Captive Insurance Explained

How to Set Up a Captive Insurance Company in Tennessee | Mark Wiedeman, TDCI

Real Property Captive — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:14:07 -0400

Mark Wiedeman runs the Captive Insurance Section at the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, joined by Michael Schulz, Jackson Wickham and Kevin Walters. In this conversation they walk through what the state competes on, what a regulator looks for before approving a captive, the capital required, what a captive files each year, how a dividend gets approved, and how to pause, close or move a captive out of the state. In this episode: (1:59) Why would a captive choose to domicile in Tennessee? (5:04) What does a regulator look for before approving a captive? (8:01) What are the minimum capital requirements for a captive in Tennessee? (9:46) What does it cost to run a captive in Tennessee each year? (11:26) Do a captive's service providers have to be based in Tennessee? (13:43) What does a captive have to file with the state each year? (15:23) How does a regulator decide whether a captive can pay a dividend? (16:43) How do you pause, close or move a captive out of a state? (18:56) What kinds of captives and coverages are being formed in Tennessee? (21:47) What do first time captive owners get wrong about being regulated? (23:00) What should you do before you form a captive?

How to Set Up a Captive Insurance Company in Utah | Travis Wegkamp, Utah Insurance Department

Real Property Captive — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:14:00 -0400

Travis Wegkamp runs the Captive Insurance Division at the Utah Insurance Department, joined by Stephanie Liu, the division's Assistant Director. In this conversation they walk through what a regulator actually does: how a captive gets formed in Utah, what makes an application get rejected, what capital is required, what it costs to run each year, what the annual report is read for, and what happens when an owner wants to take a dividend, go dormant, sell the captive or shut it down. Answered by Travis Wegkamp, Director of Captive Insurance Division, Utah Insurance Department, and Stephanie Liu, Assistant Director. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:08 Are all state captive insurance domiciles the same? 06:23 How do you start a captive insurance company in Utah? 10:15 What makes a captive insurance application get rejected? 12:07 What are the minimum capital requirements for a captive in Utah? 14:27 What does it cost to run a captive insurance company each year? 16:53 Do a captive's service providers have to be located in Utah? 18:22 What does a regulator look at in a captive's annual report? 22:35 How does a regulator decide whether a captive can pay a dividend? 25:09 What happens to a captive when the business shuts it down? 27:30 Can you sell a captive insurance company along with the business? 30:38 What do first time captive owners get wrong about being regulated? 32:06 Can a captive go dormant instead of shutting down? 36:41 Are real estate captives common in Utah? Every question above has a written answer, with each claim sourced: https://captiveip.com/explained/ #CaptiveInsurance #CaptiveInsuranceExplained

What Legally Makes a Captive an Insurance Company | Matt Queen, Captive Insurance Attorney

Real Property Captive — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:13:54 -0400

Matt Queen is a captive insurance attorney and the author of Modern Captive Insurance. In this conversation he draws the legal line a captive has to sit on: what makes it an insurance company rather than a savings account with a good name, where a premium dollar actually goes, why the IRS has fought captives for so long, how money comes back out to the parent, and what goes wrong inside a group captive. In this episode: (0:47) What legally makes a captive an insurance company and not just a savings account? (2:36) What kinds of businesses do captives work best for? (5:03) Where does a dollar of insurance premium actually go? (8:09) Why does a captive change how a CEO handles risk management? (18:50) Why has the IRS fought captive insurance for so long? (26:09) How does money come back out of a captive to the parent company? (30:06) Should a captive ever be set up as a tax strategy? (31:54) What goes wrong inside a group captive? (33:21) What is a risk retention group, and how is it different from a captive? (39:00) What is the biggest misunderstanding about captive insurance? (44:54) Does a fronting carrier make a captive policy safer? (47:22) Can a captive insure a risk the standard market will not cover? (48:05) Can your own captive deny your claim? (50:04) Should you write your own captive insurance policy? (52:43) Are captives here to stay?

Why Domicile a Captive in Connecticut | Fenhua Liu, Connecticut Insurance Department

Real Property Captive — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:13:43 -0400

Fenhua Liu is Assistant Deputy Commissioner and Director of Captive Insurance at the Connecticut Insurance Department. In this conversation she covers what the state competes on, what a regulator looks for before approving a captive, the capital required, the service providers a captive needs, what has to be filed each year, how a dividend gets approved, and what a protected cell captive is and who uses one. In this episode: (1:04) Why would a captive choose to domicile in Connecticut? (4:03) What does a regulator look for before approving a captive? (6:04) What are the minimum capital requirements for a captive? (7:56) What service providers does a captive need? (10:28) What does a captive have to file with the state each year? (12:19) Is it hard to get a captive dividend approved? (14:01) How do you pause, close or move a captive out of a state? (16:59) What is a protected cell captive and who uses one? (19:48) Does a regulator treat a real estate captive differently? (21:59) How does a regulator assess a captive's reinsurance? (24:03) What should you do before you form a captive?

How Captive Insurance Money Gets Invested: Float, Strategy and Risk | Jack Meskunas, Oppenheimer

Real Property Captive — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:06:44 -0400

Jack Meskunas has spent the better part of twenty years on the investment side of captive insurance. In this conversation he follows the money: what happens to a premium dollar once it enters a captive, how an investment strategy gets designed around it, what float is and how a captive uses it, how the domicile constrains what the portfolio can hold, and what happens when large claims arrive during a market crash. In this episode: (5:56) How is a group captive different from simply self-insuring? (10:06) What happens to premium after it enters a captive? (12:50) What goes into designing a captive's investment strategy? (17:00) How does a captive's domicile affect what it can invest in? (20:27) What is insurance float, and how does a captive use it? (35:09) What happens if a captive faces large claims during a market crash? (38:55) Who is a group captive not right for? (31:36) What is IBNR, and why does it matter for a captive?