South Dakota Insurance Exam Guides
Pick the license you're studying for. Each guide covers South Dakota-specific requirements, fees, and official links — plus a free practice exam. Then scroll down to explore the South Dakota exam's state-law material, mapped.
Free study resource
What's actually tested on the South Dakota exam — the state regulations, mapped
Every South Dakota insurance exam reserves a block of questions for South Dakota-specific law — the fees, deadlines, limits, and rules that generic national study guides gloss over. This is that material: 151 facts from the TESTivity South Dakota 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 16 facts
The life insurance rules that differ by state — free look, grace, reinstatement.
- Incontestability period tested2 years from date of issue - and note South Dakota's exception clause, which is wider than the national baseline. SDCL 58-15-10 makes the policy incontestable "except for nonpayment of premiums or fraud on the part of the applicant or insured" after two years in force during the insured's lifetime. Health and accidental-death provisions are excluded from the run
- Grace period for individual life tested30 days for ordinary life - "or of four weeks in the case of industrial life insurance policies the premiums for which are payable more frequently than monthly," per SDCL 58-15-13. The policy stays in full force during the grace period and any overdue premium is deducted from the proceeds
- Window to reinstate a lapsed policy tested3 years from the date of premium default - 2 years for industrial life. SDCL 58-15-22 conditions it on the policy not having been surrendered for cash value, the cash value not exhausted and any paid-up term not expired, plus written application, "evidence of insurability satisfactory to the insurer," all overdue premiums, and payment or reinstatement of policy indebtedness with interest under 58-15-15.6
- Max interest chargeable on reinstatement, if capped testedThe rate is borrowed rather than fixed. SDCL 58-15-22 requires overdue premiums and policy indebtedness to be paid "with interest at a rate as provided in s 58-15-15.6" - and 58-15-15.6 is by its own catchline a POLICY LOAN section. It gives the insurer an election rather than a number: for policies issued on or after July 1, 1982, either "a maximum interest rate of not more than eight percent per annum" or an adjustable maximum the insurer sets from time to time. The section carries no numbered subsections, so there is no 58-15-15.6(1) to cite
- Suicide exclusion period tested2 years - and it is PERMITTED, not mandatory. SDCL 58-15-45 is framed as a ban on death-cause exclusions with a carve-out: a policy "may contain" a provision excluding "Death within two years from the date of issue of the policy as a result of suicide, while sane or insane." An insurer that omits it has no suicide exclusion at all
- Free look for individual life tested10 days, and the clock runs from ACTUAL RECEIPT by the purchaser, not from delivery. SDCL 58-15-8.1 requires the notice printed on or attached to the face page, requires the cancellation request to be WRITTEN, and lets the policy be returned to the home office, a branch office "or to the insurance producer through whom it was purchased." Compare the health free look at 58-17-11, which runs from delivery - South Dakota deliberately does not harmonise the two
- Free look for annuities tested10 days from actual receipt under SDCL 58-15-59.1 - but the section reaches "Every individual annuity contract, excluding variable annuity contracts." Variable annuities sit outside it, and so does anything issued before July 1, 1978
- Free look when a policy is being replaced testedSouth Dakota puts the replacement duties in the RULES, not the Codified Laws: ARSD 20:06:08:49 to :65. Under 20:06:08:50 the producer must obtain a signed statement about existing coverage; if the answer is yes, the producer must "present and read to the applicant, not later than at the time of taking the application," the Appendix D replacement notice, and leave it with them. If the answer is no, "the producer's duties with respect to replacement are complete"
- Free look for long-term care tested30 days. SDCL 58-17B-9 gives the policyholder the right to "return the policy within thirty days of its delivery" for a refund. Medicare supplement matches at 30 days under SDCL 58-17A-8, which adds that the refund must be paid "directly to the applicant by the issuer within thirty days of receipt of the returned policy"
- Required nonforfeiture options testedCash surrender value, reduced paid-up insurance, and extended term insurance, under South Dakota's Standard Nonforfeiture Law
- Registrations required to sell variable products testedThe Life line plus a variable life and variable annuity qualification - SDCL 58-30-152(5) lists it as its own line of authority. NIPR adds the practical gate: a FINRA CRD number is required for the variable lines, and no South Dakota exam row exists for variable products
- Does the state regulate viatical/life settlements? testedNOT under the insurance code. A viatical settlement is a SECURITY in South Dakota: ARSD 20:08:07:31, a Division of Securities rule, provides that "Pursuant to SDCL 47-31B-102(28), viatical settlements are defined as securities," and that everyone involved in offering or selling them is subject to the registration and antifraud provisions of SDCL chapter 47-31B. Title 58 contains no viatical or life settlement chapter at all
- Viator's rescission window testedThere is no rescission window in the insurance code to cite, because South Dakota does not regulate viaticals as insurance. ARSD 20:08:07:31 incorporates the NASAA "Guidelines Regarding Viatical Investments" as of May 1, 2004 by reference, and the securities chapter SDCL 47-31B governs. A producer asked about a viatical in South Dakota is being asked about somebody else's licence
- Has the state adopted the NAIC best interest standard? testedYes - SDCL 58-33A-16.1, effective January 1, 2023 (SL 2022, ch 186, s 7). The producer must exercise "reasonable diligence, care, and skill" to know the consumer's situation, understand the options, have a reasonable basis for the recommendation and "communicate the basis or bases of the recommendation," plus obtain consumer profile information first. Training: 4 hours for producers licensed on or after January 1, 2023, before selling annuities; a 1-hour update for those licensed before it, due June 30, 2023
- Interest on life insurance death proceeds testedOwed by statute, and the trigger is narrower than producers expect. SDCL 58-15-26.2 sets the rate at four percent per annum "or not less than the current rate of interest on death proceeds left on deposit with the insurer under an interest settlement option, whichever rate is greater," running "from the date of death of the insured until the date of payment." The proof-of-death condition and the sixty-day delay in the same section apply ONLY to private placement policies - for an ordinary policy interest runs from death, with no proof-of-death precondition
- Misstatement of age testedMandatory, and the adjustment runs both ways. SDCL 58-15-9 requires a provision that if the age of the insured "or of any other person whose age is considered in determining the premium or benefit has been misstated, any amount payable or benefit accruing under the policy shall be such as the premium would have purchased at the correct age or ages." Annuities get their own version at 58-15-60, which reaches misstatement of age OR SEX
Health 18 facts
Health coverage rules — continuation, prompt pay, mandates, public programs.
