What Life & Health Authority Means in Tennessee
Holding Life and Accident and Health together covers essentially the whole individual and group insurance market that is not property or liability: term and permanent life, fixed and indexed annuities, disability income, major medical, Medicare supplement, long-term care and the group equivalents.
In Tennessee these are two lines of authority on one licence, not two licences. That distinction is worth holding onto, because it explains the fee structure: two examinations at $55 each, but a single $50 application, a single renewal, a single 24-hour CE obligation and a single expiry date.
Neither line requires pre-licensing education. T.C.A. 56-6-106 imposes a course of study only on title insurance, at 30 hours - which is relevant here only because Title is one of the lines Tennessee will bundle into a combined online sitting, and bundling it into the exam does nothing about its coursework.
And no designation shortens the road. Tennessee grants no exam waivers for CLU, ChFC, CIC or anything else. The examinations are the gate, and the only ways past them are reciprocity from another state, a limited-lines authority, or the temporary licence this guide covers below.
Exam Options & Format
Each single-line exam is 68 scored questions in 1 hour 45 minutes at $55 - 50 General Knowledge items plus 18 Tennessee-Specific items, with 9 unscored pretest questions layered on. Taken separately, the two lines are 136 scored questions across two appointments and $110.
The combined sitting is $80 and it is online-only. Tennessee's test centers sell individual lines and nothing else - the handbook's test-center table lists them one at a time. OnVUE adds a combined Life and Accident & Health exam at $80 and a Life, Accident & Health and Title combination at $125. That is a genuine $30 saving and one fewer appointment, at the cost of committing to remote proctoring.
The handbook publishes no question count and no time limit for the combined sitting. It prints the single-line specifications and stops. The 136 figure quoted here is arithmetic on those published numbers, not a published number in its own right, and the same caution applies to any duration you see quoted for a combined Tennessee exam. Budget generously and expect to be seated a long time.
Both routes are scored the same way - a scaled result on a 0-to-100 range with the Department's passing point at 70. The handbook's warning is worth repeating because it applies to each exam independently: the reported score "is neither the number of questions answered correctly (the raw score) nor the percentage of questions answered correctly." Passing one line and failing the other means retaking only the one you failed, on Tennessee's usual ladder of 10 days then 30.
Most Tested Topics Across Both Tennessee Exams
With both lines in play, the material that spans them is Tennessee's guaranty association and its free-look regime. Both are heavily examined because both are pure state law, and the guaranty numbers in particular are the sort of thing a Tennessee-Specific item can test with a single figure:
| Concept | The Tennessee rule |
|---|---|
| Life and health guaranty association | The Tennessee Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association, T.C.A. 56-12-201 et seq. - a separate body from the property and casualty fund |
| Guaranty limit, life death benefit | $300,000 in life insurance death benefits per insured life (T.C.A. 56-12-204) |
| Guaranty limit, life cash value | $100,000 in net cash surrender and net cash withdrawal values - a much lower figure than the death benefit, and tested on the contrast |
| Guaranty limit, annuity | $250,000 in the present value of annuity benefits, including net cash surrender and withdrawal values. Mind the unit: 56-12-204(c)(2)(A) opens "with respect to one (1) life, regardless of the number of policies or contracts" - it is per life, not per contract owner |
| Guaranty limit, health benefit plans | $500,000 - and the statute's own phrase is "five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for health benefit plans", not 'major medical' |
| Guaranty limit, disability income and LTC | $300,000 |
| Guaranty limit, other health coverages | $100,000 for coverages that are "not disability income insurance, health benefit plans, or long-term care insurance" |
| Guaranty aggregate, per one life | $300,000 in benefits with respect to any one life - rising to $500,000 where a health benefit plan is involved |
| Guaranty as a sales inducement | Prohibited under T.C.A. 56-12-218, 'Sales promotions listing association prohibited - Disclaimer notice': no advertisement may use the association's existence "for the purpose of sales, solicitation, or inducement to purchase any form of insurance" |
| Free look, new individual life or annuity | There is none by statute. Tennessee fixes no general free look for a new individual life policy or annuity - the familiar 10 days is the health provision at T.C.A. 56-26-129 |
| Free look, life or annuity replacement | 20 days - rule 0780-01-24-.07(4) gives the applicant "a right to an unconditional refund of all premiums paid, which right may be exercised within a period of twenty days commencing from the date of delivery of the policy" |
| Free look, long-term care | 30 days from delivery (T.C.A. 56-42-105(f)(1)) |
| Continuing education, the headline | 24 hours per 24-month term including 3 ethics hours, and the number does not rise for holding two lines instead of one |
The aggregate cap is the question, and the hinge is the presence of a health benefit plan. T.C.A. 56-12-204 caps the association at an aggregate of $300,000 in benefits with respect to any one life - and then lifts that to $500,000 where health benefit plan coverage is in the mix. So a client with life insurance and a disability income policy from the same failed insurer is inside a $300,000 aggregate however the individual limits read; add major medical and the ceiling moves. A stem that carefully mentions the type of health coverage is telling you which aggregate applies.
