The New Hampshire Casualty Producer License
New Hampshire licenses Casualty as its own line with its own exam — series 12-85 — and also offers it combined with Property as 12-64. Either route puts the authority on the same single producer licence, because New Hampshire issues one licence and lists lines on it.
Casualty is third-party liability business: auto liability, general liability, commercial casualty, professional liability, workers' compensation. It does not carry the first-party property authority that 12-84 does, and it does not by itself carry Personal Lines, which New Hampshire licenses separately as series 12-86.
The route in is short — 18 years old, pass the exam, apply through NIPR, pay $210. No pre-licensing course, repealed July 11, 2008, and no fingerprints. In most states this guide would walk you through the fingerprint appointment. New Hampshire has no such appointment, so this guide owns something more useful to a casualty producer instead: the surplus lines route out of a P&C licence.
12-85 kept remote proctoring — only the two Life papers lost it in July 2026 — so you can sit this one from home or at any of the six centers the Property guide lists.
Casualty Alone, or the Combined P&C Paper
| Paper | Series | Items | Time | Fee | Remote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casualty | 12-85 | 100 | 2 hr | $59 | Yes |
| Property | 12-84 | 100 | 2 hr | $59 | Yes |
| Property and Casualty | 12-64 | 150 | 2 hr 30 min | $72 | Yes |
| NH Property and Casualty Laws and Regulations | 12-81 | 40 | 1 hr | $59 | Not stated |
Two singles cost $118; the combined paper costs $72 and covers both lines in one sitting. If there is any prospect you will write property as well — and for most agencies there is — the combined paper is the obvious choice. Casualty alone makes sense for a producer heading specifically into commercial liability or workers' compensation work.
There is a real reason to think about surplus lines at this point, and it is why this guide covers it. PSI's bulletin states the position in six words: "No exam, but P & C license required." A surplus lines authority in New Hampshire is not a separate examination — it is a licence that sits on top of a property and casualty producer licence. That makes 12-64 the efficient path if surplus lines is anywhere in your plans, since Casualty alone will not satisfy the prerequisite as the bulletin states it.
PSI adds 5 to 10 unscored experimental questions. The outline publishes "100 Items - 2 Hours" without splitting scored from pretest. The tutorial takes up to 15 minutes and is not counted against your exam time.
Most Tested Topics on the New Hampshire Casualty Exam
New Hampshire is the state everyone has heard one fact about — that it does not make drivers buy auto insurance — and that one fact is responsible for most of the wrong answers on this exam, because candidates stop there. The rule has a second half. New Hampshire does not compel the purchase; but it heavily regulates the policy once purchased, and several of those mandates go further than states that do compel purchase. From the TESTivity New Hampshire regulations curriculum, statute-verified:
| Concept | The New Hampshire rule |
|---|---|
| Compulsory auto liability | Not universally compulsory. New Hampshire runs a financial responsibility scheme under RSA chapter 264 rather than a compulsory-insurance scheme, and proof is triggered by events, not by registration. RSA 264:2 requires proof after conviction for enumerated offences — driving under the influence, failing to stop and report after an accident, homicide or assault arising out of driving, a second excessive-speed conviction, a second reckless-operation conviction. RSA 264:3 requires it after a reportable accident. Nothing in the chapter conditions registration on insurance (RSA 264:2; RSA 264:3) |
| Who must carry it anyway | Four groups, and the fourth surprises people: drivers under a conviction-based order; drivers and owners required to post security after a reportable accident; persons with an unsatisfied judgment, whose licence and registration stay suspended until it is satisfied and proof is furnished (RSA 264:7); and transportation network company drivers, whose coverage must satisfy the financial responsibility requirement "beginning with the first dollar of a claim" (RSA 264:7; RSA 359-U:10, I(b)) |
| Minimum limits when a policy is written | 25/50/25 — $25,000 bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident for two or more, $25,000 property damage (RSA 264:20; RSA 259:61) |
| Uninsured motorist, and the rejection right | Mandatory in any policy issued, at limits equal to the liability limits actually elected — buy higher liability and UM rises automatically. It covers uninsured and hit-and-run vehicles. A named insured may reject it in writing, and the rejection is unusually sweeping: it "shall constitute a rejection of coverage by all insureds, shall apply to all vehicles then or thereafter eligible to be covered," and survives amendment and renewal until the named insured asks for it back in writing (RSA 264:15, I) |
