How to Fire a Public Adjuster in Florida: Notice, Fees, and Next Steps

To fire a public adjuster in Florida, send a written cancellation notice by certified mail with return receipt requested to the address on your contract. If you act inside one of three statutory windows, you owe nothing. Outside those windows, you can still end the relationship, but you may owe a fee for the work already done, limited by caps built into Florida Statute 626.854.

The Three Windows to Cancel for Free

Florida Statute 626.854 gives every homeowner three separate chances to walk away from a public adjuster contract with no financial obligation.¹

The first is the standard 10-day cooling-off period. You have 10 days from the date you signed the contract to cancel for any reason, with no penalty.

The second applies after a Governor-declared state of emergency, such as a hurricane. If your contract relates to a loss from the declared event, you can cancel within 30 days after the date of loss or within 10 days of signing, whichever gives you more time.¹

The third is tied to the adjuster’s own performance. If your public adjuster fails to deliver a written estimate of the loss to both you and your insurer within 60 days of signing, you can cancel without penalty. The only exception is a delay caused by factors genuinely outside the adjuster’s control. Once the estimate is delivered, this window closes.¹

Your contract is required by law to spell out these cancellation rights in bold 18-point type directly above the signature line.² If that language is missing or buried in fine print, the adjuster has already violated the statute, which only strengthens your position.

How to Send the Cancellation Notice

Florida law requires the notice to be in writing and sent by certified mail with return receipt requested, or by another method that provides proof of delivery.¹ A phone call, email, or regular letter does not satisfy the statute. Send it to the address printed in the contract.

Keep the letter short. Include:

Your name and the property address
Your insurance policy number
The date you signed the public adjuster contract
The date you want termination to take effect
A clear statement that you are terminating the public adjuster agreement

You do not need to give a reason, especially inside a statutory window. Hold onto the certified mail receipt and the green return card when it comes back. If the adjuster later disputes whether they got the notice, those two pieces of paper end the argument.

What You Owe if You Cancel Later

Once the 10-day, 30-day, and 60-day windows have all passed, you can still fire the adjuster. You just lose the guarantee of owing nothing. Your contract takes over at that point.

Pull out your copy and look for the sections labeled “Termination” or “Cancellation.” These clauses describe the written notice required, how far in advance to send it, and what fees survive termination. Most agreements let either side end the relationship with written notice while reserving the adjuster’s right to collect for work already performed. If your contract has no termination clause at all, you still have the right to end the arrangement. The practical question becomes how much you owe.

Florida caps those fees by statute, and no contract can override the caps.

For claims tied to a Governor-declared emergency, filed within one year of the declaration: 10% of the settlement amount, exclusive of attorney fees and costs.²
For non-emergency claims: 20% of the settlement amount, exclusive of attorney fees and costs.²
If your insurer pays at or above policy limits for a particular coverage within 14 days of the loss or 10 days of the contract (whichever is later), the adjuster can collect only 1% on that portion.²
If your insurer already paid or agreed to pay before you signed the contract, the adjuster gets 0% on that money.²
For a reopened or supplemental claim, the fee can only be based on the new money the adjuster’s work brought in, not the original settlement, and is capped at 20%.²

Even those caps are ceilings, not entitlements. When you terminate outside a penalty-free window, the adjuster is entitled to the reasonable value of services actually performed before termination, not the full contractual percentage. If the adjuster took a few photos and sent one letter before you fired them, that work is not worth 20% of your eventual settlement. Ask for a written accounting of exactly what was done and how much time was spent. That document is your starting point for any negotiation.

A former adjuster may try to place a lien on your settlement to secure the disputed fee, which can lead your insurer to issue the check jointly in your name and the adjuster’s. If that happens, you need the adjuster’s endorsement to cash it, so resolving the fee question matters even when the work was minimal.

Steps to Take Right After You Fire the Adjuster

Your insurance claim does not pause because you changed representation. A few practical steps protect it.

Notify your insurer in writing that you have terminated the public adjuster and that the adjuster no longer has authority to act for you. The statute does not explicitly require this, but without it your insurer may keep communicating with your former adjuster or send payments in a way that creates headaches.

Request copies of every document your former adjuster submitted on your behalf: proof-of-loss forms, damage estimates, correspondence, photographs, and repair estimates. These relate to your claim and you are entitled to them. Having the file prevents you from starting over.

Contact your insurer’s claims department directly and ask for the current status of the file. Find out what has been submitted, what documentation is still outstanding, and whether any deadlines are approaching. Missing a proof-of-loss deadline because your former adjuster was handling it can cost you the entire claim.

You can hire a new public adjuster to pick up where the previous one left off. Nothing in Florida law prevents it. Just remember that the combined fee of the old and new adjusters cannot exceed the statutory cap, so review any new contract with that in mind before signing.

Filing a Complaint if the Adjuster Acted Improperly

Termination ends the business relationship. A complaint addresses misconduct, and the two are separate processes you can pursue at the same time.

If your adjuster misrepresented your claim, withheld money, refused to communicate, or engaged in dishonest practices, file a complaint with the Florida Department of Financial Services through its Consumer Assistance Portal at assistcon.myfloridacfo.gov.³

Florida law identifies specific grounds that require the Department to act against a licensed adjuster, including fraudulent or dishonest business practices, misappropriating client funds, materially misrepresenting the terms of an insurance contract, and willfully violating the insurance code.⁴ When any of those grounds are proven, suspension or revocation of the license is mandatory. Before filing, gather your contract, correspondence, certified mail receipts, estimates, and any written demands from the adjuster. A complete file lets investigators evaluate the complaint quickly.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 626.854 – Public Adjuster Defined; Prohibitions
2
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Code 626.854 – Public Adjuster Defined; Prohibitions
3
Florida Department of Financial Services. Get Insurance Help
4
Justia Law. Florida Code 626.611 – Grounds for Compulsory Refusal, Suspension, or Revocation of Agent, Adjuster, Customer Representative, Service Representative, or Managing General Agent License or Appointment