Who regulates your policy in Texas
Insurance is regulated state by state, so your policy is governed by Texas law and overseen by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) — 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 Texas, and keep the consumer line (800-252-3439) on hand. Both are free, and an agent not licensed in your state is a hard stop.
Your window to cancel in Texas
We could not confirm a fixed statutory free-look period for life policies in Texas. Many states set a range the insurer chooses from rather than one mandated number, so the period that binds you is the one printed in your own contract. Confirm it in writing before the policy is issued.
If a carrier fails in Texas
If your carrier became insolvent, the Texas Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association (TLHIGA) is the backstop. In Texas 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 Texas adds to the cost
Texas levies a state premium tax of 1.75% on life insurance premiums. That sits below the 2% 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.
Texas Insurance Code Sec. 222.003 taxes life insurance premiums at a reduced 0.875% rate on the first $450,000 of taxable gross premiums in a calendar year, and 1.75% on the remainder — a two-tier structure rather than a flat rate.