Mississippi Insurance Exam Guides
Pick the license you're studying for. Each guide covers Mississippi-specific requirements, fees, and official links — plus a free practice exam. Then scroll down to explore the Mississippi exam's state-law material, mapped.
Free study resource
What's actually tested on the Mississippi exam — the state regulations, mapped
Every Mississippi insurance exam reserves a block of questions for Mississippi-specific law — the fees, deadlines, limits, and rules that generic national study guides gloss over. This is that material: 174 facts from the TESTivity Mississippi regulations curriculum, organized the way we teach them. Open a branch, explore, and let the structure do some of the remembering for you.
Every fact below carries its source citation and the date we last verified it (most recently August 2026) — and is re-checked on a schedule. Facts marked tested are ones you should expect to see on the exam.
Life 20 facts
The life insurance rules that differ by state — free look, grace, reinstatement.
- Incontestability, individual life testedNot more than 24 months - but this is a DEPARTMENTAL FILING STANDARD, not a statute. Mississippi has no standard-provisions statute for individual life; MID's life form-filing requirements state that there must be an incontestability period of not more than 24 months.
- Grace period for individual life testedNot less than 30 days, again by MID form-filing requirement rather than by statute. Title 83, Chapter 7, Article 1 contains no grace-period section for ordinary life.
- Window to reinstate a lapsed policy testedNo window is prescribed. MID requires that a policy contain 'a reinstatement after a premium default provision' and specifies no number of days or years. Do not carry over the familiar 3-year figure - it is product norm, not Mississippi law.
- Free look for individual life tested10 days from delivery, and it IS statutory: every individual life policy or contract issued for delivery in Mississippi on or after 1 July 1989 must carry a printed or attached notice of the right to return it within ten days and have the premium refunded.
- Free look for long-term care tested30 days from delivery of the policy or certificate, with the premium refunded if the applicant is not satisfied for any reason.
- What the nonforfeiture statute actually requires testedNOT a three-option menu. The statute requires a paid-up nonforfeiture benefit 'on a plan stipulated in the policy' on request within 60 days of the premium in default, and a cash surrender value on surrender within 60 days. Reduced paid-up and extended term are the forms insurers conventionally stipulate to satisfy it - practice satisfying the statute, not a statutory list.
- Registrations required to sell variable products testedVariable life and variable annuities require the Life line plus Mississippi's Variable Life/Variable Annuity line and a FINRA Series 6 or 7 with active registration (they are securities)
- Does the state regulate viatical/life settlements? testedYes — Mississippi regulates viatical and life settlements; providers and brokers must be licensed
- Viator's rescission window testedAT LEAST 15 CALENDAR days from receipt of the proceeds - the statute sets a floor, not a fixed period - and the contract is deemed rescinded if the insured dies within that window, subject to repayment of all proceeds.
- Has the state adopted the NAIC best interest standard? testedYES - Mississippi adopted the NAIC 2020 best interest amendments. The producer must act in the best interest of the consumer without placing the producer's or insurer's financial interest ahead of the consumer's. Effective 1 January 2022, applying to acts or practices committed on or after 1 July 2022.
- Suicide exclusion period testedNONE prescribed. There is no suicide statute in Title 83, no Title 19 rule, and no mention of suicide in MID's life form-filing checklist. The two-year clause in a Mississippi policy is contractual, not statutory.
- Misstatement of age remedy testedThe policy is not invalidated. The beneficiary recovers the amount of insurance the premiums paid would have purchased at the insured's actual age, reckoned by the company's own rate tables.
- Policy loan interest ceiling testedA fixed-rate option capped at 8% per annum, or an adjustable rate at the higher of the cash-value rate plus 1% or Moody's Corporate Bond Yield Average. Reviewed at least annually and not more than quarterly; an increase requires a change of at least half a percent, and a decrease of at least half a percent compels a reduction.
- Free look on a standalone annuity testedNONE. Section 83-7-51 reaches an 'individual life insurance policy or contract' and stops there, and no Title 19 chapter creates a right to return a non-replacement annuity. Any free look on a standalone deferred annuity in Mississippi is contractual.
- Free look on a life or annuity replacement tested30 days - the replacement regulation, not the life statute, and the only route to a 30-day return right on an annuity in Mississippi.
- Rebating and discrimination, the life-specific section testedA separate life prohibition on both rebating and discrimination 'in favor of individuals of the same class and equal expectation of life'. The penalty is MANDATORY - on a finding after hearing the commissioner 'shall revoke the license' - and no new licence may issue 'within one (1) year after such revocation', which is a floor on re-licensing rather than a ceiling on the revocation. It is NOT cross-referenced by the unfair trade practices statute. Narrow exception for industrial life on a weekly payment plan after one year of payments.
- Annuity producer training testedA one-time four-credit course approved by the Department before soliciting annuities, plus the insurer's product-specific training. Read the transition rule carefully: a producer who HELD a life authority on 1 January 2022 owed the full four credits within six months, while the one-time one-credit best-interest update was available only to a producer who had ALREADY completed an approved annuity course before that date.
- Free look, individual accident and health testedNot less than 10 days from delivery, on a notice printed on or attached to the policy - excepting travel and nonrenewable accident policies. A contract returned in time 'shall be void from the beginning, and the parties shall be in the same position as if no policy or service contract had been issued.' Statutory since 1 July 1971.