- Has the state expanded Medicaid under the ACA? testedYES — South Dakota EXPANDED Medicaid under the ACA, effective July 1, 2023, following a 2022 voter-approved constitutional amendment
- Effective date of expansion, if expanded testedJuly 1, 2023 — the effective date set by the 2022 constitutional amendment
- Agency administering Medicaid testedThe South Dakota Department of Social Services (DSS); the program is the South Dakota Medical Assistance Program (Medicaid)
- Federal marketplace or state-based exchange testedA FEDERALLY-FACILITATED marketplace (HealthCare.gov) — South Dakota did not build a state exchange
- Name of the state CHIP program testedSouth Dakota's CHIP is administered by the Department of Social Services within the state's Medical Assistance (Medicaid) program
- Clean-claim payment deadline, electronic tested30 CALENDAR days for a clean claim submitted electronically. SDCL 58-12-20 says "calendar days" on its own face rather than leaving the word to a definitions section
- Clean-claim payment deadline, paper tested45 calendar days for a clean claim not submitted electronically. South Dakota does split by medium - 30 electronic against 45 paper - and separately gives the carrier 30 calendar days to request additional information and the claimant 30 calendar days to supply it
- Does the state distinguish electronic vs paper claims? testedYes. SDCL 58-12-20 sets 30 calendar days for electronic and 45 for non-electronic. What South Dakota does NOT do is impose a portfolio percentage test - there is no "95 percent of clean claims within N days" standard; the duty is per claim. SDCL 58-12-21 also states there is no private right of action
- Interest / penalty on late claim payment testedNone specified. SDCL 58-12-20 fixes the clocks but no interest rate, and 58-12-21 forecloses a private action. The enforcement route is the unfair claims regime instead - and South Dakota has two of them, in different chapters, with different reach
- Is the IRO's external review decision binding on the plan? testedYes as against the carrier. ARSD chapter 20:06:53 runs 80 rules across standard, expedited and experimental/investigational tracks; the director assigns the independent review organisation; :30 and :52 require the carrier to approve on reversal, and :54 is titled "Binding nature of external review decision." The internal grievance must be exhausted first (:07), with defined completion at :08 and waiver at :11
- Employer size at which federal COBRA applies testedFederal COBRA applies at 20 or more employees. South Dakota's own continuation chapter, 58-18C, is not keyed to employer size at all - it is keyed to the employer ceasing operations, failing to pay premiums or cancelling the group policy, which is a different trigger rather than a smaller one
- Employer size range covered by state continuation testedNo employee-count threshold at all. SDCL chapter 58-18C is a standalone continuation chapter, not a small-employer mini-COBRA, and it carries no size limit anywhere - do not read chapter 58-18B's small-group thresholds into it. Its triggers are the employer ceasing operations, which 58-18C-1 defines as the business having "closed or discontinued its business operations" or being sold in a way that leaves the purchaser with its own taxpayer identification number; failing to submit premium payment; or cancelling the coverage AND not notifying the employees, the notice being due "no later than ten days after the date of cancellation"
- Duration of state continuation coverage tested12 months. SDCL 58-18C-1 provides continuation "for a period of twelve months," and for someone already inside a continuation term, "for the remainder of the continuation term or twelve months, whichever is less"
- Election period for state continuation testedMore than one clock, and a single number is the wrong answer. SDCL 58-18C-5 gives thirty days "of receipt of due notice of termination of coverage of the group and upon payment of premiums from the date of termination." But SDCL 58-18C-1 gives SIXTY days from being notified of the loss of coverage where the employer failed to submit premium payment or cancelled without notifying employees - and caps everything: "Whether notice is provided or not, the election period for continuation of coverage may expire ninety days from the date the group coverage terminated." Eligibility separately requires six months of continuous prior coverage under 58-18C-3
- Max premium as % of group rate testedNot more than 125 percent of the group rate. SDCL 58-18C-8: "The premium for a continuation policy may not be greater than one hundred twenty-five percent of the group rate"
- Free look on an individual accident and health policy tested10 days from DELIVERY - SDCL 58-17-11, "within ten days of its delivery to said purchaser." That is a different trigger from the life free look at 58-15-8.1, which runs from actual receipt, and South Dakota does not harmonise them. One exclusion: single premium nonrenewable policies
- Proof of loss on a health claim tested90 days - "within ninety days after the termination of the period for which the insurer is liable" for a continuing loss, or "within ninety days after the date of such loss" otherwise, under SDCL 58-17-24. The saving clause is the part worth quoting: failure "shall not invalidate nor reduce any claim if it was not reasonably possible and in no event, except in the absence of legal capacity, later than one year from the time proof is otherwise required." There is no equivalent statutory clock on the PROPERTY side
- Medicare supplement for people under 65 testedAvailable - and the rule is in the administrative rules, not the statute. ARSD 20:06:13:84: "Any individual, regardless of age, who becomes eligible for Medicare by reason of age or disability, is entitled to open enrollment into any Medicare supplement policy if application is made within six months of enrollment in Part B of Medicare." Carriers may rate disability-qualified enrollees as a class only where actuarially justified and not above the rate charged to age-qualified 75-year-olds. There is no birthday rule in South Dakota
Auto 12 facts
Auto insurance — minimum limits, fault system, required coverages.
- Fault-based (tort) or no-fault testedTORT (at-fault) — the at-fault driver's liability insurance pays the other party's damages. South Dakota is not a no-fault state and does not mandate PIP.
