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Cal. INS § 985

This is the official text of Cal. INS § 985, part of California’s Insurance Code — regulates insurance companies and the insurance policies sold in California.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) On or after January 1, 1970, as used in this article and in subdivision (i) of Section 1011, “insolvency” means either of the following:

(1) Any impairment of minimum “paid-in capital” or “capital paid in,” as defined in Section 36, required in the aggregate of an insurer by the provisions of this code for the class, or classes, of insurance that it transacts anywhere.

(2) An inability of the insurer to meet its financial obligations when they are due.

(b) On or after January 1, 1970, an insurer cannot escape the condition of insolvency by being able to provide for all its liabilities and for reinsurance of all outstanding risks. An insurer must also be possessed of additional assets equivalent to the aggregate “paid-in capital” or “capital paid in” required by this code after making provision for all those liabilities and for that reinsurance.

(c) On or after October 1, 1967, as used in this code provision for reinsurance of all outstanding risks and “gross premiums without any deduction, received and receivable upon all unexpired risks” means the greater of: (1) the aggregate amount of actual unearned premiums, or (2) the amount reasonably estimated as being required to reinsure in a solvent admitted insurer the unexpired terms of the risks represented by all outstanding policies.

(d) On or after October 1, 1967, an insurer shall make provision for reinsurance of the outstanding risk on policies that provide premiums that are fully earned at inception and on policies that for any other reason do not provide for a return premium to the insured on cancellation prior to expiration.

(e) On or after October 1, 1967, the commissioner shall prescribe standards for reasonably estimating the amount required to reinsure that will provide adequate safeguards for the policyholders, creditors, and the public.

(f) On or after October 1, 1967, this section shall not be applicable to life, title, mortgage, or mortgage guaranty insurers.

(g) In the application of this section to disability insurance, as defined in Section 106, reserves for unearned premiums and amounts reasonably estimated as required to reinsure outstanding risks shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Section 997.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.