- Copy of the application, and what happens without it testedA Mississippi life insurer must deliver a copy of the insured's application with the policy, 'and in default thereof, said life insurance company shall not be permitted in any court of this state to deny that any of the statements in said application are true.' This is Mississippi's functional entire-contract rule.
- When life proceeds become due testedAs of the DATE OF DEATH of the insured, with interest from that date to payment at the greater of the policy's guaranteed rate, the current interest-settlement-option rate, or the current dividend-deposit rate. It fixes no payment deadline.
Health 24 facts
Health coverage rules — continuation, prompt pay, mandates, public programs.
- Has the state expanded Medicaid under the ACA? testedNO — Mississippi has NOT expanded Medicaid under the ACA. It remains one of the non-expansion states, leaving a coverage gap for many low-income adults.
- Agency administering Medicaid testedThe Mississippi Division of Medicaid (its managed-care program is MississippiCAN)
- Federal marketplace or state-based exchange testedA FEDERALLY-FACILITATED marketplace (HealthCare.gov) — Mississippi does not run a state exchange
- Name of the state CHIP program testedThe Mississippi Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), covering children to age 19, administered through the Division of Medicaid
- Clean-claim payment deadline, electronic tested25 days after receipt of a clean ELECTRONIC claim
- Clean-claim payment deadline, paper tested35 days after receipt of a clean PAPER claim
- Does the state distinguish electronic vs paper claims? testedYes - 25 days electronic, 35 days paper. Note the two different clocks: the 25 or 35 days run from receipt of a CLEAN claim, while interest runs from the day after payment was due. A claim that is not clean never starts the payment clock.
- Interest / penalty on late claim payment tested3% PER MONTH, accruing from the day after payment was due, paid to the provider or the insured until the claim is finally settled or adjudicated. This is a steep rate by national standards and a favourite exam number.
- Is the IRO's external review decision binding on the plan? testedBinding on the health carrier 'except to the extent the health carrier has other remedies available under applicable State law', and binding on the covered person on the same qualification. A standard request must be filed within FOUR MONTHS of the adverse determination - not 120 days - and an expedited IRO decision is due in no more than 72 hours. The regulation took effect 1 January 2013 under Rule 15.19.
- Employer size at which federal COBRA applies testedFederal COBRA applies at 20 or more employees. Mississippi's own continuation statute sets NO employee threshold at all - the small-group effect comes from an individual eligibility exclusion, not from a size line.
- State continuation, which employers it reaches testedALL of them. Section 83-9-51(2) applies to every insured group hospital, surgical or major medical policy delivered or issued for delivery in Mississippi, regardless of employer size. What makes it a small-group remedy is subsection (4), which excludes any person eligible for federal COBRA, anyone who could be covered by other group coverage within 31 days, anyone whose coverage ended for fraud or nonpayment, and anyone entitled to Medicare.
- Duration of state continuation coverage testedUp to 12 months (the insured must have been covered at least 3 months before the qualifying event)
- Election period for state continuation testedThe 14-day insurer notice and 30-day election in subsection (9) attach to three specific events - the employee's or member's death, a dependent child ceasing to qualify, and divorce. Subsection (9) states no election period for continuation on ordinary termination of employment, so do not present 14/30 as the general timeline.
- Max premium as % of group rate testedNot more than the full group rate - so 100%, not the 102% that federal COBRA permits.
- Grace period, accident and health testedTiered by premium mode: 7 days for weekly premium policies, 10 days for monthly premium policies, and 31 days for all others.
- Time limit on certain defenses, accident and health testedTwo years from the date of issue, after which no misstatement in the application - fraudulent misstatements excepted - may be used to void the policy. Unlike life, this one IS statutory.
- Reinstatement by conditional receipt, accident and health testedWhere the insurer requires a reinstatement application, the policy is reinstated on the FORTY-FIFTH day following the conditional receipt unless the insurer has already given written notice of disapproval.
- Claim forms deadline testedIf the insurer does not furnish claim forms within 15 days of the notice of claim, the claimant is deemed to have complied with the proof-of-loss requirements.
- Proofs of loss deadline tested90 days after the termination of the period for which the insurer is liable, or 90 days after the date of the loss.
- Medicare supplement birthday rule testedNONE. Mississippi has no birthday rule and no annual guaranteed-issue window - it relies solely on the federal one-time open enrollment and the federal guaranteed-issue triggers.
- Medicare supplement open enrollment testedSix months, beginning with the later of the first day of the first month in which the individual is both 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B. The Medigap regulation is Part 3 Chapter 10 - Chapter 7 is a different subject entirely.
- Free look, Medicare supplement tested30 days, on a notice prominently printed on the first page of the policy or certificate, with the refund paid directly to the applicant by the issuer.
- Long-term care producer training testedNOT REQUIRED in Mississippi. Chapter 8 of Title 19 Part 3 runs Rules 8.01 through 8.19 and contains no training rule, no hour count and no marketing-standards training section - so there is no 8-hour initial or 4-hour ongoing requirement here, whatever CE vendors advertise.
- Notice of claim, accident and health testedWritten notice within 30 days after the occurrence or commencement of the loss, 'or as soon thereafter as is reasonably possible' - a Mississippi deviation from the NAIC uniform provision, which uses 20 days.
Auto 14 facts
Auto insurance — minimum limits, fault system, required coverages.