- Minimum bodily injury liability per person tested$25,000 per person - and the figures sit in Title 32, not Title 58. SDCL 32-35-70 requires coverage of "twenty-five thousand dollars because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident"
- Minimum bodily injury liability per occurrence tested$50,000 per accident "because of bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in any one accident," under SDCL 32-35-70. The same section requires the policy to cover "the person named therein and any other person as insured, using any insured vehicle or vehicles with the express or implied permission of the named insured"
- Minimum property damage liability tested$25,000 "because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident," under SDCL 32-35-70. Note that a named-driver exclusion or coverage reduction under SDCL 58-11-9.3 cannot go below these minimum liability figures
- The memorizable shorthand (e.g. 30/60/25) tested25/50/25 - twenty-five thousand per person, fifty thousand per accident, twenty-five thousand property damage, all from SDCL 32-35-70. Sitting above them, and not reducible, are the mandatory uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages at 58-11-9 and 58-11-9.4
- Uninsured motorist: mandatory / must be offered & rejectable / not required testedMANDATORY and not rejectable. SDCL 58-11-9 is prohibitory - no policy "may be delivered or issued for delivery in this state with respect to any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this state, except for snowmobiles, unless coverage is provided therein" - up to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident unless the insured asks for more. There is no rejection or waiver mechanism in the section. Government-owned vehicles and snowmobiles are the exceptions, and they are the SAME exceptions the underinsured section carries
- Underinsured motorist status testedMANDATORY, and a SEPARATE provision from UM. SDCL 58-11-9.4 is its own section: "No motor vehicle liability policy of insurance may be issued or delivered in this state ... unless underinsured motorist coverage is provided therein," at the policy's bodily injury limits capped at $100,000/$300,000 unless more is requested. Its exception list is identical to 58-11-9's - government vehicles and snowmobiles - not different. Watch the catchline, which reads "to be available with liability policies" and sounds optional; the operative text is prohibitory and controls
- Personal injury protection status testedNot required, and South Dakota mandates no first-party medical component at all. SDCL 32-35-70 sets liability limits only. Medical payments coverage is an optional filed-form product
- Contributory / pure comparative / modified comparative negligence testedSouth Dakota's rule is its own, and the statute's word is SLIGHT. SDCL 20-9-2: contributory negligence "does not bar a recovery when the contributory negligence of the plaintiff was slight in comparison with the negligence of the defendant, but in such case, the damages shall be reduced in proportion to the amount of plaintiff's contributory negligence." It is neither pure comparative nor a 50-percent bar
- The bar percentage, if modified comparative testedThere is no percentage. SDCL 20-9-2 sets a comparative standard - the plaintiff's negligence must be "slight in comparison with" the defendant's - and never converts it to a number, which is exactly what makes South Dakota the odd one out on this question
- Assigned risk / residual market plan for auto testedAn assigned risk plan under SDCL 58-11-57, which the statute does not name. The section directs the director, "After consultation with insurance companies authorized to issue automobile liability policies in this state," to approve "reasonable plans for the equitable apportionment" of policies for applicants unable to buy through ordinary methods. SDCL 58-11-53 makes notice of assigned-risk eligibility part of an auto cancellation or nonrenewal notice
- Any alternative to buying liability insurance (e.g. VA's UMV fee) testedSouth Dakota requires proof of financial responsibility to license or operate a motor vehicle; most people comply by buying auto insurance (there is no 'pay a fee to drive uninsured' option)
CE & Renewal 17 facts
Continuing education and renewal rules — the numbers the exam loves.
- How long a license lasts before renewal testedPerpetual until it lapses, renewed biennially - and the two halves live in different sections. SDCL 58-30-153 supplies no term at all: the licence "shall remain in effect unless revoked, suspended, or expired as long as the fee set forth in s 58-2-29 is paid and the education requirements for resident individual insurance producers are met by the due date." 58-30-74 says "annually or biennially" without choosing. The actual clock is in the continuing-education statute, 58-30-116
- What the renewal date keys off (flat term / birthday / birth year) testedThe last day of your birth month, biennially. SDCL 58-30-116 opens with the clock: "Biennially, beginning April 1, 2012, on the last day of the licensee's birth month." There is no odd/even-year cycle keyed to birth year anywhere in the statutes, the rules or the Division's pages - and the birth-month basis does not reach business entities (July 1 biennially), managing general agents or portable electronics (July 1 annually), or bail bonds (May 1 annually)
- CE hours per renewal period, standard case tested10 CE credit hours every 2 years for a producer holding Life/Health OR Property/Casualty
- CE hours if holding multiple license types (if different) tested20 hours, and the cap is written as a proviso rather than a rule. SDCL 58-30-116(1) requires ten hours per classification, then adds: "However, no more than twenty hours of continuing education may be required of any licensee holding multiple insurance producer licenses." Subdivision (2), the four-hour crop hail line, carries no such cap
- Ethics hours required per period testedNone. Neither SDCL 58-30-116 nor ARSD 20:06:18:03 - the five-subdivision hour rule - carries an ethics sub-requirement, and the Division's CE summary page states none. South Dakota is unusual in this; most states carve out ethics hours
- Limits on who may provide CE credits testedCourses and providers are approved by the Division and rosters are uploaded to SBS by the provider, not the producer, "within fourteen (14) days of the conclusion of the course." Two rules bite the licensee directly: ARSD 20:06:18:18 prohibits carry-over outright - "No continuing education credit hours may be carried over from one two-year period to the next two-year period" - and ARSD 20:06:18:20 provides that neither a student nor an instructor "may earn credit for attending or instructing any continuing education course more than once during a two-year period"
- Initial long-term care training requirement testedLong-term care training runs on two clocks, not one: 8 hours before "selling, soliciting, or negotiating long-term care insurance," then 4 hours "within every twenty-four-month license renewal period." It is the only one of South Dakota's three product-training gates that recurs. Whether those hours also count toward the CE total is not stated - contrast flood training, which the Division says "may be approved for three hours of continuing education credit"
- What happens if CE is not completed (fine / expiry / cancellation) testedThe licence lapses and "all appointments will be terminated" - the appointment consequence is the one producers forget. Reinstatement requires completing all outstanding CE plus an additional fee
- Late renewal / reinstatement tiers tested$40 - double the $20 renewal - inside a window running from the day after expiry to one year past it. The Division's FAQ describes the same doubling and adds the condition that reinstatement requires having held a valid licence for at least one year beforehand. During the lapse, "No producer may transact the business of insurance in South Dakota while his or her license is in a state of lapse" - there is no grace period in which the licence still works
- Any CE exemption (e.g. long-service agents) testedFour automatic exemptions - limited licences for credit life and credit health, travel accident and baggage, bail bonds, and surety bonds. Exemption on request is available to producers outside the United States, active military, the disabled, and those practising law in South Dakota. And non-resident producers are exempt outright: "You only need to comply with CE requirements in your home state"
- Whether extra CE hours roll forward testedThey do not, and the rule leaves no room: ARSD 20:06:18:18, "Carry-over of credits prohibited" - "No continuing education credit hours may be carried over from one two-year period to the next two-year period." Its companion at 20:06:18:20 blocks the other shortcut: neither a student nor an instructor "may earn credit for attending or instructing any continuing education course more than once during a two-year period"
- CE when you add a line mid-cycle testedYou get a free pass until the next cycle. ARSD 20:06:18:03.01: "Any licensee who obtains a new line of authority during the licensee's two-year continuing education period does not need to fulfill the requirements of s 20:06:18:03 for the new line of authority until the next two-year period." So adding Property mid-term does not retroactively raise a Life-only producer to twenty hours
- Getting more time for CE testedOnly for good cause, and only if you ask early. ARSD 20:06:18:13 lets the director extend the deadline where the licensee shows good cause - defined to include "disability, death, natural disaster, or other extenuating circumstances" - on a written request that must reach the director at least 21 days before the deadline. The Division caps the extension at one year
- The crop hail arithmetic testedCrop hail is the line that changes the maths. Crop alone is 4 hours. Crop plus one other line is 10 hours, of which exactly two must be crop hail - and only two crop hail hours count toward the ten. Crop plus both major groups is 20 hours with two of them crop hail. The Division's own table renders it as 2 crop + 8 property/casualty + 10 life/health for a producer holding all three
- Who reports your CE and by when testedThe provider, not you. Course providers and instructors upload attendees to SBS "within fourteen (14) days of the conclusion of the course." The producer never self-reports a completion - which means a course sat close to a birth-month deadline can still be outstanding on the Division's screen after the deadline has passed
- When the renewal window opens testedTwo primary sources give two answers and both are worth knowing. The Division's resident producer page says the window opens 60 days before the deadline; NIPR's South Dakota renewal page says "Starts: 90 days prior to license expiration date." NIPR is the system that actually opens the filing, the Division is the regulator - so treat 60 days as the safe planning figure and expect the filing to be available earlier
- The three product-specific training gates testedAnnuity best interest, long-term care and flood - and they behave differently. Annuity: 4 hours one-time for producers licensed on or after January 1, 2023, or a 1-hour update for those licensed before it, due June 30, 2023. Long-term care: 8 hours initially plus 4 hours in every 24-month renewal period - the only recurring one. Flood: federal in origin, and the Division says it "may be approved for three hours of continuing education credit," which is the only one of the three where the CE question is answered
Property 12 facts
Property insurance — rate regulation, residual markets, catastrophe exposure.
