Who regulates your policy in West Virginia
Insurance is regulated state by state, so your policy is governed by West Virginia law and overseen by the West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner — 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 West Virginia, and keep the consumer line (1-888-879-9842) on hand. Both are free, and an agent not licensed in your state is a hard stop.
Your window to cancel in West Virginia
No single fixed statutory free-look period for ordinary individual life policies was confirmed from primary sources in this session; free-look terms may depend on policy form, delivery method, or insurer election. Return null rather than estimate.
Because the rule is not a single fixed number here, the period that applies to you is whatever your specific policy states. Find that clause in the contract before you sign, rather than assuming a standard period exists.
If a carrier fails in West Virginia
If your carrier became insolvent, the West Virginia Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association is the backstop. In West Virginia 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 West Virginia adds to the cost
West Virginia levies a state premium tax of 3% on life insurance premiums. That sits above 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.