- Fault-based (tort) or no-fault testedTORT (at-fault) — Mississippi is NOT a no-fault state; there is no mandatory PIP. The at-fault driver's liability coverage pays the other party's damages.
- Minimum bodily injury liability per person tested$25,000
- Minimum bodily injury liability per occurrence tested$50,000
- Minimum property damage liability tested$25,000
- The memorizable shorthand (e.g. 30/60/25) tested25/50/25
- Uninsured motorist: mandatory / must be offered & rejectable / not required testedMandatory unless the named insured rejects it IN WRITING. A signed departmental rejection form creates a presumption of an informed, knowing rejection and waiver.
- Underinsured motorist status testedMississippi has NO separate underinsured motorist coverage. Underinsurance is clause (iii) inside the statutory definition of an uninsured motor vehicle - a vehicle whose liability limits are less than the limits applicable to the injured person under his own UM coverage. There is nothing separate to select, reject or price.
- Personal injury protection status testedNot required — Mississippi is a tort state with no mandatory PIP (medical payments coverage is optional)
- Contributory / pure comparative / modified comparative negligence testedPURE COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE — a claimant's recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault but is NEVER fully barred, even at 99% fault (a claimant 99% at fault still recovers 1%)
- Assigned risk / residual market plan for auto testedThe Mississippi Automobile Insurance Plan, one of the five residual market plans MID lists, alongside the Comprehensive Health Insurance Risk Pool Association, MRPIUA, MWUA and the Workers Compensation Assigned Risk Pool.
- Any alternative to buying liability insurance (e.g. VA's UMV fee) testedMississippi enforces compliance through the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law (Title 63, Chapter 15); most drivers satisfy it by carrying liability insurance
- UM rejection carried forward testedOnce rejected, uninsured motorist coverage need not be provided in any renewal policy, in a replacement policy with the same or substantially similar terms from the same insurer, or in a transferred policy from a licensed affiliate in the same holding company - unless the named insured requests it in writing.
- Ceiling on UM limits testedUM may be increased at the insured's option only to limits not exceeding the insured's own bodily injury liability limits. An insured who buys minimum liability therefore has very little underinsured protection available at all.
- UM property damage deductible testedThe property damage provision may exclude the first $200 of damage. The insured may reject UMPD and keep UM bodily injury, but may not keep UMPD without UMBI.
CE & Renewal 14 facts
Continuing education and renewal rules — the numbers the exam loves.
- How long a license lasts before renewal testedTwo years, expiring on the last day of the licensee's birth month. Business entity licences expire 31 May instead. Because expiry is pinned to a birth month, a first term runs somewhere between 13 and 24 months - which is how MID works out your first CE band.
- What the renewal date keys off (flat term / birthday / birth year) testedBirthday-based — the license expires on the last day of the licensee's birth month, every 2 years
- CE hours per period tested12 OR 24, depending on the length of the licence term - not a flat 24. Section 83-17-251(3) requires 12 hours for a licence in effect for a term of eighteen months or less, and 24 hours for a term of more than eighteen months. Anything publishing a flat 24 is wrong for every licensee in a short first term.
- CE hours if holding multiple license types (if different) tested24 in total for the producer licence, however many lines of authority it carries - the requirement attaches to the licence, not to the lines. Adjusters hold a separate licence type with its own requirement, and bail agents run a different track of 16 hours over two years.
- Ethics hours required per period tested3 hours, and ONLY in the 24-hour band. The ethics clause is attached grammatically and exclusively to the sentence governing licence terms of more than eighteen months. A first term of eighteen months or less carries no ethics requirement at all.
- Limits on who may provide CE credits testedProviders must be approved by the Department before submitting any course, applications should arrive at least 30 days before the intended start date, each approved course is good for a two-year period, and providers must retain records for five years.
- Initial long-term care training requirement testedNONE. Mississippi has not adopted the NAIC long-term care producer training model - Chapter 8 of Title 19 Part 3 has no training rule in it. The training Mississippi does require on the life and health side is the one-time four-credit ANNUITY course.
- What happens if CE is not completed (fine / expiry / cancellation) testedA lapsed licence may be reinstated within twelve months of the renewal due date without a written examination, at $100 plus a fifty percent penalty - $150. Past twelve months MID's position is that a resident is not eligible to reinstate and must complete pre-licensing education again and re-sit the exam. It is a cliff, not a slope.
- Any CE exemption (e.g. long-service agents) testedFive categories under Section 83-17-251(4): the Section 83-17-39(1)(b), (c), (e) and (g) exam-waiver categories; limited lines and limited line credit producers; non-residents meeting home-state CE where a reciprocal agreement exists; non-active agents; and - most often missed - an individual 65 or older who has been continuously licensed for 25 years or more AS OF 17 APRIL 2023, on a sworn affidavit. That last one is grandfathered to a fixed date.
- Carryover of surplus hours testedProhibited. Surplus hours are lost at the compliance date, and a course repeated inside the same licence period earns credit only once.
- Who files the CE completion testedThe provider, not the licensee. Approved education providers file completions to MID through Sircon within 15 calendar days of the completion date.
- Pre-licensing completion reporting deadline testedFive calendar days - shorter than the fifteen that applies to ordinary continuing education, and the two are routinely confused. Note MID states it two ways: the Guidelines say five CALENDAR days, while MID's applicant sheet says five BUSINESS days. The Guidelines are the operative document for providers.
