The Iowa Umpire license
Umpire
Decides between the two appraisers when they cannot agree on the amount of a first-party property loss. Iowa asks for three years as an engineer, architect, adjuster, appraiser, litigator or insurance regulator before it will, and examines the applicant; Louisiana, the only other state here that regulates the role, registers one on the same kind of background and sets no examination.
Course
None
This license has no pre-licensing course route.
Ways in
1
It requires the state exam.
Exam
$44
Required.
Every way to qualify
-
Route 1 Qualify on three years in a named calling and pass the examination
State exam required
-
3 years a professional engineer licensed under Iowa chapter 542B or similarly licensed in another state
- or
3 years an architect licensed under Iowa chapter 544A or similarly licensed in another state
- or
3 years an adjuster licensed under Iowa chapter 522C or similarly licensed in another state
- or
3 years an appraiser licensed under Iowa chapter 522F or similarly licensed in another state
- or
3 years an attorney licensed in Iowa or another state with experience in first-party property damage litigation
- or
3 years An insurance regulator
Iowa Code 522F.8(3). The umpire's list of six is the appraiser's list of five with the contractors taken out and the litigator and the regulator put in, which is the difference between valuing a loss and deciding between two people who have valued it differently. The Commissioner may waive the three years on the basis of other professional qualifications. The examination at 522F.8(3)(b) tests the appraisal process, the duties and responsibilities of an umpire and Iowa's insurance laws and rules, and the result keeps ninety calendar days. There is no course in the section and none anywhere in chapter 522F. What the chapter does add, and nothing else here has it, is a published objection process: 522F.12 lets a party object to a named umpire for good cause, which 522F.1(9) defines as a conflict of interest, a lack of independence, an inability to carry out the duties competently or promptly, or any other reason that would reasonably be expected to impair an appraisal.
Read at legis.iowa.gov on 2026-08-18
-
No national seller sells a course for this license. The license is new: chapter 522F created it in 2025, and Iowa is the only state here that licenses an umpire and examines one, Louisiana registering an umpire under a single application with no examination at all. There is no product anywhere to adapt. WebCE's Iowa adjuster catalogue reaches the appraiser and stops, and the appraiser's paper is not this one: 522F.8(3)(b) sets an examination on the duties and responsibilities of an umpire specifically.