The second reliable point is the gap between the death benefit and the cash value. Both are life insurance limits, both live in the same subsection, and they are $300,000 and $100,000 respectively. Candidates who remember one number for "life" get half of these questions wrong, and the exam knows it.
On free look, the surprise is what Tennessee does not have. There is no general statutory free look for a new individual life policy or annuity here. The 'ten days' everyone quotes is a health rule - T.C.A. 56-26-129, applying to every individual accident and health policy or contract. What the life side does have are two specific windows: 20 days of unconditional refund on a replacement under rule 0780-01-24-.07(4), and 30 days from delivery on long-term care under 56-42-105(f)(1). Learn those three separately rather than as variations on ten.
Exam Day at a Tennessee Test Center
Tennessee is stricter about identification than most states, and it is the reason candidates get turned away. Read this section before you book, not on the morning.
Two forms of identification, not one. The handbook requires that the "candidate must present two (2) forms of current signature identification," and that "the primary identification must be government-issued and photo-bearing with a signature." One driver's licence is one form. It is not two.
What counts as primary - photo and signature, unexpired: a government-issued driver's licence, a U.S. Department of State driver's licence, a U.S. learner's permit (plastic card only, with photo and signature), a national, state or country identity card, a passport, a passport card, a military ID, a military ID for spouses and dependants, or an Alien Registration Card (green card or permanent resident visa).
What counts as secondary - signature, unexpired: a U.S. Social Security card, a debit or credit card, or any form of ID from the primary list. In practice the easiest second document is the bank card already in your wallet, provided it is signed.
Expired is refused. Pearson VUE "does not recognize grace periods." A licence that expired last week is not current identification, whatever your state's renewal rules say. And the consequence is total: "candidates who do not present the required items will be denied admission to the examination, will be considered absent, and will forfeit the examination fee."
Report thirty minutes before the examination. Check-in involves identity verification, a photograph and a signature, and it is not instant. Late arrival is treated as absence.
Nothing comes into the room with you. The handbook's list is broad: "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, or pencils." Note watches and hats in that list - both are routinely overlooked - and note that you supply no writing materials of your own. Everything goes into the secure storage the administrator indicates.
Calculators are allowed, within limits. You "may either bring, or request from the test center, a basic non-scientific calculator," which must function "as an independent device, i.e. not part of a cell phone or any other electronic device." A phone calculator is a phone, and phones are prohibited.
Breaks exist at test centers, but the clock does not stop. "Most sponsors allow unscheduled breaks. To request an unscheduled break, the candidate must raise his/her hand." You must leave the testing room for any break and may not leave the floor or the building - and "the exam clock will not stop while the candidate is taking a break." With 1 hour 45 minutes for 68 questions there is slack for one short break; there is not slack for two. Note that OnVUE is different: the handbook states there are no unscheduled breaks in an online session, so remote candidates should plan to sit continuously. The Accident & Health guide covers OnVUE in full.
Misconduct ends the day and follows you. Anyone "causing a disturbance of any kind or engaging in any kind of misconduct - giving or receiving help; using notes, books, or other aids; taking part in an act of impersonation; or removing examination materials or notes from the examination room - will be summarily dismissed from the examination and will be reported to the state licensing agency." Dismissal forfeits the fee, and the report goes to the regulator you are asking for a licence.
Booking and cancelling have their own clocks. Reservations must be made "at least twenty-four (24) hours before the desired examination date", and changes or cancellations "at least forty-eight (48) hours before the examination." Inside 48 hours the $55 is gone.
Tennessee's Temporary Producer License
Tennessee's temporary licence exists to stop an insurance business from collapsing when the person holding the licence cannot act. It is the one route to producing in Tennessee without an examination, and T.C.A. 56-6-111 sets it out.
Duration is up to 180 days. The statute authorises the Commissioner to issue "a temporary insurance producer license for a period not to exceed one hundred eighty (180) days", and no examination is required for it. Six months is a real runway - long enough to sell a book, wind down an agency, or in the right circumstances to sit the exams properly and convert.