- Flood training testedThree hours, required by FEMA rather than by Mississippi, and only where the agent has signed up for the NFIP Agent Leads Referral Program. It is not a universal state CE mandate.
- When renewal opens testedOnline renewal opens 90 days before expiration. The renewal fee is the same $100 privilege fee as the original licence.
Property 17 facts
Property insurance — rate regulation, residual markets, catastrophe exposure.
- Rate regulation system (file-and-use / prior approval / use-and-file) testedA 30-day prior filing with a 30-day deemer. Rates, forms and endorsements are filed at least 30 days before the proposed effective date and are deemed approved unless the Commissioner disapproves within 30 days of filing; the Commissioner may give notice within those 30 days that up to 60 additional days are needed. None of the labels file-and-use, prior approval or use-and-file appears in the statute - and it is not use-and-file, because rates may not be used before filing.
- Is insurance credit scoring permitted in personal lines? testedPermitted, but not as the SOLE basis. Rule 31.06 bars declining, cancelling, non-renewing, rating or tiering solely on credit history or an insurance score without other independent factors, and separately bars specified inputs outright - disputed credit information, sole reliance on a no-hit or thin file, requesting credit history based on protected characteristics, refusing for want of a credit card, and consumer-uninitiated, insurance-related, medical-collection and clustered mortgage or auto inquiries.
- Does the state have a FAIR Plan? testedYES - the Mississippi Residential Property Insurance Underwriting Association, the statewide residential insurer of last resort. Note the chapter: MRPIUA is Chapter 83-38. Chapter 83-34 is the WINDSTORM association, a different mechanism with a different map.
- Name of the FAIR Plan, if any testedThe Mississippi Residential Property Insurance Underwriting Association (MRPIUA). It was formerly the Mississippi Rural Risk Insurance Association, renamed by statute. Membership is compulsory for every insurer authorised to write property insurance in the state on a direct basis.
- Coastal windstorm pool, if any (e.g. TWIA) testedThe Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association (MWUA), writing essential property insurance - coverage against windstorm and hail - in the six-county coast area: Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George.
- Dominant catastrophe perils in the state testedHurricanes and Gulf coast wind and storm surge (Katrina remains the benchmark loss), tornadoes, hail and severe thunderstorms, and flooding — a coastal-plus-inland exposure
- What license you must already hold to write surplus lines testedA producer licence with a property, casualty and/or personal lines line of authority, plus a regular commission to represent a fire and casualty insurance company licensed to do business in the state. There is no surplus lines examination in Mississippi. The fee is $100 biennially and Section 83-21-19 imposes no bond.
- Is a diligent-effort search of the admitted market required first? testedYes — a diligent effort to place the risk in the admitted market first (documented on an affidavit), with statutory exemptions for certain risks and exempt commercial purchasers; a personal-lines informational notice to the insured is required
- Valued policy law, what triggers it testedTOTAL DESTRUCTION BY FIRE, and nothing else. Where insured buildings in this state are totally destroyed by fire, the company may not deny that they were worth the full value on which the insurance was calculated.
- Valued policy law and windstorm testedIt does NOT reach wind. Windstorm, hail, hurricane and tornado appear nowhere in Section 83-13-5, so a total loss by named storm on the Gulf Coast is settled on ordinary policy terms with no statutory presumption of full value. On this state that limitation is the whole point.
- Valued policy law, term and clauses testedA maximum policy term of five years, three-quarters-value clauses prohibited, and builder's risk policies expressly exempt from the section.
- The FAIR plan's own coastal definition testedTHREE counties - Hancock, Harrison and Jackson - which is NOT the windstorm association's six-county coast area. In those three counties MRPIUA's coverage expressly excludes wind and hail, because MWUA writes those there. Two chapters, two definitions, one word in ordinary speech.
- FAIR plan coverage ceiling testedCoverage may not exceed ninety-five percent of the market value of the insured real and personal property, excluding the value of land.
- Property chapters that no longer exist testedChapter 83-35, the old Underwriting Association, is repealed - Sections 83-35-1 through 83-35-33 are all marked repealed, effective 31 December 1988, by the act that created MWUA. The Property Insurance Clarity Act at Chapter 83-79 repealed itself: Section 83-79-13 was a built-in repealer effective 1 July 2022. Older study material still cites both.
- Who premium checks are payable to testedThe insurance company writing the policy - printed in capitals in the rule itself. The chapter also requires an authorised company receipt on an approved printed form.
- Premium trust or fiduciary accounts testedNONE required of producers. Mississippi has no premium trust account rule and no fiduciary account requirement for producers; the only producer-level control on misuse of premium is the disciplinary ground for improperly withholding, misappropriating or converting monies received in the course of doing insurance business.
- Surplus lines penalty ceiling tested$2,500 per violation - two and a half times the $1,000 per violation ceiling that applies to ordinary producer violations.
Guaranty 15 facts
The safety nets when an insurer fails — and their limits.
- Name of the life & health guaranty association testedThe Mississippi Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association
- Life death benefit limit tested$300,000
- Life cash surrender / withdrawal value limit tested$100,000 net cash surrender value
- Annuity benefit limit tested$250,000 present value of annuity benefits
- Health benefit limit tested$500,000 for health benefit plans; $300,000 each for disability income and long-term care; $100,000 for coverages not defined as disability income, health benefit plans or long-term care.
