What This License Is
The Vermont Life line of authority covers "insurance coverage on human lives, including benefits of endowment and annuities" — the statutory language at 8 V.S.A. §4813g(a)(1). It is issued by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), where insurance is one of four divisions alongside banking, securities and captive insurance.
Annuities are written under this line. What is not included is variable life and variable annuity products: §4813g(a)(5) makes those a separate statutory line, and they require FINRA and SEC securities registration on top of the Life licence. Prometric publishes no Vermont variable-products producer exam, because the federal registration does that work.
If you also want accident and health authority, compare this exam against Series 14-29, which covers both in one 150-question sitting for $87. Sitting 14-25 and 14-27 separately costs $146 and 200 questions. Note carefully that passing 14-29 does not create a combined licence — Vermont grants Life and Accident and health or sickness as two separate lines of authority, and the combined paper simply qualifies you for both.
Life Exam Options in Vermont
Prometric administers every Vermont insurance examination, at a test centre or remotely through its ProProctor platform.
| Route | Exam | Scored | Unscored | Time | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Life only | Series 14-25 | 100 | 5 | 2 hr | $73 |
| Life + A&H together | Series 14-29 | 150 | 5 | 2 hr 30 min | $87 |
Vermont prices by exam length rather than charging one flat fee per attempt — $73 for a 100-question paper and $87 for a 150-question one. That narrows but does not close the argument for the combined paper: two single-line exams cost $146 against $87 for one combined sitting.
Vermont publishes no passing score. This is not an omission in this guide. The current Prometric bulletin, the prior 2020 bulletin, all seven producer content outlines, the Vermont insurance exam FAQ, chapter 131 of Title 8 and the continuing-education regulation were each searched for a passing mark, a percentage, or scaled-score language, and none states one. Prepare to the content outline rather than to a number, and if you want the mark before you sit, ask Prometric on 800.868.6113.
What the bulletin does say about scoring is that the combined exams are graded as a whole: "The results of the combination Life Accident and Health, and Property and Casualty examinations are reflected in one final score. You must pass the complete examination to qualify for a license." There is no half credit on 14-29.
Most Tested Topics on the Vermont Life Exam
Vermont writes its life policy provisions into one statutory section — 8 V.S.A. §3731, the standard provisions — and the state-specific questions come almost entirely from it. From the TESTivity Vermont regulations curriculum, statute-verified:
| Concept | The Vermont rule | Cite |
|---|---|---|
| Incontestability, individual life | 2 years from date of issue, during the insured's lifetime, except for nonpayment | §3731(4) |
| Grace period | 30 days, or at the insurer's option one month of not less than 30 days - and four weeks for industrial life with premiums payable more often than monthly. A claim in the grace period is paid less any premium due. | §3731(2) |
| Reinstatement window | 3 years from premium default - but 2 years for industrial life - on evidence of insurability and payment of arrears | §3731(9) |
| Reinstatement bars | Three of them: the policy was surrendered for cash value, its cash value is exhausted, or the paid-up term insurance has expired | §3731(9) |
| Reinstatement interest cap | Overdue premiums bear interest not exceeding 6% per annum; other indebtedness is reinstated at the policy loan rate stated in the policy | §3731(9) |
| Nonforfeiture | On default the insurer grants a paid-up nonforfeiture benefit on the plan stipulated in the policy, or on surrender within 60 days pays a cash surrender value - after 3 full years' premiums for ordinary, 5 for industrial | §3762(a) |
| Suicide | No Vermont statute. A suicide limitation is a permissible policy provision, preserved against the incontestability clause; its length and remedy are contractual | §3733 |
| Life settlement rescission | An absolute right to rescind before 30 calendar days after the contract is executed by all parties - and if the insured dies within the period the contract is deemed rescinded | §3843(c) |
| Annuity standard of care | A producer recommending an annuity must act in the consumer's best interest, not placing their own or the insurer's financial interest ahead of the consumer's | Reg. I-2023-01 §6.A |
Two of these reliably cost candidates points. The first is the industrial life carve-out, which appears twice in the same section and in two different directions: the grace period is four weeks rather than 30 days for frequently-paid industrial policies, and the reinstatement window is two years rather than three. A question that names an industrial policy is testing exactly one of those.
The second is suicide. Candidates trained on states that fix a statutory suicide period look for one here and answer with two years by reflex. Vermont's Chapter 103 contains no suicide provision at all — the clause is contractual, and what the statute does is preserve it against the incontestability clause under §3733. The distinction between a rule the statute imposes and a rule the statute merely permits is the whole question.
