What does ACORD 25 report after a Stockton liability policy is already issued?
ACORD 25 (2025/12) is the Certificate of Liability Insurance. The ACORD Forms Index, revised September 8, 2026 and checked October 5, 2026, lists that edition and that title under countrywide property and casualty forms. It is the page a producer gives a general contractor, a landlord, or a vendor desk after liability policies are already issued. It names the insured, the insurers, the policy numbers, the dates, and the limits being reported. It does not replace those policies. A sentence typed on it does not add a person to a policy. The December 2025 forms bulletin says this edition replaced 2016/03 and is for use on or after December 2025. California Insurance Code §384 requires a certificate used as evidence of insurance, in place of a copy of the policy, to say that it is not an insurance policy and does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage. Call (209) 670-1556. The Stockton office is 956 W Robinhood Dr.
The index line, and the five edits in the December bulletin
The index entry is short: form 25, edition 2025/12, title Certificate of Liability Insurance. The December 2025 forms bulletin, notice dated January 16, 2026, marks it as a regulatory change, filed and approved by all applicable states, in ACORD’s words. The bulletin lists five edits and says the coverage grid kept the same data fields while the layout was reformatted. The logo changed. The edition date on each page changed from 2016/03 to 2025/12. The copyright line changed from 1988–2015 to 1988–2025. The certify paragraph gained an asterisk before the paid-claims sentence, a new sentence about limits the holder asked to see, and a footnote that the asterisk is not applicable in Wyoming.
ACORD’s certificates FAQ tells a producer whose client asks for an older certificate to say that withdrawn editions are not kept current with regulatory requirements and should not be distributed. A north Stockton school reroof is the example we see. The general contractor forwards a sample still printed 2016/03. That sample is not the edition the index lists. We prepare 2025/12. The FAQ also says ACORD does not issue certificates and does not provide coverage. The producer who holds the policy file does.
What the rows report, and the sentence that caps the limits
A public copy of ACORD 25 (2025/12) on the New York Department of Financial Services approved-certificate page is the layout we read. We cite it for the words printed on that edition, not as California law. The top block is the producer and the insured, then insurers A through F, each with a letter that ties the insurer to a coverage row. The certify paragraph says the policies listed have been issued to the insured named above for the period indicated, and that the insurance stays subject to all the terms, exclusions, and conditions of those policies no matter what a contract requires. Then the 2025/12 text, which the bulletin describes as new: limits shown may have been reduced by paid claims, and limits shown are inclusive of amounts requested by the certificate holder and may not reflect policy limit amounts in excess of those requested.
Under that paragraph the grid keeps the fields the bulletin says were kept: commercial general liability, automobile liability, umbrella or excess, and workers compensation and employers liability. Each row has a policy number, dates, and two small boxes, additional insured and subrogation waived. A description of operations sits below. The form says ACORD 101, the Additional Remarks Schedule, may be attached if the job needs more room, and the index lists ACORD 101 (2008/01) as that schedule. The holder block is a name and address. The cancellation box says notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions.
The opening lines of the 2025/12 copy say the certificate is issued as a matter of information only, confers no rights on the holder, does not affirmatively or negatively amend, extend, or alter the coverage, and is not a contract among the insurers, the producer, and the holder. The certificates FAQ says only an endorsement, rider, or amendment changes coverage, and that naming a contract on the certificate does not provide coverage. Insurance Code §384(a) requires that statement, or words to the same effect, when the certificate stands in for a copy of the policy. A contract does not lift the policies’ terms, exclusions, and conditions. Subsection (b) says §384 does not apply to a surplus line broker certificate as defined in §48.
A school job, a clinic on March Lane, and two different boxes
The certificate holder is the person or organization the page is addressed to. On that north Stockton reroof, the bid package prints the school district or the general contractor, and the mailing address has to match that printing. The holder block tells them a certificate was prepared for that name. It does not place them on the policy.
The additional-insured checkbox sits on the coverage row, not in the holder block. Above the grid, the 2025/12 copy prints this instruction: if the certificate holder is an additional insured, the policies must have additional insured provisions or be endorsed. If subrogation is waived, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy, certain policies may require an endorsement. A statement on this certificate does not confer rights to the certificate holder in lieu of such endorsements. We read the policy before either box is marked. A janitorial crew that cleans a clinic on March Lane can have the clinic’s legal name in the holder block every month. The clinic is an additional insured only when the liability policy, or an endorsement to it, says so. What that status does is on our additional insured note. Why a client asks for the page at all is on what a certificate of insurance is.
A waiver of subrogation is the insurer giving up, after it pays a covered claim, the right to seek that payment back from someone else. The waiver box works like the additional-insured box: the policy or an endorsement has to provide it. A checked box reports that fact. A produce wholesaler on Charter Way whose grocery customer writes “list us” has two requests in one email: the customer’s legal name in the holder block, and, if the vendor agreement requires it, an additional insured endorsement already on the general liability policy. “Primary and noncontributory” in the description box is the same miss. We can show that phrase when the policy already provides it.
Four misses we hand back on Valley jobs
These are the misses we hand back most often on Stockton, San Jose, and Central Valley jobs. This is what we see at this office, not a published study.
The first is a withdrawn edition. A blank saved from an old download, or a sample still marked 2016/03, is not the form the index lists. The bulletin moved the edition to 2025/12 and said the new edition is the one for use on or after December 2025.
The second is a limit written to flatter the contract. The exhibit asks for a figure the policy does not carry, or someone wants the full policy limit typed when the holder asked only for the amount in the exhibit. The new sentence says the limits shown include what the holder requested and may not show policy limits above that request. We still do not type a figure the policy does not carry. If the exhibit asks for more than the policy provides, we say so before the page goes out. The amounts are the ones the policy can support, read against that 2025/12 sentence.
