Delaware Life & Health Insurance Exam — Study Guide

This chapter covers only the Delaware-specific rules a resident Life & Health producer must know for the state portion of the licensing exam and for practice. It supplements the national chapters on insurance concepts, life insurance, annuities, and health and disability insurance.

Delaware insurance law lives in two places, and you must tell them apart:

• Title 18 of the Delaware Code (18 Del. C.) — the Insurance Code, enacted by the General Assembly.
• Title 18 of the Delaware Administrative Code — the regulations adopted by the Insurance Commissioner, cited by number (504, 902, 904, 1203, 1204, 1214, 1404). Older materials use pre-recodification numbers; Regulation 1204 was once "Regulation 30."

A note about numbers. Rules that are stable and knowable — whether a regulation exists, what conduct is prohibited, what a notice must say, who signs what — are stated affirmatively here. Delaware does have a guaranty association, a replacement regulation, and an unfair trade practices act.

What is always in doubt is the arithmetic: CE hour counts, fees, free-look day counts, filing windows, and guaranty limits. Read the flags in this chapter carefully, because they mean two different things. A figure carrying a dated citation was read from that source on that date — it is exactly as good as that source was that day, and no better. A figure still carrying a bracketed verify-current flag was not confirmed from a primary source, and you must check it with the Delaware Department of Insurance at insurance.delaware.gov before you rely on it.

State law is a snapshot and it expires. The General Assembly amends Title 18 every session and the Commissioner amends the regulations between sessions, so never quote a dollar amount, an hour count, or a day count from a study guide to a real client without opening the current text yourself.

1. The Delaware Department of Insurance and the Commissioner

Delaware's regulator is the Delaware Department of Insurance, headquartered in Dover and headed by the Insurance Commissioner. Here is the point Delaware exam writers love: the Commissioner is elected by the voters of Delaware, not appointed by the Governor — "elected by the qualified electors of the State at a general election for a term of 4 years" — and is then commissioned by the Governor, taking office the first Tuesday of January after the election (18 Del. C. § 301(b), (c); checked 2026-09-05). Where the national chapters say "the Commissioner," in Delaware that means that elected officer.

Powers and duties. Licensing and regulating insurers, producers, adjusters, public adjusters, and surplus lines brokers; rulemaking; investigation of insurance matters upon reasonable cause to determine whether any person has violated Title 18; examination of insurers as often as the Commissioner in the Commissioner's sole discretion deems appropriate, but at a minimum an examination of every insurer licensed in Delaware not less frequently than every 5 years (18 Del. C. § 318(a); checked 2026-09-05); hearings, orders, and penalties, including cease-and-desist orders and civil penalties; solvency regulation, including rehabilitation and liquidation of impaired insurers; form and rate review where Title 18 requires filing; consumer services, receiving and mediating complaints against insurers and producers; and fraud enforcement through a Department fraud function that investigates and refers cases for prosecution.

Market conduct. The Department conducts market conduct examinations — reviews of how a company actually behaves (advertising, producer licensing and appointment, underwriting, replacement handling, claims, complaints) — as distinct from a financial exam, which looks at solvency. Remedies for violations include cease-and-desist orders, civil penalties, restitution, license suspension, revocation, or nonrenewal, and referral for criminal prosecution. Two different penalty ceilings apply, and Delaware exams like the contrast: for a licensee under Chapter 17, a fine of not less than $200 and not more than $20,000 for each violation, after hearing (18 Del. C. § 1712(d); checked 2026-09-05); for an unfair trade practice under Chapter 23, not more than $1,000 for each act, capped at an aggregate $100,000 — rising to not more than $10,000 per act and an aggregate $150,000 in any 6-month period where the person knew or reasonably should have known of the violation (18 Del. C. § 2308(a)(1); checked 2026-09-05). A licensee facing adverse action is entitled to notice and a hearing, and may seek judicial review of the Commissioner's final order.

2. Producer Licensing in Delaware

Licensing is governed by 18 Del. C. Chapter 17, "Licensing of Professional Insurance Personnel."

Who must be licensed

Anyone who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance in Delaware must hold a Delaware producer license with the appropriate line(s) of authority — here, Life and Accident and Health. Acting in any of those capacities unlicensed is prohibited, and so is paying an unlicensed person to do it.

