500 of replacement services in the same week. And it is weekly, not monthly. Where earnings are “seasonal or irregular, the weekly limit shall be equitably adjusted or apportioned on an annual basis.”
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The Tort Threshold — Read the List Exactly
KRS 304.39-060(2)(b) · $1,000, never amended, never indexed since 1975
- Medical expense “or which would be payable but for any exclusion or deductible” exceeding $1,000 — so a deductible does not defeat threshold;
- permanent disfigurement;
- a fracture to a bone — any fracture, standing alone;
- a compound, comminuted, displaced or compressed fracture — a separate additive alternative, not a narrowing of the line above. And the word is “compressed,” which national outlines routinely misquote;
- loss of a body member; permanent injury within reasonable medical probability; permanent loss of bodily function; death.
Motorcyclists get the worst of both worldsMotorcycles are motor vehicles under KRS 304.39-020(7) — only mopeds and electric low-speed scooters are carved out by name. But KRS 304.39-110(3) makes PIP optional for them. And the Department says it directly in its Motorcycle ALERT!: a rider who elects not to purchase PIP is still considered to have accepted the limitations on the right to sue and be sued unless a rejection form is filed. Declining to BUY PIP is not the same as REJECTING no-fault. No benefits, and still a threshold. Check for an NF-1 before you evaluate.
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Every payment you issue extends the tort clock — and the general PI period is only ONE year
KRS 304.39-230(6): a motor-vehicle tort action may be commenced “not later than two (2) years after the injury, or the death, or the date of issuance of the last basic or added reparation payment made by any reparation obligor, whichever later occurs.” Kentucky’s ordinary personal injury period is one year (KRS 413.140(1)(a)) — so the special statute is longer than the general rule, reversing the usual intuition. And the clock moves with your own conduct: pay PIP for eighteen months and stop, and you have extended the tortfeasor’s exposure to roughly three and a half years. Watch the wording too — subsections (1) and (2) say “whichever is EARLIER” (outer limits); (3) and (6) say “whichever LATER occurs” (extensions).
🚗 UM — KRS 304.20-020
Included unless rejected IN WRITING
Limits: those in KRS 304.39-110 — $25,000 / $50,000
A rejection binds ALL insureds and carries forward through “any renewal, reinstatement, substitute, replacement or amended policy” without re-offer unless the named insured asks in writing
🚙 UIM — KRS 304.39-320
“Made available upon request” ONLY — not included by default
No rejection mechanism exists. There is nothing to reject
No minimum limit prescribed
“Underinsured” is measured against the judgment, not against your insured’s own limits
The Coots procedure — and Coots set no deadlineCoots v. Allstate is 853 S.W.2d 895 (Ky. 1993), not 1994. It required notice and “an opportunity to protect” subrogation — no day count. The 30 days are statutory, at KRS 304.39-320(3)–(4): written notice by certified or registered mail to ALL UIM insurers; the insurer has 30 days to consent or elect to preserve subrogation; if it consents or is silent, the claimant may release the tortfeasor without prejudice; if it preserves subrogation it must substitute payment of the offer amount within 30 days. Teach it as “the Coots doctrine, now codified.”
Anti-stacking clauses ARE enforceable — the popular summary is backwardsMarcum v. Rice, 987 S.W.2d 789 (Ky. 1999): where the insurer charged a single actuarially appropriate premium for coverage that does not vary with vehicle count, intra-policy stacking is not permitted and an unambiguous anti-stacking clause holds — “Where the language of an insurance contract unambiguously explains the terms and conditions, no separate formal notification is required.” The test is Kentucky’s reasonable expectations doctrine applied through what the insured actually paid. Stacking turns on the PREMIUM, not on a per se rule. Do not teach a flat “stacking is allowed in Kentucky.”