- Rate regulation system (file-and-use / prior approval / use-and-file) testedFILE-AND-USE, and the statute says it in one sentence. SDCL 58-24-10: "The filing date is the effective date thereof unless the insurer proposes an effective date subsequent to the filing date." Two carve-outs sit in the same section - inland marine risks not customarily written to manual rates, and motor vehicle insurance, which runs under 58-24-10.1. The director may pull a line into prior approval under 58-24-10.2 "on finding that closer supervision is required"
- Is insurance credit scoring permitted in personal lines? testedNo South Dakota statute or rule on credit-based insurance scores was located - not in the Title 58 chapter index, not in chapter 58-11, not in the 60-chapter ARSD article 20:06 index. Treat this as an absence of regulation rather than as a published permission, and do not tell a South Dakota consumer that a credit-scoring statute protects them
- Does the state have a FAIR Plan? testedNo. There is no FAIR plan, joint underwriting association or property residual market chapter anywhere in Title 58's 79 chapters. What South Dakota does operate is narrower: an automobile assigned risk plan under SDCL 58-11-57, and a health insurance risk pool under ARSD chapter 20:06:48
- Name of the FAIR Plan, if any testedNone exists to name. The only residual mechanism in the insurance code is the auto assigned risk plan, and SDCL 58-11-57 does not name that either - it simply directs the director to "approve reasonable plans for the equitable apportionment of motor vehicle liability policies of applicants who are in good faith entitled to but are unable to procure policies through ordinary methods"
- Coastal windstorm pool, if any (e.g. TWIA) testedNone — South Dakota is landlocked and has no coastal wind pool or beach plan
- Dominant catastrophe perils in the state testedHail (a leading loss driver), tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, straight-line wind, and winter storms and blizzards — South Dakota's exposure is severe-convective and winter weather, not coastal hurricane
- What license you must already hold to write surplus lines testedA South Dakota SURPLUS LINE BROKER licence - the state's own term, singular "line," and "broker" rather than producer. The fee is $50 resident or non-resident, and SDCL 58-32-10.1 requires a bond of a resident surplus line broker, which is the one bond South Dakota does impose on a licence class (there is no producer E&O or bond mandate at all)
- Is a diligent-effort search of the admitted market required first? testedYes - and South Dakota calls it "diligent effort," not diligent search. SDCL 58-32-17 permits export only "after diligent effort has been made to do so, from insurers authorized to transact and actually writing that kind and class of insurance in this state." NO minimum number of declinations is stated anywhere in chapter 58-32, and there is no surplus lines chapter in the administrative rules at all - so the familiar "three declinations" answer is not South Dakota's
- Whether South Dakota has a valued policy law testedYes - and it is in the insurable interest chapter, not a fire chapter. SDCL 58-10-10 covers real property wholly destroyed "by fire, tornado, or lightning" (three perils, not one) and makes "the amount of insurance written in the policy ... conclusively ... the true value of the property insured and the true amount of the loss." The provisos matter: the loss must fall 90 or more days after issuance or after a 25-percent-or-greater increase in limits, appurtenant structures settle at replacement or actual cash value "unless a specific value was assigned to each structure or property prior to the loss," and the whole section is switched off for a building "insured under a commercial blanket form with one amount covering two or more buildings." Partial losses are not addressed at all
- Whether South Dakota prescribes a standard fire policy testedIt does not. There is no fire policy chapter in Title 58 - chapter 58-24 is rates, not forms. The mechanism is generic instead: SDCL 58-11-5 requires contracts to carry "such standard or uniform provisions as are required by the applicable provisions of this title," and control comes through form filing and approval under 58-11-12 and 58-11-63 to 58-11-77 with ARSD chapter 20:06:28. Consequences follow: no statutory appraisal clause and no statutory property proof-of-loss deadline - both are matters of the filed form
- The paperwork after a surplus line placement testedAn affidavit within 30 days. SDCL 58-32-20 requires the surplus line broker to file, on a form the director prescribes, within thirty days after the insurance was procured, "facts from which it can be determined whether such insurance was eligible for export." Records under 58-32-39 must cover daily reports, certificates, gross and return premiums, rates, terms, insurer proportions and the risk's description and location - though no retention period is stated anywhere
- Who pays the surplus line premium tax, and to whom testedThe broker, through the Division, to the state treasurer - SDCL 58-32-44, remitted before April 1 each year, or quarterly where the prior year's collections exceeded $5,000. The section states no percentage of its own; it sets the tax "at the rate and in the manner provided by s 10-44-2." Independently procured coverage is a different regime with a different taxpayer: under 58-32-52 the INSURED is liable, and 58-32-55 excludes life, health and annuities from it
Guaranty 10 facts
The safety nets when an insurer fails — and their limits.