Resident license requirements

1. Be at least 18 years of age (18 Del. C. § 1706(a)(1); checked 2026-09-05).
2. Have committed no act that is a ground for denial, suspension, or revocation under § 1712 — good character is an affirmative qualification, not merely a disqualifier.
3. Pass the Delaware examination for each line sought, unless expressly exempted by Chapter 17.
4. File the application in the Commissioner's prescribed format — Delaware accepts only electronic applications, through NIPR — and pay the $125 initial license fee, the same amount for residents and nonresidents (18 Del. C. § 701(23)a.; Delaware Licensing Procedures, Delaware Department of Insurance, June 2025; checked 2026-09-05).
5. Provide background information: Delaware requires fingerprints submitted to the State Bureau of Identification and both a state and an FBI criminal history report, sent directly to the Department, plus administrative-action disclosures (18 Del. C. § 1706(b); checked 2026-09-05).
6. Be a Delaware resident, or work for a business entity licensed to do insurance business in Delaware that maintains a physical Delaware location open to the public. A registered-agent service or a Delaware post office box does not establish residency (18 Del. C. § 1706(a)(5); checked 2026-09-05).

Pre-licensing education

A genuine Delaware distinction: Delaware does not impose a mandatory pre-licensing education-hour requirement on resident producer applicants. The current candidate handbook says so in terms — "The Delaware Department of Insurance does not require a specific program of pre-licensing education or otherwise pre-screen examination candidates" (Delaware Insurance Candidate Handbook, Pearson VUE, June 2025, "Eligibility for the Exam"; checked 2026-09-05). Nothing in Chapter 17 imposes prelicensing hours either; § 1706 lists age, fitness, fees, examination, and residency, and no seat time (18 Del. C. § 1706(a); checked 2026-09-05). The gate is the examination. Do not confuse this with product-specific training, which Delaware does require (annuity and long-term care). "No pre-licensing hours" does not mean "no training obligations."

The examination

Delaware contracts its exams to a third-party vendor — currently Pearson VUE, named as the Department's contractor in the Department's own licensing procedures (Delaware Licensing Procedures, Delaware Department of Insurance, June 2025; checked 2026-09-05). Each exam has a general (national) portion and a Delaware state-law portion, and the $90 examination fee is paid at reservation. Schedule two major-line exams on the same day — Life and Accident & Health, say — and you pay one $90 fee, not two (Delaware Insurance Candidate Handbook, Pearson VUE, June 2025, "Available Examinations"; checked 2026-09-05).

As published in that handbook on 2026-09-05, the DE Life Producer exam is 50 scored general questions in 1 hour 15 minutes plus 40 scored state questions in 1 hour, and the DE Accident and Health Producer exam is 50 scored general questions in 1 hour 15 minutes plus 42 scored state questions in 1 hour; unscored pretest questions are added to each section. Read the handbook rather than a study guide for these, because they move.

Trap — the passing score is a scaled score, not a percentage. Raw scores are converted to a scale of 0 to 100, and the reported number "is neither the number of questions answered correctly nor the percentage of questions answered correctly." Some Delaware exams require a scaled 70 and others a scaled 80; the requirement is printed on your score report (Delaware Insurance Candidate Handbook, Pearson VUE, June 2025, "Score Explanation"; checked 2026-09-05). Anyone who tells you "you need 70% in Delaware" has confused a scaled score with a percentage.

All examination score reports are valid for 12 months from the date of examination (18 Del. C. § 1705(e); checked 2026-09-05); let that window lapse and you re-test. Failing, or failing to appear, does not bar you from taking the exam again — but you must reapply and remit all required fees and forms first, and you must wait 24 hours before rescheduling (18 Del. C. § 1705(c), (d); Delaware Insurance Candidate Handbook, Pearson VUE, June 2025, "Retaking the Exam"; checked 2026-09-05). Delaware sets no statutory cap on the number of retakes.

