The Idaho Public Adjuster license
Public Adjuster
Acts for the insured rather than the insurer, on its own examination and its own chapter. Twenty thousand dollars of financial responsibility, and an office in the home state that the public can reach by appointment or in regular business hours.
Course
None
This license has no pre-licensing course route.
Ways in
3
2 of them skip the state exam.
Exam
$65
Required on some routes and not others.
Every way to qualify
More than one route leads to this license, and which one you take changes what you study and whether you sit the exam. There is no pre-licensing course among them: this license is qualified for by sitting the examination, a license held in another state or moving here already licensed.
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Route 1 Pass the public adjuster examination
State exam required
Financial responsibility, before the license issues and for its whole life
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A surety bond of at least $20,000 from an insurer authorized to issue surety bonds in Idaho, in favor of the state and specifically authorizing recovery by the department for anybody damaged by the adjuster's erroneous acts, failure to act, conviction of fraud or conviction of unfair practices; or an irrevocable letter of credit of at least $20,000 from a qualified financial institution, to an account within the department and subject to levy of execution
and an office the public can reach
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An office maintained in the home state of residence with public access by reasonable appointment or during regular business hours, which may be a designated office within the home state of residence
Chapter 58 is the Public Adjuster Licensing Act, enacted in 2008, and it is a separate scheme from the adjuster chapter rather than a line inside it. 41-5806(1) is eight findings: at least 18 years old, eligible to designate Idaho as a home state or eligible as a nonresident under 41-5809, the public adjuster examination passed, no act that is a ground for denial under 41-5811, trustworthy and reliable and of good reputation, financially responsible with proof under 41-5812, the fees paid, and an office in the home state with public access. No course anywhere in it. 41-5807 puts the examination on the individual and tests "the duties and responsibilities of a public adjuster and the insurance laws and rules of this state", and 41-5807(4) sends anybody who misses the sitting or fails it back to reapply and pay again before rescheduling. 41-5812 is where the money is, and it is drafted as a continuing condition rather than a filing: 41-5812(5) says the authority to act "shall automatically terminate if the evidence of financial responsibility terminates or becomes impaired", and the issuer must tell the department when it ends. Both instruments need 30 days' written notice to the department before termination. 41-5803(2) is the crossing Idaho allows and the fee it forbids: a public adjuster may act as an independent adjuster for a claim where an insurer appoints them in writing for that specific claim or purpose, and is then forbidden to charge that claimant a fee. West Virginia writes the same permission at 33-12B-2(c); Rhode Island and New Hampshire forbid the combination outright.
Read at legislature.idaho.gov on 2026-08-19
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Route 2 Hold a public adjuster license elsewhere that was based on an examination
Exempt from the state exam
The other state's license, and what it was based on
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a public adjuster license in another state issued on the basis of a public adjuster examination, current, or cancelled within the last 90 days with that state certifying good standing at cancellation or the NAIC records showing it
and financial responsibility, which reciprocity does not waive
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The $20,000 surety bond or irrevocable letter of credit required by 41-5812, which 41-5809(1)(b) requires of a nonresident applicant in the same breath as the fees
41-5808(1) turns on five words: the applicant must have been licensed elsewhere "based on a public adjuster examination". A public adjuster license another state issued without examining anybody does not open this route, which is the same qualifier Rhode Island writes at 27-10-7(a) for its independent adjuster. 41-5808(3) is the Idaho version, twelve months rather than the usual two years: somebody previously licensed as a public adjuster in Idaho sits no paper if the application arrives within 12 months of cancellation and they were in good standing then. 41-5809 is the separate nonresident license and 41-5809(3) ties it to the home state for its whole life: the Idaho license terminates and must be surrendered immediately if the home state license ends for any reason, unless a resident license has issued in a new home state that has reciprocity with Idaho.
Read at legislature.idaho.gov on 2026-08-19
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Route 3 Move to Idaho and apply within 90 days
Exempt from the state exam
Previous home state license
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90 days Licensed as a public adjuster in another state on the basis of a public adjuster examination, moving to Idaho, and applying to become a resident licensee within 90 days of establishing legal residence.
and financial responsibility, which the move does not waive
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The $20,000 surety bond or irrevocable letter of credit required by 41-5812 for the duration of the license
41-5808(2), and 41-5808(4) adds the half most states leave out: a licensed individual who establishes residency here must apply for a resident license within 90 days "and must relinquish his or her resident license in the former home state". The duty runs in both directions, and the nonresident license the applicant may already hold in Idaho does not survive on its own, because 41-5809(3) makes it conditional on a home state resident license.
Read at legislature.idaho.gov on 2026-08-19
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No national seller sells a course for this license. Idaho gives the public adjuster its own paper under 41-5807, separate from the ID Independent Adjuster examination that four sellers do price, and no seller carries a product for it. The adjuster course list on this site is for the other license.