- Name of the life & health guaranty association testedThe South Dakota Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association
- Life death benefit limit tested$300,000 in life insurance death benefits, "but not more than one hundred thousand dollars in net cash surrender and net cash withdrawal values for life insurance" - the $100,000 is a sub-limit inside the same subparagraph, C(2)(a)(i), not a free-standing second cap. And no cap in the section is keyed to the date of insolvency; the insolvency-date language lives in the exclusions at subpart B(2)
- Life cash surrender / withdrawal value limit tested$100,000 in net cash surrender or net cash withdrawal value for life insurance - and it is a SUB-LIMIT inside the death-benefit clause rather than a free-standing cap. SDCL 58-29C-46 C(2)(a)(i) reads "Three hundred thousand dollars in life insurance death benefits, but not more than one hundred thousand dollars in net cash surrender and net cash withdrawal values for life insurance." One subparagraph, one life, two interacting ceilings
- Annuity benefit limit tested$250,000 in the present value of annuity benefits (including net cash surrender and withdrawal values)
- Health benefit limit testedThree different health figures, at three different depths of SDCL 58-29C-46 subpart C(2)(a)(ii): $100,000 for coverages not otherwise described, $300,000 for disability income insurance and another $300,000 for long-term care insurance, and $500,000 for health benefit plans. Reading them as one number is the classic error
- Aggregate per-individual cap, if any tested$300,000 in the aggregate with respect to any one life - raised to $500,000 with respect to any one individual where the benefits are health benefit plans under subparagraph 2(a)(ii). A second aggregate sits beside it at C(2)(c)(ii): no more than $5,000,000 in benefits to one owner of multiple nongroup life policies, "regardless of the number of policies and contracts held by the owner"
- Does the state follow the standard NAIC model limits? testedBroadly yes, but the numbering is not the NAIC model's and neither is the depth. SDCL 58-29C-46 is organised into LETTERED subparts A, B, C and D, with the caps at C(2)(a)(i) through (iii), C(2)(b) and C(2)(c). A citation like "58-29C-46(3)" points at subpart B(3) - a long-term care exclusion - and not at a cap at all
- Name of the P&C guaranty association testedThe South Dakota Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association (SDIGA), created in 1970
- Per-claim cap tested$300,000 per CLAIM for covered claims other than workers' compensation - SDCL 58-29A-68(3) says "an amount not exceeding three hundred thousand dollars," and the unit is the claim, not the claimant. Workers' compensation is paid in "the full amount of" the claim under (1). Unearned premium is capped at $25,000 per POLICY under (2), less a $100 deductible on each unearned premium. And an aggregate ceiling of $10,000,000 applies to any one insured and its affiliates for any one insolvent insurer - counting payments by other states' associations - except for workers' compensation claims
- Is using the guaranty association as a sales inducement prohibited? testedYes in both chapters - but the two prohibitions bind different classes and the difference is the exam trap. The life and health ban at SDCL 58-29C-62 opens "No person, including a member insurer, agent, or affiliate of a member insurer" - an OPEN class, with the list illustrative. The property and casualty ban at 58-29A-104 opens "It is unfair trade practice for any insurer or insurance producer" - a CLOSED two-member class
Workers Comp 7 facts
Who must carry workers' compensation and what it pays.
- Is workers' compensation mandatory for private employers? testedNot directly. SDCL 62-5-1 says an employer within the compensation provisions "shall secure the payment of compensation," but the enforcement is indirect: under SDCL 62-5-7 an employer who fails to comply "shall be deemed to have elected not to operate under the provisions of this title" - which forfeits the exclusive-remedy protection of 62-3-2 and opens the employer to common-law suit. The compulsion is the loss of immunity, not a penalty
- Employee count at which coverage is required testedNo employee count triggers coverage, because the duty is not structured as a headcount threshold. What matters instead is whether the work is within the title at all - SDCL 62-1-3 excludes work "not in the usual course of the trade, business, occupation, or profession of the employer" and certain elected or appointed officials, and 62-3-15 to 62-3-17 handle domestics and agricultural labour, with 62-3-5.1 letting a corporate officer reject coverage by notice
- Agency administering workers' compensation testedThe South Dakota Division of Labor and Management (Department of Labor and Regulation), which administers workers' compensation
- Temporary total disability wage replacement rate testedTwo-thirds - "sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the employee's earnings" under SDCL 62-4-3 - with a maximum of 100 percent of the state average weekly wage "computed to the next higher multiple of one dollar." The minimum is phrased oddly and is worth quoting rather than paraphrasing: "not less than one-half of the foregoing percentages of the average weekly wage of the state per week"
- Maximum TTD duration testedTemporary total disability is paid while the worker remains temporarily and totally disabled; the maximum weekly benefit is 100% of the state average weekly wage, adjusted periodically (South Dakota does not use a flat statewide week cap for TTD)
- Deadline to file a claim testedSouth Dakota's workers' compensation deadlines are notice-and-claim clocks in SDCL chapter 62-7 rather than a single limitations period in the coverage chapters, so a bare number is the wrong shape of answer. What the coverage chapters do fix is the seven-consecutive-day waiting period at 62-4-2, which is fully retroactive once satisfied, and the penalty for untimely payment of instalments at 62-4-10.1
- Ways an employer may comply (insure / self-insure / group) testedThree routes, all private - SDCL 62-5-2 lists stock corporations writing workers' compensation, mutual employer's liability associations authorised in the state, and associations exchanging reciprocal or interinsurance contracts. Self-insurance is the fourth route, at 62-5-5, on annual proof of solvency. There is NO South Dakota state fund. Political subdivisions are exempt from the security provisions under 62-5-6
Regulator 9 facts
Who regulates insurance here and what powers the office holds.
- Name of the state insurance regulator testedThe South Dakota Division of Insurance (a division of the Department of Labor and Regulation)
- Title of the person who heads it testedDirector of Insurance - appointed rather than elected, and appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Regulation rather than by the governor directly. The title matters for citation: South Dakota statutes say "the director of the Division of Insurance," never commissioner
- How the commissioner is chosen: elected / appointed by governor / appointed by other body testedAPPOINTED — the Director of Insurance is appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Regulation (who is in turn appointed by the Governor). The Director is NOT elected.