- Aggregate per-individual cap, if any tested$300,000 in the aggregate for any one life across the (b)(i), (b)(ii) and (b)(iii) caps, rising to $500,000 where health benefit plan coverage is involved. The sublimits bind first: the $250,000 annuity figure sits INSIDE the $300,000 aggregate, so an annuity-only claimant is capped at $250,000. Note the aggregate sits in a different subparagraph from the product caps.
- Does the state follow the standard NAIC model limits? testedYes — standard NAIC model limits ($300,000 death benefit, $100,000 cash value, $250,000 annuity)
- Name of the P&C guaranty association testedThe Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association (MIGA)
- P&C guaranty cap, general claims tested$300,000 per claimant for all other covered claims, on amounts in excess of $50. Since 1 July 2025 this is only one of four figures - property damage, cyber and workers' compensation each have their own.
- Is using the guaranty association as a sales inducement prohibited? testedYes - no person, member insurer, agent or affiliate may publish anything using the existence of the guaranty association for the purpose of sales, solicitation or inducement to purchase. What member insurers must do instead is affirmative: deliver a Commissioner-approved summary document at the time of policy delivery and keep compliance records.
- P&C guaranty cap, property damage tested$400,000 per claimant for property damage covered claims - a separate and higher cap added effective 1 July 2025 by Senate Bill 2894.
- P&C guaranty cap, cybersecurity coverage tested$300,000 for all first- and third-party claims arising out of a SINGLE INSURED EVENT, regardless of the number of claims made or the number of claimants. Note the shape: this one is an event cap across all claimants, while the general and property damage caps are per claimant.
- P&C guaranty, workers' compensation claims testedThe full amount of a covered claim for benefits under workers' compensation coverage - uncapped.
- The $50 in the P&C guaranty statute testedA statutory FLOOR, not a deductible. The association pays only amounts in excess of $50, and the formula is repeated separately for unearned premium, for general claims and for property damage claims.
- The net-worth provision, and what it actually does testedMississippi does NOT apply a net-worth test to its own claimants. It declines a claim that has been rejected or denied by ANOTHER state's guaranty fund based on THAT state's net-worth exclusions - an anti-forum-shopping rule. Note it is long-standing law, not a 2025 change: Senate Bill 2894's amendment to Section 83-23-109 added a new subsection defining cybersecurity insurance.
Workers Comp 9 facts
Who must carry workers' compensation and what it pays.
- Is workers' compensation mandatory for private employers? testedYes — covered employers must secure workers' compensation coverage
- Employee count at which coverage is required testedFive or more workmen or operatives regularly in the same business or establishment. Note the counting rule: a sole proprietor, partner or 15%-or-more shareholder who elects out in writing is excluded from the total number of workers toward reaching that threshold of five.
- Agency administering workers' compensation testedThe Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission (MWCC)
- Temporary total disability wage replacement rate testedTemporary total disability: 66 2/3% of the worker's average weekly wage, subject to the state maximum
- The 450-week figure, and what it caps testedBOTH. It is a 450-week ceiling on duration, and - at 450 weeks times 66-2/3% of the state average weekly wage - the aggregate dollar ceiling on total recovery, exclusive of medical. The weekly maximum is not a fixed figure in the statute; it is redetermined annually, so any published dollar amount carries a year with it.
- Deadline to file a claim testedTwo years from the DATE OF INJURY OR DEATH, where no compensation has been paid and no application filed. Do not confuse it with the separate notice rule in the same section: actual notice to the employer within 30 days of the occurrence.
- Ways an employer may comply (insure / self-insure / group) testedInsure with an authorised carrier; qualify as an individual self-insurer on proof of financial ability, with security as the commission requires; or pool with employers in a common type of business as a group self-insurer. All three run through the Workers' Compensation Commission, not the Insurance Department.
- Employments the chapter does not reach testedDomestic servants, farmers and farm labour - though the farm exemption does not apply to the commercial processing of agricultural products - and transportation and maritime employments for which federal law provides a rule of liability. Non-profit charitable, fraternal, cultural and religious organisations are carved out of the employer definition itself.
- Notice to the employer testedActual notice within 30 days of the occurrence of the injury, or no claim may be maintained. This is a separate and much shorter clock than the two-year filing deadline.
Regulator 11 facts
Who regulates insurance here and what powers the office holds.
- Name of the state insurance regulator testedThe Mississippi Insurance Department (MID)
- Title of the person who heads it testedCommissioner of Insurance, who also serves as State Fire Marshal
- How the commissioner is chosen: elected / appointed by governor / appointed by other body testedELECTED statewide at the general election, as other state officers, to a four-year term. Note that this is a STATUTORY office - the Mississippi Constitution does not create it, unlike the Secretary of State, Auditor and Treasurer - so do not cite a constitutional provision for it.
- Where the state's insurance law is codified testedTitle 83 of the Mississippi Code (Insurance), with regulations in Title 19 of the Mississippi Administrative Code
- Does the regulator sit somewhere unusual (e.g. inside a constitutional commission)? testedYes - the Commissioner of Insurance is by virtue of the office the State Fire Marshal, and appoints the State Chief Deputy Fire Marshal. The Department runs fire investigation, manufactured and factory-built homes, elevators, LP-gas and electronic protection licensing alongside insurance regulation.