The third is treating the holder name as if it were the endorsement. A C-39 roofing contractor, whose license is for surfaces that seal and weatherproof a structure, gets the email “put them on the certificate.” That is not the same instruction as “the policy already endorses them.” Contractor general liability is the coverage conversation. This page is the form that reports it later.
The fourth is a property question forced onto a liability certificate. The index lists ACORD 27 (2016/03), Evidence of Property Insurance, and ACORD 28 (2016/03), Evidence of Commercial Property Insurance. The FAQ says both go to someone with a financial interest in the property, usually a lender, and that both are still certificates issued as information only. A lender asking whether a warehouse is insured wants the property evidence form, which follows the ACORD 140 section and the commercial property policy. The FAQ says the forms are split because a property policy typically notifies the mortgage holder of cancellation, while a typical liability policy notifies the first named insured unless an endorsement adds someone else. The cancellation box on ACORD 25 follows the policy. It does not add a notice the policy does not give.
The certificate comes after the 125 and the 126
The application comes before a policy exists. The certificate comes after. ACORD 125 (2025/03) is the Commercial Insurance Application, Applicant Information Section: who the insured is, the business, and the prior-carrier grid. ACORD 126 (2025/03) is the Commercial General Liability Section: each hazard, the class code, and the exposure basis, and it attaches to the 125. A C-39 roofer writes the roofing classification on the 126 while the account is being submitted. Months later, when a district asks for proof the liability policy is in force, the 25 reports the policy that was issued. It does not reopen the hazard schedule, and it does not rewrite the applicant page. The index also lists ACORD 125 CA (2023/01), the California commercial application. A California file can include that state form with the countrywide 125. The certificate still reports the policies that were issued, not the application that asked for them.
The forms library lists the rest of the set. The ACORD 130 page is up. Evidence of property insurance is the ACORD 27 page. To ask us to prepare a certificate from a policy already on file, use the certificate of insurance request. The same note in Spanish is the Spanish ACORD 25 page, beside the Spanish library. Call (209) 670-1556 or come to the Stockton office at 956 W Robinhood Dr.
Questions at the Stockton counter
What is the ACORD 25?
The ACORD 25 (2025/12) is the Certificate of Liability Insurance. The ACORD Forms Index, revised September 8, 2026, lists that edition. It reports liability policies already issued to the named insured. It is not the application and it is not the policy.
Does a sentence on the certificate change the policy?
No. California Insurance Code section 384 requires a certificate used as evidence of insurance to say that it is not an insurance policy and does not amend, extend, or alter the coverage. The 2025/12 form says the certificate is issued as information only and confers no rights on the certificate holder.
Is the certificate holder an additional insured?
No. The certificate holder is the name and address the page is addressed to. Additional insured status exists only when the policy has additional insured provisions or an endorsement. The 2025/12 form says a statement on the certificate does not confer those rights in place of the endorsement.
What did the 2025/12 edition change about limits?
The December 2025 ACORD bulletin added this limit sentence to the certify paragraph: limits shown are inclusive of amounts requested by the certificate holder and may not reflect policy limit amounts in excess of those requested. The same bulletin says the previous edition was 2016/03.
Does the ACORD 25 replace the ACORD 125 or the ACORD 126?
No. ACORD 125 (2025/03) is the applicant information section. ACORD 126 (2025/03) is the commercial general liability section and attaches to the 125. The certificate is issued later, after a policy exists, to someone outside the insurance contract.
Sources
- ACORD Forms Index (rev. 9/8/2026). Lists 25 2025/12 Certificate of Liability Insurance; 125 2025/03 Commercial Insurance Application, Applicant Information Section; 125 CA 2023/01 California Commercial Insurance Application; 126 2025/03 Commercial General Liability Section; 101 2008/01 Additional Remarks Schedule; 27 2016/03 Evidence of Property Insurance; 28 2016/03 Evidence of Commercial Property Insurance; 140 2016/03 Property Section. forms_index.pdf. Checked October 5, 2026.
- ACORD Forms Notification Service, December 2025 bulletin (notice dated 01/16/2026). ACORD 25 (2025/12), previous edition 2016/03, Certificate of Liability Insurance, for use on or after 12/2025, filed and approved by all applicable states. Changes listed: logo, edition date, copyright through 2025, the certify-paragraph limit language, and a reformatted coverage grid that keeps the same data fields. December 2025 bulletin. Checked October 5, 2026.
- New York Department of Financial Services, approved certificate ACORD 25 (2025/12), Certificate of Liability Insurance, including the information-only opening, the additional-insured and waiver instruction, the certify paragraph with the 2025/12 limit sentences, the coverage rows, the holder block, and the cancellation box. dfs.ny.gov. Checked October 5, 2026. Cited for the words printed on that edition, not as California law.
- ACORD, Certificates of Insurance FAQ. A certificate is not a policy and does not amend it. Only an endorsement, rider, or amendment changes coverage. ACORD 25, 27, and 28. Why property and liability certificates are separate. Evidence forms are still certificates and are informational. Withdrawn editions should not be distributed. acord.org. Checked October 5, 2026.
- California Insurance Code §384 (a certificate used as evidence of insurance is not a policy and does not amend, extend, or alter coverage; surplus line broker certificates under §48 are excepted). Ins. Code §384. Checked October 5, 2026.
- Contractors State License Board, C-39 Roofing Contractor. Class C39. Checked October 5, 2026.
Related: ACORD forms library · Certificate of insurance request · Esta página en español.