Appointment by insurers

A license lets you sell; an appointment lets you represent a particular company. Under 18 Del. C. § 1715, a producer shall not act as an agent of an insurer unless the producer becomes an appointed agent of that insurer — but a producer who is not acting as an agent of an insurer is not required to be appointed, so a genuine broker relationship does not by itself require appointment.

To appoint, the insurer (not the producer) files a notice of appointment with the Commissioner in an approved format within 15 days from the date the agency contract is executed or the first insurance application is submitted (18 Del. C. § 1715(b); checked 2026-09-05), and pays a one-time $50 appointment fee for each producer appointed, per insurer (18 Del. C. §§ 701(23)f., 1715(d); checked 2026-09-05). Delaware's window is short — days, not months. The Commissioner then verifies eligibility within a reasonable time not to exceed 30 days, and notifies the insurer within 5 days if the producer is ineligible (18 Del. C. § 1715(c); checked 2026-09-05).

Termination of appointment

Under 18 Del. C. § 1716, an insurer that terminates the appointment, employment, contract, or other business relationship with a producer must notify the Commissioner within 30 days following the effective date of the termination (18 Del. C. § 1716(a); checked 2026-09-05). The "termination for cause" branch applies where the reason is one of the grounds in § 1712, or where the insurer knows a court, government body, or authorized self-regulatory organization found the producer engaged in § 1712 conduct: the regulator learns about bad actors even when a company quietly cuts them loose.

Trap: guides routinely teach that only a for-cause termination is reportable in Delaware. It is not so. § 1716(b) imposes the same 30-day notice for a termination without cause — any reason not set out in § 1712 (18 Del. C. § 1716(b); checked 2026-09-05). What the for-cause branch adds is not the duty to report but the certified-mail copy to the producer and the statutory confidentiality regime. Either way the insurer must mail the producer a copy of the notification within 15 days — by certified mail, return receipt requested, or overnight carrier, where the termination was for cause — and the producer then has 30 days after receiving it to file written comments that become part of the Commissioner's file (18 Del. C. § 1716(d); checked 2026-09-05). Delaware affords insurers, producers, and the Commissioner immunity from civil liability for these reports absent actual malice (18 Del. C. § 1716(e); checked 2026-09-05), and an insurer or producer that fails to report may be fined and have its license or certificate of authority suspended or revoked (18 Del. C. § 1716(g); checked 2026-09-05).

Term, renewal, and continuing education

Renewal cycle. Delaware runs a biennial cycle on a fixed common expiration date rather than a birthday date, and the two populations are staggered: resident producer licenses renew February 28 of even-numbered years, and nonresident licenses renew February 28 of odd-numbered years. The renewal fee is $125 either way (18 Del. C. § 701(23)b., d.; checked 2026-09-05). A producer first licensed in the 90 days before a February 28 deadline (December 1–February 28) owes no renewal fee for that cycle (18 Del. C. § 701(23)c., e.; checked 2026-09-05). Regulation 504 aligns the education year to the same clock: the biennial license period commences March 1 and ends the last day of February of even-numbered years (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 § 2.0, "Compliance date"; checked 2026-09-05).

Lapse, and the two grace windows. A Delaware license has no fixed term — it remains in effect so long as the fee is paid and the education requirement is met by the due date, and it lapses by operation of law, with no notice required from the Department, the moment either is missed (18 Del. C. § 1707(f); checked 2026-09-05). A lapsed individual licensee may reapply for the same license without re-examination within 12 months of the due date, but pays for the delay: within the first 6-month grace period, a penalty of double the unpaid renewal fee; within the second 6-month grace period, exposure to a civil fine of not less than $200 and not more than $1,000. Evidence of full CE compliance for the period must be provided before the license is reissued, and a licensee who neither renews nor files a notice of voluntary surrender by the due date is subject to the same fine (18 Del. C. § 1707(g); checked 2026-09-05).

Continuing education. Delaware requires CE of resident licensees under Regulation 504. The three moving parts, as the regulation reads today: a resident licensee must complete 24 credit hours of Department-approved education subjects per biennium, 3 of which must be in ethics, and carryover is capped at 5 credits (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 §§ 8.2.1, 8.2.4; checked 2026-09-05). Resident adjusters, public adjusters, and fraternal producers owe 12 hours, 3 in ethics (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 § 8.2.2; checked 2026-09-05).