Four situations qualify. The Commissioner may issue a temporary licence to:
| Situation | Who gets it |
|---|---|
| Death or disability of a producer | The surviving spouse, next of kin, or the personal representative of a licensed producer who has died or become disabled |
| Death or disability inside a business entity | A member or employee of a licensed business entity, on the death or disability of the individual designated in the entity's application |
| Military service | The designee of a licensed producer entering active service with the armed forces |
| Public interest | Any other circumstance where the Commissioner considers a temporary licence to be in the public interest |
The Commissioner keeps three levers over it, and all three are discretionary. The authority granted may be limited - it need not be the full scope the deceased or disabled producer held. A sponsor may be required: the statute permits the Commissioner to "require the temporary licensee to have a suitable sponsor who is a licensed producer or insurer and who assumes responsibility for all acts" of the temporary licensee. And the licence may not continue once the owner or personal representative has disposed of the business.
That last condition is the one that shapes how the licence is actually used. It is a transition instrument, not a bridge to a career. Once the book is sold, the reason for the licence is gone and so is the licence - regardless of how much of the 180 days remains.
What it is not. Tennessee's temporary licence is not a trainee permit, not a route around the examination for a new producer, and not available on request to someone who simply has not tested yet. Every qualifying route in 56-6-111 begins with an existing licensee who cannot act. If you are looking for a way to start selling before you pass, this is not it - and Tennessee offers nothing else, because it grants no designation waivers either.
What Life & Health Authority Costs
The exam route decides the price. Two separate test-center exams cost $110. The combined OnVUE sitting costs $80. Adding Title takes it to $125, though Title carries a 30-hour statutory pre-licensing course under T.C.A. 56-6-106, which is a far larger commitment than the $45 gap implies.
The application is one fee, not two. Life and Accident & Health are two lines of authority on a single licence, so you file once at NIPR for $50 and renew once for $60. That is the structural reason the second line is cheap in Tennessee: only the examination scales.
On top sits the IdentoGO fingerprint fee, which TDCI does not publish. No figure is quoted anywhere in this guide for that reason; IdentoGO shows it during booking and will confirm it by phone.
No course fee applies to either line. Tennessee requires no pre-licensing education for Life or Accident & Health, so the largest cost item in mandatory-education states is simply absent.
The expensive mistakes on this page are the procedural ones: turning up with one form of identification rather than two forfeits the fee, as does a reschedule inside 48 hours, a late arrival, or a dismissal for misconduct.
Eligibility Requirements
Be at least 18 years old, pass the examination for every line you want, and satisfy the Commissioner as to your character and trustworthiness. T.C.A. 56-6-106 lists what the application must show; 56-6-107 says that an applicant who has met 56-6-105 and 56-6-106 "shall be issued an insurance producer license" unless licensure is denied under 56-6-112.
Tennessee grants no designation waivers. CLU, ChFC, CPCU, CIC and the rest buy you nothing here. T.C.A. 56-6-109 is the state's exemption-from-examination section, and the only exemption in it is for an individual previously licensed for the same lines of authority in another state - no credential is named. The other no-exam routes are the temporary license at 56-6-111 and limited-lines authority.
Fingerprints are part of the initial application for every resident producer, and they must be on file before you file at NIPR - not after. The Casualty guide walks the IdentoGO process, the universal ORI codes and the two-business-day lead time step by step.
The one exception to the examination requirement is the temporary licence at T.C.A. 56-6-111, covered above - and it is available only in the four situations the statute names, all of which begin with an existing producer who has died, become disabled, or entered active military service.
Keeping Both Lines Active
Important CE details: Two lines, one obligation - the biennial figure matches what a single-line licensee owes. Budget a dozen credits a year and the ethics component never becomes a scramble.
Two lines, one obligation: 24 credit hours per 24-month term, three of them ethics. Tennessee sets continuing education per licensee, not per line, so holding Life and Accident & Health together costs exactly what holding one of them costs. This is the single strongest argument for taking both examinations - the ongoing burden does not move.
The term itself runs 24 months from the last day of your birth month under T.C.A. 56-6-107, and both lines expire on that one date.
Two product trainings sit alongside the count, and both live on this side of the house. Annuities require a one-time 4-credit best-interest training under Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-01-86-.07 - and producers who trained before the 2023 amendments owe either a fresh 4-credit course or an additional one-time 1-credit course. Long-term care requires a one-time eight-hour course under T.C.A. 56-42-109(a)(1), plus ongoing training every 24 months by rule, of no less than four hours. The absence of any pre-licensing requirement in Tennessee changes nothing about either: entry education and product training were always separate obligations.
The only exemption is the 1994 grandfather clause: producers continuously licensed since 1 January 1994 owe no continuing education. Nonresidents satisfy Tennessee by satisfying their home state. The Property & Casualty guide sets out carryover, the late-renewal penalty and the reinstatement window.
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