- Where the state's insurance law is codified testedTitle 58 of the South Dakota Codified Laws, with producer licensing at chapter 58-30 and the rules at ARSD article 20:06 (60 chapters), producer licensing being chapter 20:06:18. The official text is at sdlegislature.gov; note that workers' compensation sits outside Title 58 entirely, in Title 62, and the compulsory auto limits sit in Title 32
- Does the regulator sit somewhere unusual (e.g. inside a constitutional commission)? testedSomewhat — insurance is regulated by a DIVISION inside the Department of Labor and Regulation, headed by a Director appointed by that department's Secretary (not a standalone department, not an elected commissioner)
- South Dakota's two unfair claims regimes testedTwo chapters, two tests, two answers on whether a producer is caught. Chapter 58-33 (58-33-67) lists seven acts "In dealing with the insured or representative of the insured," binds "person," and needs no pattern - a single act suffices. Chapter 58-12 (58-12-33, 58-12-34) lists thirteen acts and requires either flagrancy "in conscious disregard" OR "such frequency to indicate a general business practice" - the limbs are disjunctive. And 58-12-31 expressly excludes "any insurance producer licensed pursuant to chapter 58-30, unless an insurance producer is directly involved in the adjudication of claims." Neither chapter creates a private action
- Why South Dakota has two rebating rules testedBecause SDCL 58-33-30 takes life, health and annuity contracts out of sections 58-33-24 to 58-33-27 entirely. Life, disability and annuity rebating runs under 58-33-14 ("no person shall knowingly permit or offer to make or make any contract of life insurance ..."); everything else runs under 58-33-24, which opens "No insurer or any employee or representative thereof, and no insurance producer may pay, allow, or give" and carries one exception - "except to the extent provided for in an applicable filing with the director." Under 58-33-25 the insured who ACCEPTS a rebate commits a misdemeanour too
- Where twisting actually lives testedSDCL 58-33-8 - but the word "twisting" appears only in the catchline. The operative text never uses it: "No person shall make or issue, or cause to be made or issued, any written or oral statement misrepresenting or making incomplete comparisons as to the terms, conditions, or benefits contained in any policy for the purpose of inducing or attempting or tending to induce a policyholder to lapse, forfeit, surrender, retain, exchange, or convert any insurance policy." Note "retain" - the section reaches a producer who talks a client out of a switch as well as into one. Violation is a Class 2 misdemeanour. "Churning" appears nowhere in the chapter's 140 catchlines; that conduct is reached through the replacement rules at ARSD 20:06:08:49 to :65
- The clock on answering the Division tested20 days. SDCL 58-33-66 makes it an unfair or deceptive act to fail to respond to Division inquiries or supply requested documents within twenty days of receipt, and equally to knowingly supply the Division with false, misleading or incomplete information. Its neighbour 58-33-67(1) runs a separate 30-day clock for acting on claim communications from the insured. Two different clocks, two different audiences
Cancellation 8 facts
When and how policies can be canceled or nonrenewed — heavily tested.
- Initial window during which an insurer may cancel more freely tested60 days, for autos - with a proviso that reverses it. SDCL 58-11-47 makes the three permitted cancellation grounds inapplicable to a policy in effect less than sixty days "unless it is a renewal policy," so a renewal is subject to them from day one. 58-11-46 also closes "This section shall not apply to nonrenewal." Property runs its own sixty: SDCL 58-33-61's eight grounds bite only "After sixty days from the effective date of policy issuance"
- Notice days to cancel a homeowners policy inside the initial window tested20 days for property, under SDCL 58-33-60 - notice mailed at least twenty days before the effective cancellation date, "accompanied by a written explanation of the specific reasons for the cancellation." The regime lives inside the Unfair Trade Practices chapter, not a property chapter, and 58-33-59 defines the insurance it reaches by cross-reference to the kinds of insurance at SDCL 58-9-5 to 58-9-27
- Notice days to cancel a personal auto policy inside the initial window tested20 days, and the period does not vary by reason. SDCL 58-11-49 requires the notice "mailed or delivered by the insurer to the named insured at least twenty days before the effective cancellation date." Autos are expressly carved out of the property regime by SDCL 58-33-65: sections 58-33-59 to 58-33-64 "do not apply to the cancellation of automobile policies or coverages"
- Notice days for cancellation for nonpayment testedThe same 20 days - South Dakota does not shorten the notice for nonpayment. What changes is the content: under SDCL 58-11-50 the reason must be stated in the notice itself when the ground is nonpayment, whereas for other grounds the reason may accompany the notice or the notice may tell the insured they can request it in writing
- Notice days for cancellation for other permitted causes testedAfter 60 days an auto policy may be cancelled on THREE grounds only, at SDCL 58-11-46: nonpayment of premium; suspension or revocation of the driver's licence or vehicle registration of the named insured "or of any other operator who either resides in the same household or customarily operates an automobile insured under the policy" - during the policy period and, on a renewal, also during the prior policy period or "the one hundred eighty days immediately preceding its effective date"; and a person insured through the 24/7 sobriety program ceasing to participate through noncompliance. Property gets eight grounds instead, at 58-33-61, and its fifth requires a code violation "which substantially increases any hazard insured against"
- Notice days required for nonrenewal tested60 days for autos - SDCL 58-11-51, a different section from the cancellation cluster and a different clock. Three exceptions: the insurer has manifested willingness to renew; the policyholder is transferred to an insurer in the same group with notice in the Division's prescribed form; or nonpayment of premium. For property, no nonrenewal notice section appears in chapter 58-33's cancellation cluster - verify against the filed form
- Must the reason be stated proactively, on request, or not at all? testedProactively for property - SDCL 58-33-60 requires the cancellation notice to be "accompanied by a written explanation of the specific reasons." For autos it is conditional: stated in the notice for nonpayment, otherwise either accompanying the notice or available on written request under SDCL 58-11-50. Both regimes then give the insured a route to the Division, and neither creates a private action - 58-33-65.1 and 58-11-54 close that door
- Restrictions on nonrenewing because of claims (e.g. weather claims excluded) testedThe distinctive South Dakota rule is a discrimination provision hiding under an automobile catchline. SDCL 58-11-55 is headed "Discrimination in issuance or renewal of automobile insurance policy" and bars refusal to issue or renew solely because of age, residence, race, colour, creed, national origin, ancestry, occupation or marital status - and SDCL 58-11-55.2 extends it, opening with its own exception: "Except as provided by ss 58-15-45 and 58-11-55.1, s 58-11-55 applies to all types of insurance issued by all insurers under Title 58." Read 58-11-55.1 before treating it as a general carve-back: it permits age only for "life, health, or annuity policies" and occupation only for "a life or disability policy," so neither reaches homeowners or personal auto. Separately, the claims-reporting-agency cluster at 58-11-45.1 to 58-11-45.3 IS auto-only: 58-11-45.2 opens "No applicant for insurance seeking a policy for coverage of a motor vehicle"
Licensing 42 facts
How you get and keep the license — exams, fees, applications, background checks.