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Pure comparative fault — and no joint and several liability
Hilen v. Hays (Ky. 1984) adopted pure comparative negligence and expressly rejected the modified forms: “the pure form … is preferable over any of the variety of modified forms.” A claimant 99% at fault still recovers 1%. Then KRS 411.182 adds three things that matter more than the headline: §(1)(b) allocates fault to each party including persons who have been released; §(3) abolishes joint and several liability — the judgment states “each party’s equitable share”; and §(4) makes the settlement credit a PERCENTAGE, not a dollar amount. A cheap settlement with one tortfeasor does NOT mean a small credit for the others — if the settling party is later found 40% at fault, the rest get a 40% reduction regardless of what was paid.
No total-loss percentage — and the 35 days run from the CHECKNothing in Kentucky requires an insurer to total a vehicle at any percentage. The 75% figure is a salvage TITLE-BRANDING rule — KRS 186A.520. The claims rule is 806 KAR 12:095 § 7: replacement vehicle, cash settlement, or the right of recourse “if the insurer is notified within thirty-five (35) days of the receipt of the settlement check” — not the date of loss, the offer, or the check’s issuance — obliging the insurer to reopen its claim file. If the insured presents two or more independent appraisals showing a higher local-market value, that value must be considered. And anti-steering: KRS 304.12-275 requires a 10-point boldface notice on every appraisal — automobile glass excepted.
No standard fire policy, no valued policy law — but mandatory matching, permitted labor depreciation, and an earthquake duty that lives in a bulletin.
Then a guaranty fund with no $100 deductible, a fraud deadline that is not in the fraud statute, and a comp system where the employee picks the doctor.
Then a guaranty fund with no $100 deductible, a fraud deadline that is not in the fraud statute, and a comp system where the employee picks the doctor.
✅ Matching IS required — replacement cost policies
§ 9(1)(b): if replaced items “do not reasonably match in quality, color, and size,” the insurer shall “replace all items in the area so as to conform to a reasonably uniform appearance”
“This applies to interior and exterior losses.” No betterment, nothing over the deductible
§ 9(1)(a) also folds in consequential physical damage incurred in making the repair
❌ But NOT on a pure ACV policy
The section heading limits it to policies “with Replacement Cost Coverage”
Subsection (1) opens “If the policy … authorizes … based on replacement cost”
Subsection (2) — the ACV subsection — carries only a definition and a disclosure duty. No matching. No consequential damage
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Labor MAY be depreciated — if the policy says so
806 KAR 12:095 § 9(2)(a): ACV is “replacement cost of property at the time of the loss less depreciation, if any. If provided for in the policy, depreciation may include the costs of goods, materials, labor, equipment, overhead and profit, taxes, fees, and services…” The national trend runs against labor depreciation and several states prohibit it. Kentucky wrote permission into the regulation — but conditioned it on the policy language. The regulation does not authorize labor depreciation; it authorizes the policy to. Silent or ambiguous language means you may not depreciate labor. And on request you must hand over the claim file worksheets showing every deduction.
No valued policy law — Kentucky has the OPPOSITE statuteWhere a valued policy law forces the insurer to pay the face amount on a total loss, KRS 304.20-260 forbids writing it: “no insurer shall deliver, issue for delivery or renew any policy … for an amount greater than one hundred percent (100%) of the replacement cost of the structure.” An anti-over-insurance cap — the structural inverse. There is also no standard fire policy (file-and-approve under KRS 304.14-120), no appraisal statute, no flood or sinkhole mandatory offer, and no property or contractor anti-steering rule — Kentucky’s anti-steering law is motor-vehicle-only by its own text.
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Earthquake: the duty is real, and it lives in a BULLETIN
Search the statutes and regulations and you find nothing — and that negative is wrong. Department Bulletin 98-2: insurers writing personal lines homeowners, tenants, mobile homeowners and farmowners residential coverage “shall have an endorsement for earthquake insurance available if requested.” And it caps how high the lowest offered deductible may be: 20% in the far western counties, 15% near west, 10% elsewhere. Agent binding authority must extend to it; no moratorium is permitted below magnitude 4.0, and a post-4.0 moratorium may not exceed 30 days. The Department restated all of it in December 2025. Kentucky’s far west sits on the New Madrid seismic zone. Ask where an answer LIVES before concluding it does not exist.
