33-17-1102. Reporting and accounting for premiums -- misappropriation. - Montana Statutes

     33-17-1102. Reporting and accounting for premiums -- misappropriation. (1) All insurance premiums or return premiums received by an insurance producer must be held in a separate trust account. The insurance producer shall at all times act in a fiduciary capacity and shall, in the applicable regular course of business, account for and pay the insurance premiums or return premiums the insurance producer receives to the insured, insurer, or insurance producer entitled to them. Except for a title insurance producer as defined in 33-25-105, an insurance producer may deposit and commingle in the same separate deposit all funds belonging to others so long as the amount of the deposit held for each respective person is reasonably ascertainable from the records and accounts of the licensee.
     (2) Any insurance producer not lawfully entitled to the funds may not divert or appropriate the funds or any portion of the funds to the insurance producer's own use.
     (3) An insurance producer who purposely or knowingly diverts or misappropriates insurance premiums commits theft pursuant to 45-6-301.

     History: En. Sec. 168, Ch. 286, L. 1959; amd. Sec. 51, Ch. 359, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 40-3324; amd. Sec. 21, Ch. 519, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 16, Ch. 409, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 54, Ch. 713, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 22, Ch. 380, L. 2003.