- How many unfair trade practices are enumerated testedExactly NINE, (a) through (i): misrepresentation and false advertising of policy contracts, false information and advertising generally, defamation, boycott/coercion/intimidation, false financial statements, stock operations and advisory board contracts, unfair discrimination, designation of agent/solicitor/insurer, and a cross-reference. It is the 1956 NAIC model, cosmetically touched in 2010 and never expanded.
- Unfair claims settlement practices testedMississippi has adopted NONE. There is no claims list in Section 83-5-35, no separate act, and no Title 19 chapter supplying one - the NAIC's own model-adoption chart records Mississippi as having no current activity on the model. Outside health claims, Mississippi claim conduct is governed by common-law bad faith.
- The Policyholder Bill of Rights testedThe closest thing Mississippi has to claim-handling standards, and it is not one. It reaches homeowners personal-lines residential property policies only - including surplus lines insurers, MWUA and MRPIUA - gives rights to a written denial explanation, to adjuster and engineer reports that are not privileged, to fair and honest treatment and to reject a settlement offer, imposes NO insurer deadline, and creates no private civil cause of action.
- How rebating reaches the unfair trade practices statute testedOnly through item (i), which carries TWO cross-references, not one - to Sections 83-3-33 and 83-3-121. Section 83-3-121 sits in the Casualty Insurance Rates article and bars insurers, agents and the INSURED from giving or accepting any rebate, discount, abatement, credit or special favour not specified in the policy.
- Producer penalty ceiling and grounds testedA civil penalty not exceeding $1,000 per violation, as an alternative to probation, suspension, revocation or refusal to issue or renew, on fourteen enumerated grounds (a) through (n). Surrendering a licence does not end an investigation - the Commissioner retains authority even where the licence has been surrendered or has lapsed by operation of law.
- Controlled business threshold tested35% of aggregate commissions over any 24-month period, on the producer's own interests or those of family, relatives, employers, employees or business associates. The statute's own word is that a violation is 'deemed to be probable' at that threshold, not that a rebuttable presumption arises. Motor vehicle dealers and lenders covering their own insurable interest are excepted.
Cancellation 11 facts
When and how policies can be canceled or nonrenewed — heavily tested.
- Initial window during which an insurer may cancel more freely tested60 days — after an auto policy has been in effect 60 days, it may be canceled only for enumerated statutory grounds
- Property cancellation, reduction and nonrenewal notice tested45 days for renewal, cancellation, reduction in coverage or nonrenewal of liability, fire or single premium multiperil coverage. The change from 30 days is LIVE - the act took effect 1 July 2025 and the 45-day rule applies to coverage issued or renewed on or after 1 July 2026.
- Auto cancellation notice tested45 days, mailed or delivered to the named insured and any named creditor loss payee, on coverage issued or renewed on or after 1 July 2026. Formerly 30.
- Notice days for cancellation for nonpayment testedTen days on both sides, but by two different routes. On AUTO, Section 83-11-5 shortens the notice to 10 days accompanied by the reason. On PROPERTY, Section 83-5-28 switches off entirely for nonpayment unless there is a named creditor loss payee, in which case 10 days is required. A homeowners policy cancelled for nonpayment with no mortgagee falls outside the section altogether.
- Notice days for cancellation for other permitted causes tested45 days for cancellation or a reduction in coverage on a permitted ground, on coverage issued or renewed on or after 1 July 2026.
- Notice days required for nonrenewal tested45 days before expiration for nonrenewal of property, auto and workers' compensation coverage - and the same 45 days for renewal on a replacement policy form with less favourable terms. Now live for coverage issued or renewed on or after 1 July 2026.
- Must the reason be stated proactively, on request, or not at all? testedOn auto, yes in substance: after the 60-day new-business window a policy may be cancelled only on three enumerated grounds - nonpayment; suspension or revocation of the licence or registration of the named insured, a household member or a customary operator, subject to a 7-day written-notice driver-exclusion cure; or failure to maintain membership in a designated association where issuance depended on it.
- Proof of notice by certificate of mailing testedA certificate of mailing to the named insured at the address shown in the policy is sufficient proof of notice - but this is an AUTOMOBILE provision. Section 83-5-28, which governs fire, liability and multiperil, contains no proof-of-mailing presumption at all. Candidates generalise this and get it wrong.
- Remedy when the insurer's notice is short testedNew in 2025 and added to all four amended sections: the named insured may elect to continue the policy for the remainder of the notice period PLUS an additional 45 days at the existing premium rate. Before this, a short notice was simply ineffective.
- Workers' compensation cancellation and nonrenewal notice tested45 days after service of notice on the insured and notice to the commission, on coverage issued or renewed on or after 1 July 2026. Note the section sits in Title 71, Labor - not Title 83.
- Notice to the Department before a transfer tested45 days, and this one is NOT an HB 1611 change - a transferring insurer has always had to notify MID at least 45 days in advance of notifying a policyholder of a transfer.
Licensing 39 facts
How you get and keep the license — exams, fees, applications, background checks.