- Is there a standalone life license/exam? testedYes — a standalone Life exam and line of authority (Life includes annuities)
- Is there a standalone health license/exam? testedYes — a standalone Accident and Health exam and line of authority
- Is there a combined life+health license/exam? testedYes — South Dakota offers a combined Life and Accident & Health exam (145 questions) in addition to the standalone Life and Accident & Health exams
- Is there a personal lines license/exam? testedYes — a Personal Lines line and exam, covering property and casualty sold to individuals for personal, noncommercial purposes
- Is P&C one combined license, or split into Property and Casualty? testedBOTH — Property and Casualty may be taken as separate single-line exams OR as a combined Property & Casualty exam (145 questions); a narrower Personal Lines line is also offered
- Does the life license cover annuities? testedYes - the Life line covers life insurance and annuities, and SDCL 58-33A-16.1's best interest obligations attach to the annuity half. VARIABLE life and variable annuity products are a SEPARATE line of authority in their own right at SDCL 58-30-152(5), not an add-on to Life; South Dakota publishes no examination row for them, and NIPR requires a FINRA CRD number
- Does the P&C license already include personal lines authority? testedYes — holding the Property and Casualty lines (or the combined P&C exam) covers personal-lines risks; standalone Personal Lines is a narrower, personal-only line
- Full list of exam-based agent license types testedLife, Accident and Health or Sickness, Property, Casualty, Personal Lines and Crop, with combination papers for Life/Accident & Health and Property & Casualty, plus Bail Bonds as a limited line. SDCL 58-30-152 lists eight lines of authority, the eighth being a residual catch-all. Note what is absent: South Dakota licenses no property and casualty adjusters and issues no consultant licences at all
- Exam administrator (Prometric / PSI / Pearson VUE) testedPearson VUE, contracted by the Division since January 1, 2018. The corporate name on the programme page is now "Pearson Professional Assessments (formerly Pearson VUE)"; the Division still calls it Pearson VUE. Candidate line: 888-873-6205
- Exam fee tested$85 for any single-line exam - Life, Accident & Health, Property, Casualty, Personal Lines, Crop or Bail Bonds - and $95 for either combination paper, Life/Accident & Health or Property & Casualty. The handbook states the rule in prose and then says what is inside the price: "The examination fee includes the state of South Dakota administrative fee ($10 per exam)." Fees are payable to Pearson at reservation and are "non-refundable and non-transferable, except as detailed in the Change/Cancel Policy"
- License application fee tested$25 for a resident producer license (plus a service fee), paid to NIPR/SBS when the application is submitted ($30 for a nonresident)
- Fee per insurer appointment tested$10 for a resident appointment, $20 non-resident, new or renewal, paid by the insurer. The duty is the insurer's under SDCL 58-30-176 - it files the notice "within fifteen days from the date the agency contract is executed or the first insurance application is submitted," whichever comes first. Appointments renew annually, processed through March 31 with billing due by April 30 or they terminate
- Passing score testedA reported SCALED score of 70 - not 70 percent correct. The handbook is explicit: "the passing score for all examinations is reported as a score of 70," and "Examination scores range from 0 to 100, but should not be interpreted as the percentage or number of correct answers." Only a failing report carries a number; a pass report carries licensure instructions instead
- Minimum age to be licensed tested18 for a producer licence - SDCL 58-30-148 requires the applicant to "be at least eighteen years of age" among four findings the director must make. Bail bonds is 21, and adds a one-year South Dakota residency requirement
- Is pre-licensing education required? testedNO — South Dakota has no pre-licensing education requirement; you may take the exam directly for any line
- Pre-licensing hours and any exceptions (e.g. Title, adjusters) testedNone, for any line. The Division does publish a list of eight optional study-material vendors - 1st Dakota Academy, A.D. Banker, Enterprise Insurance Training, Insurance Training Associates, Kaplan Financial, National Online Insurance School, WebCE and XCEL Solutions - and labels them materials, not a requirement
- Fingerprints, state police report, or none testedNEITHER fingerprints NOR a paid background check, for major-line producers. The Division's fee page prices a $50 Background Check against exactly two rows - Bail Bonds Producer and Bail Bond Runner - and NIPR scopes its fingerprint sentence identically. What the applicant does complete is the application's background questions, with supporting documents filed through NIPR's Attachments Warehouse
- Who takes the prints / issues the report testedFor bail bonds only: the applicant sends an Authorization form with $50 to the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation. Fingerprints there are "Recommended, not a prerequisite." For a Life, Health, Property, Casualty, Personal Lines or Crop producer there is no vendor, because there is no check to run
- How long the background report stays valid testedNot applicable to major-line producers - no report is ordered, so none expires. What does carry forward is the applicant's own disclosure: SDCL 58-30-167 makes a felony conviction, an out-of-state licence action or a child-support order a live ground for refusal or revocation at any time, not only at first application
- Deadline to apply after passing the exam testedApply within 180 days of passing - and not for the first 48 hours. The handbook tells applicants to wait "48 hours (2 days) after successfully passing an exam to allow for the exam results to be uploaded to SBS and NIPR." Pearson pushes the result electronically; the candidate does not carry it
- How long a passed exam remains valid tested180 days, not twelve months. The handbook states that "South Dakota requires that candidates who pass their major line examination must apply within 180 days to be eligible for licensure," and NIPR puts the same rule the other way round - "Insurance exam scores in South Dakota are valid for 180 Days"
- Waiting period before retaking a failed exam tested24 hours. The handbook: candidates "do have the option to retake after 24 hours after their last attempt," scheduled the same way, and "the candidate will be required to pay another exam fee" - $85 or $95 again. Bail Bonds is the outlier, with a one-year exclusion period after a failure
- Limit on number of attempts, if any testedNone published. A term sweep of handbook #124200 for "unlimited," "attempt," "retake," "reexamination," "limit" and "maximum" finds the 24-hour rule and the Bail Bonds exclusion and nothing capping the number of tries at a major-line paper
- Notice required to reschedule/cancel without forfeiting the fee tested24 hours, both ways. You must reserve at least 24 hours ahead - "Walk-in examinations are not available" - and you must cancel or reschedule at least 24 hours ahead to keep the fee. Miss that and "you are responsible for the exam fee," individually, "whether paid individually or by a third party"
- Where you apply (Sircon / NIPR / state portal) testedNIPR or State Based Systems - the Division links to both, and the handbook's licensure step points at statebasedsystems.com. Sircon supports South Dakota as a third channel (apply, renew, appoint, terminate, CE lookup) but is not linked from any Division producer page
- Are temporary licenses available? testedYes - up to 180 days, with no examination, under SDCL 58-30-165. Four grounds: a surviving spouse or court-appointed representative of a deceased or disabled producer, "to allow adequate time for the sale of the insurance business owned by the insurance producer"; a member or employee of a business entity on the death or disability of its designated individual; the designee of a producer entering active military service; and any other circumstance where the director finds "the public interest will be best served." It is not a work-while-you-study licence