Applying for Your Vermont Licence, Step by Step
Vermont is an exam-first state, and the sequence is enforced rather than merely advised: NIPR verifies the passing result before it will accept an application.
Step 1 — Pass, then wait 48 hours. This is the Vermont-specific step people miss. DFR states it plainly: "Residents must wait 48 hours after passing their producer examination before submitting an electronic application." The Prometric bulletin says the same. File on hour 24 and the system has nothing to match your score against.
Step 2 — File on NIPR. Vermont takes resident producer applications, renewals and amendments through nipr.com. Sircon is named by the bulletin for address changes. There is no separate DFR portal for an individual application.
Step 3 — Pay $60, in two parts. 8 V.S.A. §4800(2)(A) charges "a $30.00 fee" with every licence application, plus an "initial licensing and biennial renewal licensing fee for insurance producers" of $30.00. NIPR shows the same $60 total. Note the bulletin's own "Licensing Fees" paragraph says $41.50 — that figure matches neither the statute nor the bulletin's own paper-submission paragraph, and is an error in the document.
Step 4 — Answer the background questions properly. There is no fingerprint requirement published for Vermont resident producers. What DFR relies on instead is the NAIC uniform application's background questions and the statutory standard at §4813f(a) — the applicant must be "competent, trustworthy, financially responsible, and of good personal and business reputation." An affirmative answer requires supporting documents. The Casualty guide walks the background questions in detail. Note the Commissioner does hold authority under §4800(4)(E) to require fingerprints; it simply does not appear to be exercised for resident producers today.
Step 5 — Use a street address. NIPR will not accept a P.O. Box or private mail box as a residence address, and any change of business, home or mailing address must be reported to DFR within 30 days.
Step 6 — Appointments come after, and they run on a different clock. A producer "must be appointed within 15 days from the date an agency contract is executed or the first insurance application is submitted, whichever is sooner." The appointment fee is $80, paid by the insurer, raised from $60 effective 1 January 2025 — and appointments expire on 1 June, not with your licence.
How long it takes depends on the channel: DFR says a routine electronic application is "generally issued within 48 hours", NIPR says up to 10 business days, and the bulletin asks for 10 days on paper filings.
What the Life Licence Costs
$73 for the Life exam, $60 to DFR ($30 application plus $30 licence), and $80 per appointment paid by the appointing insurer. Renewal is $30 every two years.
Two costs do not exist here: there is no pre-licensing course to buy and no fingerprint fee, because Vermont publishes no fingerprint requirement for resident producers.
NIPR's transaction fee is additional and is not published by the state. The exam fee is not refundable or transferable.
Eligibility
8 V.S.A. §4813f(a) sets the whole test: at least 18 years of age, not disqualified under §4804, "competent, trustworthy, financially responsible, and of good personal and business reputation", fees paid, and the examination passed for the lines applied for.
No pre-licensing education is required. §4813e requires only that a resident applicant "pass a written examination", and the word prelicensing appears in chapter 131 only inside the exemption language of §4813i — never as a mandate.
The examination itself can be waived: an applicant previously licensed in another state for the same lines needs neither prelicensing nor an exam if currently licensed there, or applying within 90 days of that licence's cancellation. The Life & Health guide covers every waiver route Vermont recognises.
Continuing Education for Life Producers
Important CE details: Three of the 24 hours must be ethics and no more than six may be insurance agency management. No credit carries over between review periods, and a repeat of the same course inside one period earns nothing. The review period is fixed, ending 31 March of odd-numbered years, and continuing education does not apply at all until after the first renewal or first eligibility for renewal.
24 hours every two years, with at least 3 in ethics and no more than 6 in insurance agency management. The requirement attaches to the licence, not to each line — holding Life alongside Property and Casualty does not increase it.
The review period is fixed to the licence: a 24-month period beginning 1 April of odd-numbered years and ending 31 March two years later. No credit carries over, and repeating the same course inside one period earns nothing the second time.
Continuing education does not apply until after your first renewal or first eligibility for renewal — a genuinely useful provision for a newly licensed producer, and one Vermont puts in the regulation rather than the statute.
Life producers who sell annuities carry a one-time 4-credit best-interest training under DFR Reg. I-2023-01, effective 5 July 2024. Producers already holding a life line when the rule took effect had six months to comply. Those selling long-term care carry a separate training obligation, covered in the Accident and Health guide.
Missing the deadline has two different consequences depending on one fact — whether you asked for an extension. Under §4800a(e), a producer who did not seek an extension and has not satisfied the requirement simply cannot renew. Under §4800a(f), a producer who was granted an extension and still has not completed it has their licence suspended by the Commissioner. The extension itself is discretionary, for good cause, and runs no longer than six months.
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