- Is there a standalone life license/exam? testedYes — a standalone Life Producer exam and line of authority
- Is there a standalone health license/exam? testedYes — a standalone Accident & Health or Sickness Producer exam and line of authority
- Is there a combined life+health license/exam? testedYes — Mississippi offers a combined Life, Accident & Health exam, in addition to the individual Life and Accident & Health exams
- Is there a personal lines license/exam? testedYes — a Personal Lines Producer line (its own exam), for those who do not want a full Property & Casualty authority
- Is P&C one combined license, or split into Property and Casualty? testedBoth. Mississippi gives Property and Casualty as individual exams AND as a combined exam, plus the narrower Personal Lines. A full Property & Casualty authority already includes personal-lines risks, so nobody holds both.
- Does the life license cover annuities? testedFixed annuities, yes - they are sold under the Life line. Variable life and variable annuities are a separate line of authority with NO Mississippi examination: you file a copy of your FINRA registration or your Series 6 or 7 test results - MID's FAQ still calls it NASD - and MID amends the licence for $25.
- Does the P&C license already include personal lines authority? testedYes — a full Property & Casualty authority covers personal-lines risks; the Personal Lines line is a narrower subset
- Full list of exam-based agent license types testedOne producer licence listing any of: Life; Accident and Health or Sickness; Property; Casualty; Variable Life and Variable Annuity; Personal Lines - plus limited lines (Industrial Fire; Industrial Life, Accident and Health; Surety; Title; Trip Accident and Baggage; Car Rental; Crop; Travel; Self-Storage), with limited line CREDIT insurance a separate category of its own, and Surplus Lines.
- Exam administrator (Prometric / PSI / Pearson VUE) testedPearson VUE administers every Mississippi producer examination except Industrial Life, which is administered by the Home Service Life Council (Allied Funeral Associates Inc) on (662) 840-9911. OnVUE remote proctoring is currently available for Property, Casualty, combined Property & Casualty and Personal Lines ONLY - Pearson VUE's live Mississippi page states it is currently unavailable for the Life, Accident & Health and combined Life/Accident & Health exams, contradicting the July 2025 handbook.
- Exam fee tested$50 per attempt for every producer exam, single line or combined. Rescheduling is free with at least 48 hours' notice to Pearson VUE on (888) 293-4222, and inside that window the entire fee is forfeited.
- License application fee tested$100 for the resident producer LICENCE - not per line of authority. Adding or removing a line, or a duplicate licence, is $25. A business entity is a different statute: $200, with $50 to amend.
- Passing score tested65% on the Life, Accident & Health or Sickness, and combined Life/Accident & Health exams; 70% on everything else. It is a RAW PERCENTAGE, not a scaled score - the boilerplate warning that the reported number is 'neither the number nor the percentage of questions answered correctly' appears nowhere in the Mississippi handbook.
- Minimum age to be licensed tested18, and the requirement sits in the APPLICATION section rather than the examination section. Bail agents must be 21, under a different chapter.
- Is pre-licensing education required? testedYES - 20 hours per line of authority, so 40 for a combined Property and Casualty applicant, a figure the candidate handbook prints independently. BUT House Bill 819 of 2024, effective 1 July 2024, exempts an individual 'seeking licensure for the life line of authority only'.
- Pre-licensing hours and the House Bill 819 question tested20 hours per line, classroom or self-study. The life-only exemption at Section 83-17-251(2)(h) turns on the word 'only', and MID has published no position on whether a COMBINED Life and Accident & Health applicant still owes hours. MID's Licensing Examinations page announces the exemption; MID's Pre-Licensing page, modified more recently, still prints a flat 20 hours per line including Life and never mentions the bill. Ask Licensing in writing before enrolling.
- Fingerprints, state police report, or none testedSelf-disclosure only. Mississippi does NOT fingerprint resident producers, and there is no statutory authority anywhere in Title 83 for a state or federal criminal history record check on a producer - Sections 83-17-61, 83-17-63, 83-17-67 and 83-17-71 are all silent. Fingerprinting belongs to the bail agent regime. Screening is the uniform application's background questions plus after-the-fact discipline.
- Deadline to apply after passing the exam testedThe handbook frames it the other way round: you must 'pass the required examination(s) within two years of license application for the type of license you are seeking.' That is a requirement on the application, not a statement that a score expires.
- How long a passed exam remains valid testedMississippi publishes no score-expiry rule. What it publishes is the two-year licensing prerequisite above. Quote it rather than paraphrasing it as 'scores are valid two years', and in practice do not let the gap approach two years.
- Waiting period before retaking a failed exam testedIt depends on the channel, and the handbook is explicit in both directions. At a test centre, wait one day - and "Testing at a test center is unlimited." Through OnVUE, candidates are limited to 2 attempts per exam and must wait 14 days before retesting. Reservations for a retake are never made at the test centre.
- Notice required to reschedule/cancel without forfeiting the fee testedYou must change or cancel the exam at least 48 hours before the appointment to avoid forfeiting the fee
- Where you apply (Sircon / NIPR / state portal) testedSircon or NIPR - Mississippi runs no application portal of its own. Both charge about $1 on top of the state fee. MID's own material says an online application is transmitted to the Department within 24 hours, that requests can be handled in up to 5 business days, and that paper applications take up to 10 business days.
- Are temporary licenses available? testedYes - a temporary producer licence for a period not to exceed 180 days, without an examination. A separate and much narrower Temporary Industrial Life licence runs 120 days, costs $100, and may be issued only once.
- Temporary license duration and training requirement tested180 days, no examination, for the surviving spouse or court-appointed representative of a deceased or disabled producer, a member or employee of a licensed entity on the death or disability of its designated individual, the designee of a producer entering active military service, or any case the Commissioner finds serves the public interest. The Commissioner may limit the authority and require a licensed sponsor. It ends early if the owner or personal representative disposes of the business.