• Courses must be Department-approved, from approved providers, who report completions.
• Carryover does not apply to the ethics requirement. Credits in excess of the mandatory requirements carry forward only as general course credit — so you earn fresh ethics hours every cycle (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 § 8.2.4; checked 2026-09-05).
• Trap: the "no credit for repeating the same course in a license term" rule that circulates in study guides is not written that way in Delaware. The only repeat bar in Regulation 504 applies to an instructor who is a licensee: the instructor "may not receive additional credit for teaching the same course more than once in a biennium reporting period" (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 § 4.1.5; checked 2026-09-05). Do not carry a general student-repeat rule into the exam as though the regulation stated one.
• The Department makes a CE transcript available at least 90 days before the end of the biennium, by mail or electronic access; you are responsible for checking it, and a dispute must be filed in writing before the biennium deadline with the provider's completion certificate attached (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 § 8.2.3; checked 2026-09-05).
• Newly licensed individuals owe no CE during the biennium in which they are licensed (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 § 8.2.5; checked 2026-09-05).
• Automatic credit: a licensee continuously licensed 25 years or longer before the start of a biennium, or holding a recognized professional designation, receives an automatic 12 credits each biennium — but automatic credits may not satisfy the mandatory courses or the ethics requirement (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 § 8.3; checked 2026-09-05).
• Finish CE before submitting your renewal. Filing with an unmet CE obligation is the most common self-inflicted licensing problem.
• Nonresidents are exempt from Delaware CE: § 1717(b) treats satisfaction of the home state's requirements as satisfaction of Delaware's where the home state reciprocates (18 Del. C. § 1717(b); checked 2026-09-05), and the Department reads Regulation 504 as exempting nonresident producers, surplus lines brokers, and fraternal producers outright — even if the home state has no CE requirement at all (Continuing Education Frequently Asked Questions, Delaware Department of Insurance, rev. March 2024, Q8; checked 2026-09-05).

Product-specific training (separate from general CE): a one-time 4-credit annuity training course, Department-approved and from a Department-approved provider, before selling annuities (18 Del. Admin. Code 1214 § 5.2; checked 2026-09-05), plus the carrier's own product training; 3 hours of Delaware long-term care training inside the biennial requirement for a health-licensed producer who solicits LTC; and a 2-hour flood course counted inside the 21 general credit hours for a resident licensee who writes flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program (18 Del. Admin. Code 504 § 8.2.1; checked 2026-09-05).

Temporary licenses

Delaware provides a temporary producer license in narrow circumstances — classically to allow a licensed producer's business to be serviced and wound up after the producer's death, disability, or entry into active military service, so a surviving spouse, personal representative, or designated employee can protect policyholders and the agency's value. It is issued for a period not to exceed 180 days, without examination, and exists to protect consumers and the estate — not as a shortcut into the business. The Commissioner may limit its authority by order, may require a suitable sponsor — a licensed producer, adjuster, appraiser, or insurer who assumes responsibility for all the temporary licensee's acts — and may revoke it if the interests of insureds or the public are endangered. It may not continue after the owner or personal representative disposes of the business (18 Del. C. § 1711; checked 2026-09-05). Delaware also allows one on any other ground where the Commissioner deems the public interest best served. The license fee is $75 (18 Del. C. § 701(29); checked 2026-09-05).

Nonresident licenses

Delaware issues nonresident licenses under the reciprocity framework of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the NAIC producer-licensing model. A producer licensed and in good standing in their home state may obtain a Delaware nonresident license for equivalent lines without taking Delaware's exam, by applying (typically through NIPR) and paying the fee. Two tested consequences: the license is derivative — if the home-state license lapses, is suspended, or is revoked, the Delaware license is affected — and the nonresident satisfies CE through the home state. A licensee of another state who moves to Delaware must apply for a resident license within 90 days of establishing legal residence, and needs neither prelicensing education nor an examination for any line previously held, unless the Commissioner provides otherwise by regulation (18 Del. C. § 1709(b); checked 2026-09-05). Changes of legal name and of physical mailing or email address must be reported within 30 days (18 Del. C. § 1707(j); checked 2026-09-05).