| Mine subsidence — KRS 304.44 | Current | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum per structure | $500,000 | Was $300,000 — changed 1/1/2025 |
| Additional living expense | $50,000 | Was $25,000 |
| Deductible | 2% of TIV | Minimum $250, maximum $500 |
| Payment of loss | 90 days | KRS 304.44-080 |
| Delivery | Automatically endorsed in the 37 counties whose fiscal courts voted in — not an insurer-by-insurer option | |
The mine subsidence cap is a DEFAULT and it can move without legislationThe enrolling act provides the maximum shall be $500,000 “or … subject to approval by the commissioner … an amount determined by the administrator,” on nine months’ notice to insurers. So the Fund administrator can change the figure with the commissioner’s approval. Verify the live number before you quote it on a file.
🏦 Guaranty fund — KRS 304.36-080
Per claimant $300,000 · workers’ comp UNCAPPED · cyber $500,000 per insured event
Unearned premium $10,000 · aggregate per insolvent insurer $10,000,000
NO $100 deductible. Kentucky dropped the NAIC model’s — recovery from the first dollar
Net worth exclusion $10,000,000 — DOWN from $25M in 2023, so more large policyholders are excluded
Barred at the earlier of 12 months after liquidation or the court’s bar date
🛡 Fraud — the deadline is in the REGULATION
KRS 304.47-050 creates the duty and names adjusters as mandatory reporters — but states no deadline
806 KAR 47:010 § 6 supplies it: 14 days from “determination that a suspected fraudulent act has been committed”
Immunity is absent malice, fraud or gross negligence — not simple good faith
The antifraud plan requirement is also in the regulation (§ 4), not the statute. Read KRS 304.47-080 alone and you conclude no plan is required — wrong
806 KAR 47:020 and 47:030 are REPEALED. Everything is in 47:010
Workers’ compensation — 2026 figures, and a two-year lagState average weekly wage $1,161.81 — the 2026 rate year uses the 2024 wage. TTD/PTD max $1,277.99 (110%), min $232.36 (20%), PPD max $958.49 (82.5%). Wage replacement 66⅔%. PPD duration 425 weeks at 50% or less, 520 weeks above. Multipliers: ×3 where the worker lacks capacity to return to that type of work, ×2 during cessation of equal-wage employment. Benefits terminate at age 70, or 4 years after injury, whichever is LATER — and Cates v. Kroger (Ky. 2021) upheld that rule and its retroactive application. There is no COLA: the annual movement re-sets the caps, and a worker’s rate is fixed by date of injury.
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Four comp reflexes from other states will fail you here
1. The EMPLOYEE picks the doctor. KRS 342.020: “In the absence of designation of a managed health care system by the employer, the employee may select medical providers.” Form 113, one free change, later consent “shall not be unreasonably withheld.”
2. There is no accept-or-deny deadline. 803 KAR 25:240 says only “as soon as practicable” plus written specific reasons for a denial.
3. Interest is 6%, not 12%. KRS 342.040(1) sets six percent; the 12% is a separate PENALTY for delay “without reasonable foundation.”
4. There is no separate burial allowance. Burial and transportation are paid out of the indexed lump sum — $114,120.35 for 2026 — so there is no line item to look for.
2. There is no accept-or-deny deadline. 803 KAR 25:240 says only “as soon as practicable” plus written specific reasons for a denial.
3. Interest is 6%, not 12%. KRS 342.040(1) sets six percent; the 12% is a separate PENALTY for delay “without reasonable foundation.”
4. There is no separate burial allowance. Burial and transportation are paid out of the indexed lump sum — $114,120.35 for 2026 — so there is no line item to look for.
