Notice of Cancellation Advisory

We have received your request to provide Notice of Cancel-

lation to a certificate holder. Provided below is information

about what this means to your firm and how we manage

these requests.

• Notice of cancellation provisions are addressed in every

insurance policy and modification of these provisions can be

made only by endorsement to the policy.

• Notice of cancellation is a policy right regulated by State

insurance laws and regulations. Typically you have the right

to cancel without notice. The insurance company can cancel

within 10 days for non-payment of premium and otherwise

the insurance company can cancel with 30 days notice to

you, the insured. This varies somewhat by State. Note that it

is very rare that an insurance company will cancel a policy

for anything other than non-payment.

• A certificate of insurance does not waive or create your

policy rights, or amend them in any way. Every certificate

states this at the very top of the ACORD form

(https://www.acord.org/about/pages/default.aspx). Further,

the ACORD form language regarding Notice of Cancellation

refers to the policy provisions. As such, providing notice of

cancellation to a certificate holder must be endorsed into

the actual policy and cannot be accomplished by simply

modifying the certificate of insurance in a way that is

inconsistent with the corresponding insurance policy.

• For professional liability insurance the request to endorse

the policy to provide a certificate holder notice of cancella-

tion varies from 1) relatively easy, 2) to expensive, 3) to

outright impossible to obtain based on the actual notice

requirements and the willingness of different insurance

companies to provide such endorsements.

o Some professional liability insurance companies

will not endorse their policies to provide notice to

certificate holders. Notice is provided only to the

first named insured.

o Other professional liability insurance companies

will provide notice to certificate holders in the

event the insurance company cancels for reasons

other than non-payment.

o Another option available from some professional

liability insurance companies is to provide an

endorsement to the policy for an additional

premium to provide the certificate holder with 10

days notice of cancellation for non-payment of

premium and otherwise 30 days notice for cancel-

lation by the insurance company. However, even

in this instance, cancellation by the insured is not

notified to the certificate holder.

19660 10th Avenue NE, Poulsbo, WA 98370 [P] 360.598.3700 [F] 360.598.3703 www.hallandcompany.comHALL & COMPANY

Your right to cancel without notice is

protected by state law as is the

insurance company’s right to cancel

with 10 days notice for non-payment.

o There is no professional liability insurance

company that will endorse its policy to provide 30 day

notice to a certificate holder under all circumstances.

Your right to cancel without notice is protected by

State law as is the insurance company’s right to cancel

with 10 days notice for non-payment.

• A certificate of insurance does not waive or create policy

rights, or amend them in any way. Further ACORD certificate of

insurance forms are designed to be completed, not altered, using

industry accepted standardized language. ACORD's Forms

Instruction Guide states that a certificate of insurance should

not be used "To waive rights...To quote wording from a

contract...To quote any wording which amends a policy unless

the policy itself has been amended."

In conclusion, If an insurance agency were to issue an altered

certificate of insurance that stated that it would provide 30 days

notice of cancellation to a certificate holder, the certificate

would be issued improperly and it would be impossible for the

insurance agency to actually provide the required notice under a

variety of circumstances.

As such, Hall & Company does not issue altered ACORD certifi-

cates of insurance under any circumstances and are unable to

comply with the request to provide a 30 day notice of

cancellation as requested.