Who regulates your policy in North Dakota
Insurance is regulated state by state, so your policy is governed by North Dakota law and overseen by the North Dakota Insurance Department — not by a federal agency. It licenses the agent who sells to you and handles complaints if something goes wrong.
Two things worth doing before you sign: verify your agent's license is active in North Dakota, and keep the consumer line ((701) 328-2440) on hand. Both are free, and an agent not licensed in your state is a hard stop.
Your window to cancel in North Dakota
North Dakota requires a free-look period of 20 days. Within that window you can return a newly issued policy and get your premium back in full, no reason required.
Use it. An IUL illustration is dense, and 20 days is enough to have the caps, participation rate, cost of insurance and surrender schedule reviewed by someone who is not being paid on the sale.
If a carrier fails in North Dakota
If your carrier became insolvent, the North Dakota Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association is the backstop. In North Dakota it covers a death benefit up to $300,000 and cash surrender value up to $100,000. Those are separate ceilings, so an IUL's accumulated cash value is protected independently of the death benefit.
This protection is not a reason to skip carrier due diligence. It caps what you would recover, and a policy designed above that cap leaves the excess exposed.
What North Dakota adds to the cost
North Dakota levies a state premium tax of 2% on life insurance premiums. That is right at the median of the 50 states covered here. You do not pay it as a separate line item — carriers price it into the premium, which is part of why the same policy design can cost differently across state lines.