Title 33, Title 33

Service of process against a nonresident person must be made pursuant to 35-7-113 or in any other manner permitted by law.

A nonresident insurance producer who violates a condition of the producer's Montana license or a provision of this part is subject to a fine by the commissioner of up to $50,000 for each violation and may, at the discretion of the commissioner, have the Montana nonresident licens…

This part may be cited as "The Montana Insurance Consultant Licensure Act".

(1) A person not licensed as an insurance consultant in this state who identifies or represents to the public that the person is an insurance consultant without having been licensed as an insurance consultant under this part or a person who uses any other designation or title tha…

(1) Before a consultant license is issued or renewed, the prospective licensee shall: (a) properly file with the office of the commissioner a written application in a form approved by the commissioner; and (b) pay a fee pursuant to 33-2-708, which the commissioner shall forward t…

The commissioner may issue a consultant license to an individual who has complied with the requirements of this chapter with respect to either life insurance, meaning all of those kinds of insurance authorized in 33-1-207, 33-1-208, 33-20-1001, 33-21-103, 33-22-501, and 33-22-601…

(1) (a) In order to determine the competency of an applicant for a consultant license, the commissioner shall require the applicant to pass an examination. (b) The commissioner may conduct the examination or make arrangements, including contracting with an outside testing service…

A person licensed as an insurance consultant under this part may not receive a fee for examining, appraising, reviewing, or evaluating an insurance policy, a bond, an annuity, or a pension or profit-sharing contract, plan, or program or for making recommendations or giving advice…

A licensed insurance consultant may not receive a commission, service fee, brokerage fee, or other valuable consideration for the sale or service of a line of insurance, annuity, security, or pension trust if the consultant has received compensation from the client for consulting…

A person licensed as an insurance consultant under this part may not recommend or encourage the purchase of insurance, annuities, or securities from an authorized insurer in which the person or any member of the person's immediate family holds an executive position or holds a sub…

(1) A person may not act as an administrator without a written agreement between the person and the insurer. The written agreement must be retained as part of the official records of both the administrator and the insurer for the duration of the agreement and for 5 years thereaft…

(1) Except as provided in 33-17-604, a person may not act as or represent to the public that the person is an administrator in this state unless the person holds a certificate of registration as an administrator. (2) An application for a certificate of registration must be accomp…

The commissioner may waive the requirements of 33-17-603 for any person or class of persons. The factors taken into account in granting a waiver include but are not limited to: (1) whether the person acting as an administrator is primarily in a business other than that of adminis…

For the duration of the agreement required by 33-17-602 and for 5 years thereafter, each administrator shall maintain at its principal administrative office adequate books and records of all transactions between the administrator, insurers, and insured persons. These books and re…

An administrator may use only such advertising pertaining to the business underwritten by an insurer as is approved by the insurer in advance of its use.

(1) All insurance charges or premiums collected by an administrator on behalf of or for an insurer and return premiums received from the insurer are held by the administrator in a fiduciary capacity. These funds must be immediately remitted to the person entitled to them or must …

Whenever an insurer utilizes the services of an administrator under the terms of a written contract as required in 33-17-602, the payment to the administrator of any premiums or charges for insurance by or on behalf of the insured is considered to be received by the insurer and t…

All claims paid by the administrator from funds collected on behalf of the insurer shall be paid only on drafts of and as authorized by such insurer.

Any policies, certificates, booklets, termination notices, or other written communications delivered by the insurer to the administrator for delivery to its policyholders shall be delivered by the administrator promptly after receipt of instructions from the insurer to do so.

With respect to any policies where an administrator adjusts or settles claims, the compensation to the administrator with regard to the policies shall in no way be contingent on claim experience. This section does not prevent the compensation of an administrator from being based …

Whenever the services of an administrator are utilized, the administrator shall provide a written notice, approved by the insurer, to insured individuals, advising them of the identity of and relationship between the administrator, the policyholder, and the insurer. Whenever an a…

(1) An insurer shall maintain a complete record of all complaints it has received since the date of its last examination under 33-1-401. This record must indicate the total number of complaints, their classification by line of insurance, the nature of each complaint, the disposit…

The commissioner may examine and investigate the affairs of every person engaged in the business of insurance in this state in order to determine whether such person has been or is engaged in any unfair method of competition or in any unfair or deceptive act or practice prohibite…

(1) If the commissioner believes that any person engaged in the insurance business is engaging in this state in any method of competition or in any act or practice in the conduct of the business that is not defined in this chapter but that the method of competition is unfair or t…

(1) If, after a hearing of the charges of which notice of the hearing and of the charges against the person was given to the person, the commissioner finds that a person in this state has engaged or is engaging in any act or practice defined in or prohibited under this chapter, t…

(1) Any person who violates a cease and desist order issued pursuant to 33-18-1004 is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000. Each day of violation constitutes a separate violation. The total penalty may not exceed a $10,000 aggregate. The department may institute and ma…

Violations of 33-18-221 through 33-18-224 are subject to cease and desist orders of the commissioner issued under 33-18-1004.

