The Maryland Insurance Adviser license
Insurance Adviser
Advises on a policy for a fee paid by the client, under one of two authorities. It is the only Maryland license with a designation waiver, the only one with a bond, and the most expensive individual license the Administration issues.
Course
None
This license has no pre-licensing course route.
Ways in
4
3 of them skip the state exam.
Exam
$62
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 designation already held or a license held in another state.
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Route 1 Pass the adviser examination for the authority applied for
State exam required
The paper
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The Adviser Life and Health paper or the Adviser Property and Casualty paper, whichever authority is applied for, sat at Prometric. There is no pre-licensing course: Maryland repealed the program of study for every applicant who sits an examination on 2024-10-01.
and the bond
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An original surety bond in the penal sum of $1,000, approved by the Commissioner as to form and sufficiency, executed by the applicant and an authorized surety insurer, running to the State, conditioned on the applicant faithfully performing the duties of an adviser and specifically authorizing the State to recover the whole sum if the adviser is guilty of fraudulent or dishonest practices.
and the forms the client will sign
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Every form of statement, receipt and agreement the adviser intends to use, submitted to the Commissioner for approval and filing before the license issues.
Md. Code, Insurance 10-201(b) defines the adviser by what they charge for and by the title they use, and the title list runs to seven, tying New Hampshire's: insurance adviser, insurance specialist, insurance counselor, insurance analyst, policyholders' adviser, policyholders' counselor, refund company, or any similar title. Refund company is the one New Hampshire's list does not carry. 10-203(a) makes the license compulsory and (b) carries an exemption that is itself a course requirement: a producer or other representative of an authorized insurer who uses such a title in close conjunction with the insurer's name needs no license if they certify to the Commissioner that they have completed a course submitted to and approved by the Commissioner. 10-208 is the fence: an adviser may not receive compensation from an insurer or an insurance producer for the sale or placement of insurance.
Read at mgaleg.maryland.gov on 2026-08-19
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Route 2 Hold a life and health designation instead of sitting the paper
Exempt from the state exam
One of the four the Administration accepts for this authority
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CLU Chartered Life Underwriter, from The American College of Life Underwriters
- or
CEBS Certified Employee Benefit Specialist, from International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
- or
CIC Certified Insurance Counselor, from The Society of Certified Insurance Counselors
- or
CFP Certified Financial Planner, from Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards
and the bond
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The same $1,000 surety bond under 10-206, which the waiver does not reach.
The Administration splits the statute's designation list between its two authorities and this is the Life and Health half. The waiver is a request rather than an entitlement, and it is taken on paper: a resident applying on a designation submits a paper application with the letter of good standing issued by the body that conferred it, and the Administration publishes an Insurance Adviser Examination Waiver Application for the purpose. 10-204(c)(2) is the statute behind it and it is wider than either half of the department's split, naming membership in good standing of the Society of Actuaries or the Casualty Actuarial Society, the CPCU, the CLU, the CEBS, current CFP certification, and a course of study equivalent to any of those approved by the Commissioner together with the CIC.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-19
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Route 3 Hold a property and casualty designation instead of sitting the paper
Exempt from the state exam
One of the three the Administration accepts for this authority
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FCAS Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, from Casualty Actuarial Society
- or
CPCU Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter, from The American Institute for Property and Liability Underwriters
- or
CIC Certified Insurance Counselor, from The Society of Certified Insurance Counselors
and the bond
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The same $1,000 surety bond under 10-206.
The Property and Casualty half of the Administration's split. The Certified Insurance Counselor appears on both lists, which no other designation does, and the statute reaches it by a different route from the rest: 10-204(c)(2)(vi) accepts it only together with a course of study equivalent to one required by any of the other bodies, approved by the Commissioner.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-19
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Route 4 Hold an adviser license in the home state
Exempt from the state exam
The other state's license
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an adviser's license in the applicant's state of residence, held by somebody qualified to act as an insurance adviser
and the bond
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The same $1,000 surety bond under 10-206.
The Administration issues a nonresident adviser license on the home state's license. A nonresident whose state does not issue an adviser license or an equivalent takes and passes the Maryland paper instead, which is the same treatment Maryland gives a nonresident public adjuster from a non-reciprocal state. Nonresidents apply on paper.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-19
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No national seller sells a course for this license. The Maryland products sellers do carry are all for a major producer line or for the adjuster paper; Aceable sells nothing in Maryland at all. Maryland gives two adviser papers, Life and Health and Property and Casualty, and no seller prepares a candidate for either. The designations that waive them are sold by the organizations that confer them rather than by a pre-licensing school.