Public Adjusters on Florida's Space Coast: Fees, Rules, and Red Flags (Brevard County FL)

How much can a public adjuster charge on a Space Coast insurance claim?

Florida caps public adjuster compensation at 20 percent of claim payments, or 10 percent for claims tied to a Governor-declared state of emergency during the year after that declaration. Those caps apply to every Brevard County, Florida homeowner.

After a storm passes over the Space Coast, the knocking starts. Some of it is legitimate. Some of it is people who found your address on a damage map. Homeowners in Merritt Island, Melbourne, and Satellite Beach get pitched hard, usually while they are still cleaning up, and almost nobody in that moment knows what Florida law actually allows.

So here is the rulebook, straight from the statute. A public adjuster can be genuinely useful on a complicated claim. Knowing the limits is how you tell the useful ones from the rest.

What is a public adjuster in Florida?

Section 626.854 of the Florida Statutes defines a public adjuster as a person who, for compensation, prepares, completes, or files an insurance claim for an insured, or who acts on behalf of an insured in negotiating or settling a covered claim. Licensed attorneys are treated separately.

The key distinction for a Brevard County homeowner: a public adjuster works for you. A company adjuster or independent adjuster works for the insurance carrier. Public adjusters are licensed by the Florida Department of Financial Services.

One limit worth knowing: a public adjuster may not give legal advice, and may not act on a claim involving bodily injury, death, or noneconomic damages.

What can a public adjuster charge in Brevard County FL?

The fee caps are written into the statute, and they are not negotiable upward. Compensation is calculated on claim payments or settlements paid to you, excluding attorney fees and costs:

Claim type	Maximum compensation
Claim from an event under a Governor-declared state of emergency, during the year after the declaration	10 percent
All other claims	20 percent
Reopened or supplemental claim	20 percent of the reopened or supplemental payment only
Carrier pays or commits to policy limits within 14 days of loss, or 10 days after the contract is signed, whichever is later	1 percent
Carrier already paid or committed before the contract was signed	0 percent

Two more details that protect Space Coast homeowners. Your deductible is not part of the base, so an adjuster cannot take a percentage of it. And the fee rate cannot be increased just because the claim ends up in litigation.

What Florida requires in the contract

The statute writes several protections directly into the agreement you sign in Brevard County:

• You may cancel within 10 days of signing, with no penalty. If the claim comes from a declared state of emergency, you get 30 days after the date of loss or 10 days after signing, whichever is longer.
• The adjuster must give you a written, itemized, per-unit estimate of the loss within 60 days of the contract date.
• If that estimate does not arrive within 60 days, you can cancel with no additional fees, subject to the notice requirement.
• The cancellation language has to appear in at least 18-point bold type right above your signature line.

If a contract handed to you on a Melbourne driveway does not contain that bold cancellation language, that alone tells you something.

Solicitation rules and red flags

Florida regulates how a public adjuster is allowed to approach you. On the Space Coast after a storm, these are the lines that get crossed most often:

• Solicitation is only allowed Monday through Saturday, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday contact is not permitted.
• No monetary loans or cash advances to a client or prospective client.
• No gift, merchandise, or inducement worth more than $25 to get you to sign.
• No rebate, gift card, cash, coupon, or deductible waiver in exchange for letting someone inspect your roof or for filing a roof claim.
• Advertising cannot imply the mailer came from or was endorsed by a government agency.
• Written ads must carry a bold disclaimer stating that it is a solicitation for business.

A contractor is also prohibited from advertising, offering, or performing public adjusting services in Brevard County unless licensed as a public adjuster. A roofer telling you they will "handle the insurance company for you" is in territory the statute addresses directly.

Assignment of benefits is no longer an option on newer Florida policies

For years the standard pitch on the Space Coast was to sign over your insurance benefits so a contractor could handle the carrier directly. Florida ended that. Under the property insurance changes enacted in the December 2022 special session, post-loss benefits under a residential property insurance policy issued on or after January 1, 2023 cannot be assigned, and an attempted assignment is void and unenforceable. The Florida Senate's 2022A bill summary covers the package.

If you are a Brevard County homeowner on a policy written before 2023, your situation may differ. If anyone asks you to sign over benefits on a current policy, stop and confirm what you are actually signing.

How to verify a license before you sign

Every public adjuster operating on the Space Coast has to be licensed by the Florida Department of Financial Services. You can verify status through the Division of Insurance Agent and Agency Services before you sign anything. It takes about two minutes and it is the single highest-value thing you can do in that driveway conversation.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a public adjuster for a Brevard County claim?

Not usually for a small, clear-cut claim. Where they earn their fee is on large, disputed, or complex losses where the scope of damage is genuinely contested. Run the math on the cap first: 20 percent of a claim payment is real money, and on a straightforward claim it may not buy you anything.

Can a public adjuster charge me a fee if I never signed a contract?

No. Under the statute, a public adjuster who solicits a claim and does not enter into a contract with the insured cannot charge you or receive payment from any other source for services related to your claim.

Does the insurance company have to let my public adjuster be present?

The carrier cannot exclude your public adjuster from its in-person meetings with you. The carrier's people also have to give at least 48 hours notice before scheduling a meeting or an onsite inspection of your Space Coast property, and you can deny access if that notice was not given, though you may waive it.

Storm season on the Space Coast is not the moment to be learning insurance law for the first time. Save this one, and if you own in Brevard County and want a straight answer about a claim, a roof, or what any of it does to your resale position, reach out. My partner Nichole and I got your back. Reach out anytime at (321) 212-7676 or www.livingspacecoast.com.