- Temporary license duration and training requirement testedUp to 180 days, no examination, on four grounds at SDCL 58-30-165: a surviving spouse or court-appointed representative of a deceased or disabled producer, "to allow adequate time for the sale of the insurance business"; a member or employee of a business entity on the death or disability of its designated individual; the designee of a producer entering active military service; and any other circumstance where the director finds "the public interest will be best served"
- Which exams can be taken from home testedSeven of the nine. The handbook prints a second fee table headed "Online Exams (through OnVUE)" with codes OPSD_Health42, OPSD_LAH45, OPSD_Prop43, OPSD_Cas44, OPSD_PropCas46, OPSD_Pers53 and OPSD_Crop50 - and one footnote explaining the gap: "The SD Life Producer exam is only available in test centers." Bail Bonds has no online row either. Prices are identical online and in centre
- Why two Pearson documents give different question counts testedBecause they do, and both are primary. The handbook fee table (rev08/2026) and the content outlines (effective March 1, 2024) agree on Life/Accident & Health (145), Crop (60) and Bail Bonds (50) and disagree on the other six - Life, Accident & Health, Property and Casualty at 90 against 85, Personal Lines at 101 against 105, and Property & Casualty at 145 against 90. Neither is asserted over the other; the fee table carries the newer stamp and is what a booking screen quotes
- The two combination papers and what they save testedLife, Accident & Health (InsSD_LAH45) and Property & Casualty (InsSD_PropCas46), each 145 questions in 150 minutes for $95. The handbook states the pricing rule in prose rather than a footnote: "The examination fees are $85 for an individual exam or $95 for a combination exam." Two lines of authority for $95 against $170 for two single papers - the only volume discount South Dakota publishes
- Where South Dakota's test centres are testedPearson does not publish a South Dakota list. The handbook says only that "Pearson test centers are available throughout the United States and U.S. territories" and routes candidates to the online locator, and the state programme page names no cities either. What IS published is that out-of-state testing counts: "As a new resident, you may take South Dakota licensing exams in any Pearson test center nationwide before moving to South Dakota"
- What happens if you miss or are late to the exam testedYou are not admitted and you forfeit the fee - but there is a documented route back. Pearson publishes a 14-day excused-absence process on six enumerated grounds: 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. A case number is assigned and supporting documentation is emailed in
- How much identification exam day takes testedOne form, not two. "You must present one form of current signature identification. The primary identification must be government-issued and photo-bearing with a signature" - nine acceptable items, from a driver's licence to an Alien Registration Card. It must be unexpired and it must match the booking name exactly, or "you will not be allowed to test, and the exam fees will be forfeited"
- What you may not bring into the room testedNothing personal, and the list is expressly open-ended: "No personal items are allowed in the testing room. Personal items include but are not limited to: cellular phones, hand-held computers or other electronic devices, pagers, watches, wallets, purses, firearms or other weapons, hats, bags, coats, books and/or notes, pens, and pencils." The next sentence adds "Studying is not allowed in the test center." Breaks are unscheduled, by raised hand, and "The exam clock will not stop"
- What the score report actually tells you testedIt depends which way it went. A pass "receive[s] a score report with information on how to complete the licensure process" - no number. Only a failure "includes a numeric score and diagnostic information for the exam as well information about reexamination." The handbook adds that a test-centre candidate receives the report "before leaving the test center"; it says nothing about when an OnVUE candidate gets theirs. Either way the report is not what reaches the Division - Pearson pushes the result into SBS and NIPR within 48 hours
- Statutory routes around the examination testedNine categories at SDCL 58-30-52, and they are not all automatic. They include prior same-type South Dakota licensure within the preceding five years "if the director deems qualified"; attorneys licensed to practise in the state; producers operating outside the United States; trade association employees issuing surety bonds to members only; persons previously licensed for identical lines in another state on stated conditions; and out-of-state producers relocating to South Dakota who apply within ninety days. Note what is NOT there: no designation waiver for CLU, CPCU, ChFC, CFP, CIC, FLMI or LUTCF appears anywhere
- How many grounds the Division can act on testedThirteen, as numbered subdivisions at SDCL 58-30-167 - not lettered subparagraphs. Two are worth memorising because candidates miss them: subdivision (11), "using notes or other reference material to complete a licensing examination," and subdivision (13), failing to comply with an administrative or court order for child support. Subdivision (12) reaches a producer who knowingly accepts business from an unlicensed person
- The money penalty and its two ceilings tested$5,000 for an insurance producer, $25,000 for an insurer - each per offense, at SDCL 58-4-28.1: "The money penalty may not exceed five thousand dollars for an insurance producer or twenty-five thousand dollars for an insurer, administrator, health maintenance organization, licensee, or registrant for each offense." Two points that get lost: the penalty is "in lieu of a license suspension or other permitted action," not an add-on, and none may be imposed before a chapter 1-26 hearing "unless the applicant, licensee, or registrant agrees to the penalty in writing"
- The appointment and termination clocks testedThree numbers, all of them the insurer's duty rather than the producer's. Appointment: the insurer files notice "within fifteen days from the date the agency contract is executed or the first insurance application is submitted," whichever comes first (SDCL 58-30-176). Termination: the insurer notifies the director "within thirty days" of the effective date (58-30-180), and transmits a copy to the producer "within fifteen days after making the notification" (58-30-182)
- What happens to premium money in your hands testedIt is trust money the moment you touch it. SDCL 58-30-88: "All premiums or return premiums received by an insurance producer shall be trust funds received by the licensee in a fiduciary capacity." Note that it reaches RETURN premiums as well, and names three possible payees - the insured, the insurer, or the producer entitled to it. Misappropriation is theft under 58-30-89, and 58-30-90 requires deposit in a separate account
- Paying or taking a commission without a licence testedBarred on both sides. SDCL 58-30-171: "No insurer or insurance producer may pay a commission, service fee, brokerage, or other valuable consideration to a person for selling, soliciting, or negotiating insurance in this state if that person is required to be licensed ... and is not so licensed." 58-30-172 mirrors it for the person receiving. But 58-30-173 preserves renewal and deferred commissions where the licence was held at the time of the transaction
- Whether South Dakota makes you carry errors and omissions cover testedNo. There is no general errors-and-omissions or bond requirement for producers in SDCL chapter 58-30. The only E&O provision in the chapter, 58-30-126, is scoped to managing general agents and is discretionary - the director "may require" it, "in an amount acceptable to the director." The one licence class that does face a mandatory bond is the surplus line broker, at 58-32-10.1