The purpose of this chapter is to regulate trade practices in the business of insurance in accordance with the intent of congress as expressed in Public Law 79-15 (the McCarran-Ferguson Act, 15 U.S.C. 1011 through 1015), which was approved March 9, 1945, by defining or providing …

(1) No person shall engage in this state in any trade practice which is defined in this chapter as or determined pursuant to this chapter to be an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance. (2) Nothing in this chapter shal…

(1) (a) As used in this section, "life insurance product" means any product, including individual and group life insurance, funding agreements, and annuities, that provides insurance for which the probabilities of the duration of human life or the rate of mortality are an element…

For the purposes of 33-18-101, 33-18-102, 33-18-201 through 33-18-206, 33-18-208, 33-18-209, 33-18-302, 33-18-303, and Title 33, chapter 18, part 10, the following terms apply: (1) "Health insurance lead generator" means a person who utilizes a lead-generating device to: (a) publ…

A person may not, with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice, do any of the following: (1) misrepresent pertinent facts or insurance policy provisions relating to coverages at issue; (2) fail to acknowledge and act reasonably promptly upon communications with …

A person may not make, issue, circulate, or cause to be made, issued, or circulated any estimate, illustration, circular, sales presentation, omission, comparison, or statement that: (1) misrepresents the benefits, advantages, conditions, or terms of any insurance policy; (2) mis…

A person may not make, publish, disseminate, circulate, or place before the public, or cause, directly or indirectly, to be made, published, disseminated, circulated, or placed before the public, in a newspaper, magazine, electronic mail, internet advertisement or posting, or oth…

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 the policyhol…

(1) No person shall file with any supervisory or other public official or make, publish, disseminate, circulate, or deliver to any person or place before the public or cause, directly or indirectly, to be made, published, disseminated, circulated, delivered to any person, or plac…

(1) No person shall make or permit any unfair discrimination between individuals of the same class and equal expectation of life in the rates charged for any contract of life insurance or of life annuity or in the dividends or other benefits payable thereon or in any other of the…

(1) No insurer, whether an authorized insurer or an unauthorized insurer, shall make available through any rating plan or form, property, casualty, or surety insurance to any firm, corporation, or association of individuals, any preferred rate or premium based upon any fictitious…

Except as otherwise expressly provided by law and in 33-22-2204, a person may not knowingly: (1) permit or offer to make or make any contract of life insurance, life annuity, or disability insurance or agreement as to such contract other than as plainly expressed in the contract …

Nothing in 33-18-206 and 33-18-208 shall be construed as including within the definition of discrimination or rebates any of the following practices: (1) in the case of any contract of life insurance or life annuity, paying bonuses to policyholders or otherwise abating their prem…

(1) Except as provided in subsections (3), (4), and (11)(a), a title, property, casualty, or surety insurer or an employee, representative, or insurance producer of an insurer may not, as an inducement to purchase insurance or after insurance has been effected, pay, allow, or giv…

No person shall issue or deliver or permit its insurance producers, officers, or employees to issue or deliver agency company stock or other capital stock or benefit certificates or shares in any common-law corporation or any advisory board contract or other similar contract of a…

(1) A person may not willfully collect any sum as a premium or charge for insurance that is not then provided or is not in due course to be provided, subject to acceptance of the risk by the insurer, by an insurance policy issued by an insurer as authorized by this code. (2) A pe…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an insurance producer, as defined in 33-17-102, may extend credit to a policyholder in connection with the issuance or servicing of any policy procured or negotiated by the insurance producer, but any credit so extended must satisfy one…

An insurer, health service corporation, or health maintenance organization may not place an elimination rider on or rescind coverage provided by a disability policy, certificate, or subscriber contract after a policy, certificate, or contract has been issued unless the insured ha…

(1) An insurer, health maintenance organization, or health service corporation may not unfairly discriminate against a victim of abuse. (2) For purposes of this section, "abuse" means the occurrence between family members, current or former household members, or intimate partners…