A new producer asks whether California offers a "life solicitor" license to support a licensed life agent. The correct answer is:

Why A is correct

California law does not provide a life solicitor license. Under Insurance Code Section 1704(d) and the definition of a solicitor, solicitors exist for lines other than life and health and act as employees assisting a licensed agent or broker. Because no life solicitor license category exists, a person may not act as a solicitor in the life and health field; anyone soliciting life insurance must hold a full life-agent license and be appointed by the insurer. This is a distinctive feature of California law that candidates are expected to know: the absence of a life solicitor license means a producer cannot operate as a subordinate solicitor in the life market, and agencies cannot rely on a solicitor to conduct life sales.

Why the other options are wrong

• B) No life solicitor license category exists in California, so employees of life agents cannot be licensed as life solicitors; full life-agent licensing is required instead. Anyone soliciting life business must hold a full life agent license and be appointed, even when working under a managing agent.
• C) The absence of a life solicitor license applies to all life and health business, including annuities; there is no narrower annuity solicitor license either. There is no life or annuity solicitor category, so the only route to soliciting life and annuity coverage is a full agent license.
• D) Solicitor licenses were not replaced by broker licenses; California's licensing structure still includes solicitors, but only for lines other than life and health. The solicitor category that remains is confined to lines such as fire, marine, and casualty, where the solicitor acts as an employee of a licensed agent or broker.

Memory hook

California has no life solicitor — the license you are imagining does not exist.