Up-the-ladder immunity — run this screen on every third-party fileKRS 342.610(2) makes a contractor liable for compensation to a subcontractor’s employees unless the subcontractor secured it. And “contractor” is defined by the nature of the work: a person who has work performed “of a kind which is a regular or recurrent part of the work of the trade, business, occupation, or profession” they carry on. That contingent liability buys exclusive-remedy immunity from the injured worker’s tort suit — even where the subcontractor did carry insurance and the up-the-ladder entity never paid a cent. Also note KRS 342.310, which assesses costs and attorney fees against a party who “brought, prosecuted, or defended” a proceeding without reasonable ground — a carrier-side exposure, not just a shield.
Paying benefits extends the comp clock too — the same lesson as the auto fileKRS 342.185(1): a traumatic injury claim is due within two years of the accident — but where income benefits have been paid, “within two (2) years following the suspension of payments or within two (2) years of the date of the accident, whichever is later.” Pay temporary total for eighteen months and stop, and exposure runs roughly three and a half years from the accident. In Kentucky, on both the auto side and the comp side, voluntary payment extends the claimant’s window. Note also utilization review is 803 KAR 25:195, not 25:190 — searching the wrong number finds nothing.
Ten scenarios — each one a place Kentucky departs from the national rule.
Read the fact pattern before the options. Most of these carry a plausible wrong answer that is simply the majority rule somewhere else.
Read the fact pattern before the options. Most of these carry a plausible wrong answer that is simply the majority rule somewhere else.
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Top Exam Tips — Kentucky Adjuster Regulations
1. One act violates KRS 304.12-230. Kentucky deleted the “general business practice” element effective July 15, 1988. There are 17 enumerated practices, not 14.
2. The statute creates a private right of action; the regulation expressly does not. 806 KAR 12:095 § 2(4). And third-party claimants may sue — but you cannot be sued personally (Breedlove).
3. “Days” in 806 KAR 12:095 means BUSINESS days — § 1(5). Sections 6 and 7 say “calendar” where calendar is meant.
4. There is no exam vendor and no handbook. 50 items, 70% of the questions by rule (806 KAR 9:025 § 3(4)) — a raw percentage, 35 of 50. No published time limit.
5. New public adjuster licenses are frozen to about 4/13/2028. Fee cap flat 10%; rescission 5 business days from delivery of the physical copy.
6. Staff adjusters are licensed but are not named in the CE duty — they renew; they need not show CE proof. 24 hours / 3 ethics for independent and public adjusters.
7. Silence is a choice. You are inside no-fault unless Form NF-1 was filed with the Department before the accident. Form NFV-1 ($5) verifies it.
8. Every PIP payment extends the tort clock — two years from the last reparation payment, whichever is later. Ordinary Kentucky PI is only one year.
9. Pure comparative fault, several liability only, and the settlement credit is the released party’s percentage share — not the dollars paid.
10. Matching is mandatory on replacement cost policies; labor may be depreciated if the policy says so. Guaranty: $300,000, no $100 deductible, net worth cutoff $10M.
11. Fraud reporting is 14 days — in 806 KAR 47:010 § 6, not in KRS 304.47. The antifraud plan is in the regulation too.
12. In comp the employee picks the doctor, there is no accept-or-deny deadline, interest is 6% (12% is the penalty), and there is no separate burial allowance.
2. The statute creates a private right of action; the regulation expressly does not. 806 KAR 12:095 § 2(4). And third-party claimants may sue — but you cannot be sued personally (Breedlove).
3. “Days” in 806 KAR 12:095 means BUSINESS days — § 1(5). Sections 6 and 7 say “calendar” where calendar is meant.
4. There is no exam vendor and no handbook. 50 items, 70% of the questions by rule (806 KAR 9:025 § 3(4)) — a raw percentage, 35 of 50. No published time limit.
5. New public adjuster licenses are frozen to about 4/13/2028. Fee cap flat 10%; rescission 5 business days from delivery of the physical copy.
6. Staff adjusters are licensed but are not named in the CE duty — they renew; they need not show CE proof. 24 hours / 3 ethics for independent and public adjusters.
7. Silence is a choice. You are inside no-fault unless Form NF-1 was filed with the Department before the accident. Form NFV-1 ($5) verifies it.