| Underinsured motorist | New Hampshire has no separate statutory UIM mandate — the word "underinsured" does not appear in RSA 264:15, which reaches uninsured and hit-and-run vehicles. Underinsured protection reaches New Hampshire insureds through the Department-approved policy form's definition of an uninsured motor vehicle, and the Department markets the pair as one "Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist" coverage. Know the distinction between what the statute mandates and what the form delivers (RSA 264:15, I) |
| Medical payments — REQUIRED | The mandate candidates get wrong. Any motor vehicle liability policy in New Hampshire "shall provide medical payments coverage therein or supplemental thereto in an amount equal to or greater than $1,000 per person," for costs incurred within 3 years of the injury. Med pay is optional in most states. In New Hampshire it is not (RSA 264:16) |
| Medical payments, the fine print | It is not assignable to providers, a health carrier may not coordinate benefits against it, and the insured has the exclusive right to submit a claim under medical payments coverage, a health policy, or both, as the insured elects — what is barred is duplicate payment for the same expense, not submission to both. The exception is for a commercial policy insuring more than 4 automobiles — a policy covering exactly four is still caught — along with garages, dealerships and repair shops (RSA 264:16) |
| No-fault and PIP | Neither. New Hampshire is a tort state with no personal injury protection — but do not translate that into "no first-party medical coverage is required," because the $1,000 med pay mandate above is exactly that (RSA 264) |
| Comparative fault | Modified comparative with a 51% bar: contributory fault does not bar recovery "if such fault was not greater than the fault of the defendant, or the defendants in the aggregate." A claimant exactly 50% at fault still recovers, reduced by half; at 51% recovery is nothing. Note the aggregation across multiple defendants (RSA 507:7-d) |
| Auto cancellation freeze | 60 days for private passenger auto. After that an insurer may cancel only for nonpayment, the insured's own request, or the named insured not having been a New Hampshire resident when the policy was issued or renewed — with an exception where the vehicle was exclusively garaged in New Hampshire (RSA 417-A:4) |
| Auto residual market | The New Hampshire Automobile Reinsurance Facility, a mandatory risk-sharing plan created under the Commissioner's RSA 404-C:1 authority and operated under rule Ins 1406. Cessions are barred after the 60th day following a new policy's effective date. Note that RSA 404-C is titled Mandatory Risk Sharing Plans generally — it is not an "Automobile Insurance Plan" chapter (RSA 404-C:1; Ins 1406) |
| Workers' compensation, employer duty | Mandatory from the first employee — full or part time, with no numeric threshold. Administered by the Department of Labor, not the Insurance Department (RSA 281-A:5) |
| Workers' compensation, the two clocks | Notice of injury to the employer within 2 years; the claim filed within 3 years of the date of injury. Two different deadlines that candidates merge into one (RSA 281-A:19; RSA 281-A:21-a) |
| Workers' compensation, TTD and the waiting period | Temporary total disability pays 60% of the employee's average weekly wage or 30% of the state average weekly wage, whichever is greater, capped at 150% of the state average. Nothing is paid for the first 3 days unless the disability lasts 14 days or longer, at which point those 3 days become payable retroactively (RSA 281-A:28) |
The single highest-yield item here is medical payments, precisely because it runs against the state's reputation. The mental model candidates build is "New Hampshire doesn't require insurance, therefore New Hampshire requires little," and med pay is the counterexample that breaks it. Read RSA 264:16 once and remember the number: $1,000 minimum, 3 years to incur the costs. An answer choice reading "medical payments coverage is optional in New Hampshire" is wrong, and it will look right to anyone who reasoned from the state's reputation instead of from the statute.
Second is the UM/UIM distinction, which is subtler than most state-law items. RSA 264:15 mandates uninsured motorist coverage — and hit-and-run — at limits matching whatever liability limits the insured chose. It says nothing about underinsured motorists. New Hampshire drivers do get underinsured protection, but they get it because the Department-approved form defines "uninsured motor vehicle" to include one, not because a statute compels it. If a question asks what RSA 264:15 requires, uninsured and hit-and-run is the answer. If it asks what a New Hampshire auto policy provides, the combined coverage is.