- Scored and pretest question counts testedLife 60 scored plus 10 pretest; Accident & Health 60 plus 10; combined Life/Accident & Health 115 plus 10; Property 60 plus 10; Casualty 60 plus 10; combined Property & Casualty 90 plus 10; Personal Lines 75 scored, with NO pretest count published for that exam alone. Counts live in content outline #122501; seat times live in handbook #122500. Neither document carries the other's numbers.
- Examination time limits tested120 minutes for every single-line producer exam, including Personal Lines despite its larger question count, and 150 minutes for the two combined producer exams.
- What waives the WRITTEN EXAMINATION testedSeven categories, and not one is a professional designation: renewal applicants; ticket-selling agents of railroad, steamship, air or public bus carriers selling accident tickets; credit life and credit health on borrowers only; recently suspended applicants at the Commissioner's discretion; exclusive fraternal benefit society agents; Section 83-17-67 applicants; and credit property on borrowers only.
- What designations actually get you testedThe COURSEWORK and nothing else. CEBS, CHFC, CIC, CFP, CLU, FLMI and LUTCF exempt the life line; RHU, CEBS, REBC and HIA the accident and health line; AAI, ARM, CIC and CPCU the property and casualty lines. None appears in the examination-waiver statute, so a CPCU holder skips 40 hours of class and still sits the exam.
- Moving in with an existing licence testedNeither pre-licensing education nor examination is required for lines previously held. Watch which of TWO 90-day triggers you are on: applying within 90 days of the cancellation of the previous licence with a good-standing certification, or applying within 90 days of establishing legal residence in Mississippi. Neither reaches continuing education - the statute never mentions it.
- Pre-licensing delivery formats testedClassroom or self-study - and MID classifies by TIMING, not medium. A live webinar counts as classroom, because classroom includes a virtual place of study in real time; a recorded online course counts as self-study. A blended course will not be approved for partial self-study unless 60% or more is approved for classroom credit.
- The end-of-course examination testedClassroom pre-licensing courses require an examination and 100% attendance. Any course containing an element of self-study requires a CLOSED-BOOK examination at a minimum score of 70%, monitored by a disinterested third party who signs an affidavit that the student completed it without assistance. Self-study does not avoid an exam; it adds a proctored one.
- How long a pre-licensing certificate lasts testedMID publishes no validity period or expiry for a pre-licensing certificate of completion - not on the pre-licensing page, not in the Guidelines, not in the how-to sheet. Do not accept a claimed expiry without a rule behind it.
- Identification at the test centre testedTWO forms of current signature identification, with the name matching the registration exactly. Report 30 minutes before the exam. Pearson VUE does not recognise state grace periods on an expired ID, an embedded or unreadable signature means producing another document, and a changed name requires written documentation such as a marriage licence or divorce decree.
- What you cannot take into the testing room testedNo personal items at all - phones, electronic devices, watches, wallets, purses, weapons, hats, bags, coats, books, notes, pens or pencils - and no dictionaries, papers or reference materials. The administrator provides materials for notes and calculations, which may not be written on before the exam or removed. You may not bring your own calculator.
- Misconduct at the exam, and why it follows you testedGiving or receiving help, using notes or other aids, impersonation or removing materials means summary dismissal AND a report to the state licensing agency. In Mississippi that lands on a statutory ground of its own: improperly using notes or reference material to complete an examination is one of the fourteen grounds for refusing, suspending or revoking a producer licence.
- The excused-absence route almost nobody knows about testedA candidate who was late or absent may call Pearson VUE WITHIN 14 DAYS of the exam date to request an excused absence, for six reasons: illness of the candidate or an immediate family member, a death in the immediate family, a disabling traffic accident, a court appearance or jury duty, military duty, or a weather emergency.
- Testing accommodations testedRequests go to PEARSON VUE, not to MID, through its accommodations page, with documentation of the condition and its effect - a separate room, extra time, or a reader or recorder. Candidates requesting accommodations must test at a physical location. Candidates for whom English is not the primary language may request additional time with a letter from an English instructor or employer.
- Does surplus lines require its own exam testedNo. There is no surplus lines examination in Mississippi - the qualification is derivative of the producer licence, requiring property, casualty and/or personal lines authority plus a commission from an admitted fire and casualty insurer.
- Where you can test in Mississippi testedThirteen Mississippi cities and fifteen site entries, published BY CITY with no street addresses: Choctaw, Decatur, Ellisville, Fulton, Greenwood, Gulfport, Jackson (three locations), Meridian, Mississippi State, Raymond, Ridgeland, Summit and Tupelo, plus sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Addresses are exposed only through the seat-availability finder at scheduling time.
- Producer appointment fee tested$50 since 1 July 2026, raised from $25 by Senate Bill 2409 of 2026 - the Strengthen Mississippi Homes Act, a hurricane-mitigation bill carrying the increase as a funding mechanism. Paid by the appointing insurer, not by the producer, and no appointment is needed to hold the licence. MID has not updated itself consistently: the Producer/Individual Licensing page shows $50, the Licensing Appointments page carries both figures at once, and the Licensing Forms and Fees page still prints "Certificate of Authority (appointment) - $25.00".