8. Every PIP payment extends the tort clock — two years from the last reparation payment, whichever is later. Ordinary Kentucky PI is only one year.
9. Pure comparative fault, several liability only, and the settlement credit is the released party’s percentage share — not the dollars paid.
10. Matching is mandatory on replacement cost policies; labor may be depreciated if the policy says so. Guaranty: $300,000, no $100 deductible, net worth cutoff $10M.
11. Fraud reporting is 14 days — in 806 KAR 47:010 § 6, not in KRS 304.47. The antifraud plan is in the regulation too.
12. In comp the employee picks the doctor, there is no accept-or-deny deadline, interest is 6% (12% is the penalty), and there is no separate burial allowance.
KRS 304.12-230
The unfair claims statute — “for any person to commit or perform any…” No frequency element since 7/15/1988. 17 practices.
KRS 446.070
The engine of private enforcement — “A person injured by the violation of any statute may recover.” Reeder applied it, for a third party.
806 KAR 12:095 § 1(5)
“‘Days’ means any day, Monday through Friday, except holidays.” Every unqualified 15-day figure is business days.
806 KAR 12:095 § 2(4)
The regulation “shall not create or imply a private cause of action.” Commissioner-only enforcement.
806 KAR 12:095 § 9
Matching and consequential damage — replacement cost policies only. § 9(2)(a) permits labor depreciation “if provided for in the policy.”
806 KAR 9:025 § 3(4)
The passing score — “answer correctly seventy (70) percent of the questions.” A raw percentage, set by rule. 35 of 50.
806 KAR 9:030 § 1
The election. An adjuster “shall not represent the interest of both” and must choose insurers or claimants at application.
KRS 304.9-430(13)
Catastrophe registration — insurer notice within 5 days of deployment, registration up to 90 days. Form 8307. Not for public adjusters.
KRS 304.9-430(10)(n)
Automated claims adjudication system exemption — capped at 25 persons under one licensed independent adjuster.
KRS 304.9-432
Apprentice adjuster — 12 months, nonrenewable, no exam, Kentucky residency, full-time salaried under a same-line supervisor.
KRS 304.9-035
As amended 2026 — the insurer is liable for the acts of its “agents and adjusters.” The pre-2026 text reached agents only.
Wittmer v. Jones
864 S.W.2d 885 (Ky. 1993) — the three-part test. Element (1) is why an adjuster cannot be personally liable.
Breedlove v. State Farm
Ky. App. 2024, published — “adjusters employed by the insurer are not liable for UCSPA or common law bad faith claims.”
Williams v. Wilson
Ky. 1998 — KRS 411.184(1)(c) is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The “subjective awareness” standard is void but still printed.
KRS 304.39-060(1)
Deemed acceptance — you are inside no-fault unless Form NF-1 was filed with the Department before the accident.
KRS 304.39-230(6)
Two years from injury or the last reparation payment, whichever LATER occurs. Ordinary Kentucky PI is one year.
KRS 411.182(3) & (4)
“each party’s equitable share” — no joint and several liability — and the settlement credit is a percentage, not the dollars paid.
KRS 304.20-260
The anti-valued-policy-law — no coverage “greater than one hundred percent (100%) of the replacement cost.”
Bulletin 98-2
The earthquake mandatory offer — in a bulletin, not a statute. Deductible ceilings 20% / 15% / 10%; moratorium max 30 days, none below M4.0.
806 KAR 47:010 § 6
The 14-day fraud reporting deadline — in the regulation. KRS 304.47-050 creates the duty and states no deadline.
KRS 342.610(2)
Up-the-ladder — work that is a “regular or recurrent part of the work” makes you a contractor, contingently liable, and therefore immune.
KRS 342.185(1)
Two years from the accident — or from the suspension of payments, whichever is later. Paying benefits extends exposure.
KRS 342.020
“the employee may select medical providers” absent employer-designated managed care. One free change; later consent not unreasonably withheld.
KRS 342.750(6)
The death lump sum — $114,120.35 for 2026 — out of which burial is paid. Kentucky has no separate burial allowance.
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