Third, and it is the most transposed pair on any New Hampshire paper: the cancellation freeze is 60 days for auto and 90 days for property. Both lines use 45 days' notice for a permitted cancellation and 10 days for nonpayment, which is what makes the freeze periods so easy to swap. Auto is the shorter one. Anchor it: auto 60, property 90.
The Surplus Lines Route Out of a New Hampshire P&C License
In most states this section would be a fingerprint walkthrough. New Hampshire fingerprints no resident producer, so there is nothing to walk — and for a casualty producer the more useful next credential is surplus lines, which New Hampshire reaches by a route that surprises people: there is no surplus lines exam.
PSI's bulletin states it in the licence table in six words: "No exam, but P & C license required." Surplus lines is not a separate examination in New Hampshire. It is an authority layered on a producer who already holds property and casualty.
What surplus lines is for. Some risks cannot be placed with an admitted insurer — one licensed and supervised by the Department, and backed by the New Hampshire Insurance Guaranty Association. Surplus lines lets you place those risks with a non-admitted carrier. The trade is protection for availability: a surplus lines policy is not covered by the guaranty association, so an insolvency leaves the insured with a claim against the estate rather than a $300,000 backstop.
The diligent effort requirement is a precondition, not a filing. RSA 405:24 frames it as a gate: surplus lines coverage "shall not be placed until the producer has first satisfied the insurance commissioner that the producer cannot procure such an insurance in an admitted company." Read that literally. The obligation is not to file a form after placing the risk — it is to have satisfied the requirement before the coverage is placed. In practice that means a documented search of the admitted market: which carriers you approached, when, and what each said.
Getting the authority. Because there is no exam, the path is an application rather than a study cycle. You hold the property and casualty licence first, then apply through the Department for the surplus lines authority. RSA 405:24, III frames it as the Commissioner issuing a producer licence "pursuant to RSA 402-J" permitting the producer "to procure insurance policies and contracts … in foreign insurance companies not authorized to transact business in this state."
Two things a new surplus lines producer should know. First, premium tax and multi-state risks run under a separate chapter — RSA 405-B, the nonadmitted insurance and multi-state risks premium collection statute, which implements the federal home-state rules. It is not the diligent-effort authority, and it is commonly miscited as such. Second, the fiduciary rules apply with full force to surplus lines premium you handle: it goes into the premium trust account, never into a personal or business operating account. The Property & Casualty guide covers those rules.
Where surplus lines actually gets used in New Hampshire. More than in a comparable state, because New Hampshire has no FAIR Plan and no property residual-market facility. Hard-to-place property has nowhere else to go. The Commissioner could create a plan by rule under RSA 404-C:1 — the authority is there and unused — but as things stand, the surplus lines market is the residual market for property here. For an auto risk the picture is different: the Automobile Reinsurance Facility exists for private passenger auto, so surplus lines is not the fallback there.
What the New Hampshire License Costs
New Hampshire is one of the cheapest states in the country to get licensed in, and the reason is what it does not charge you for. There is no pre-licensing course to buy, because the requirement was repealed on July 11, 2008. There is no fingerprint fee, because New Hampshire fingerprints no resident producers at all. What is left is the exam and the license.
| Item | Cost | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Exam, this line | $59 per attempt | PSI |
| Pre-licensing education | $0 — not required | — |
| Fingerprints / background check | $0 — not required | — |
| Application and license fee | $210 | NH Insurance Department, via NIPR |
| NIPR transaction fee | A few dollars, shown at checkout | NIPR |
| Running total | about $269 |
The $210 is set by RSA 400-A:29, X(a) as an "application and license fee," and it is charged per licence rather than per line of authority — New Hampshire issues one producer licence and lists the lines on it. Adding a line later costs you an exam plus the $50 amendment fee under RSA 400-A:29, X(c) — not another $210.
The exam fee is not refundable and not transferable, and the bulletin puts that in capitals for a reason: if you fail, you re-register and pay again. There is no discount on a retake. The fee itself stays valid for one year from the date of payment, so a registration you never use does not evaporate immediately.
The fees you will meet later are worth knowing now. From RSA 400-A:29, X: biennial renewal $150, appointment $25 and termination of appointment $25, amendment to a licence $50 (a name or address change is excluded from that fee), additional fee for late renewal $150, and late completion of continuing education $50. Reinstatement is not in that fee schedule: NIPR publishes $300 for a New Hampshire reinstatement, while the Department's own FAQ describes the late charge as double the licence fee and RSA 402-J:7 states the penalty as double the unpaid renewal fee. Confirm the current figure with the Department before relying on it.
Surplus lines adds no examination fee, because there is no surplus lines exam. What it does add is the $50 amendment fee under RSA 400-A:29, X(c) if the authority is added to an existing licence rather than requested on the original application.
Eligibility Requirements
RSA 402-J:6 sets a short list, and it is worth reading for what is absent as much as for what is there. The Commissioner issues the licence to an individual who:
- is at least 18 years of age;
- has not committed any act that is a ground for denial, suspension or revocation under RSA 402-J:12;
- has paid the fees set out in RSA 400-A:29; and
- has successfully passed the examinations for the lines of authority requested.
That is the whole test. There is no pre-licensing education, no fingerprint card, no criminal history record check, and no residency waiting period. New Hampshire is one of a small number of states that runs a producer licensing system with no biometric background check at all — nothing in RSA 402-J, nothing in RSA 400-A:29's fee schedule, and nothing in rule chapter Ins 1300 creates one.
What replaces it is self-disclosure. The Uniform Application carries background questions, and a "yes" answer obliges you to submit a written explanation and the court or regulatory documents behind it. Those documents must reach the Department within 30 days of the electronic application or the application is denied. A felony conviction remains an express ground to deny or revoke under RSA 402-J:12, I(f) — New Hampshire simply learns about it from you rather than from a records check.
One ground in that list is distinctly New Hampshire and worth naming: RSA 402-J:12, I(k) makes "improperly using notes or any other reference material to complete an examination for an insurance license" a statutory ground for denial or revocation in its own right. Most states handle exam misconduct as a vendor matter. New Hampshire wrote it into the licensing statute, and the administrative fine reaches $2,500 per violation.
Keeping the New Hampshire Casualty License
Important CE details: 24 hours per 24-month cycle. Ethics has a floor AND a ceiling: at least 3, at most 10. Deadline is 60 days before expiry, and expiry is the last day of your birth month. First-cycle producers are covered by their exam pass. No carryover, no long-service or designation exemption, $50 penalty for a late filing.
New Hampshire licences are biennial, and they expire on the last day of your birth month — not on the anniversary of issue, and not on a fixed statewide date. Your first term is therefore short or long rather than a clean two years: it runs to the second birth month after the licence is issued, which in practice is anywhere from about 13 to 25 months.
RSA 402-J:7 frames the licence as continuous rather than expiring: it "shall remain in effect unless revoked or suspended as long as the fee set forth in RSA 400-A:29 is paid and educational requirements for resident individual producers are met by the due date." Miss either and it stops.
The CE requirement — RSA 402-J:7-a and Ins 1302.03:
- 24 hours of Commissioner-approved instruction in the preceding 24 months.
- At least 3 and no more than 10 of those hours may be ethics. New Hampshire caps ethics as well as requiring it, which is unusual — most states set only a floor. You cannot fill the cycle with ethics courses.
- A credit hour means at least 50 minutes of instruction, and the same course cannot be counted twice in one renewal period.
- Everything must be completed and reported 60 days before your renewal date. Not by the expiration date — sixty days ahead of it.
- Passing the state producer licensing exam satisfies the ensuing renewal (Ins 1302.03(g)). A brand-new producer does not owe CE for the first cycle.
The 60-day lead is the single most expensive detail on this page, because it is not the deadline people assume. Your licence expires on the last day of your birth month; your CE was due two months before that. The renewal window itself opens 60 days before expiration and closes at midnight on the expiration date, so the CE deadline and the opening of the renewal window fall on roughly the same day. A producer who starts thinking about renewal when the window opens has already missed the CE deadline.
Fall short and Ins 1302.05 is blunt: no further licence issues until compliance is demonstrated. A $50 late-CE fee applies on top. Miss the renewal fee instead and RSA 402-J:7 charges a penalty of double the unpaid renewal fee. A lapsed licence can be reinstated within 24 months without re-examination; past two years you apply as a new licensee and sit the exam again.
New Hampshire allows no carryover of excess hours into the next cycle, and grants no exemption for long service or for professional designations — a producer with thirty years and a CLU owes the same 24 hours as everyone else. The only exemptions are nonresident reciprocity and the exam-passage credit above.
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