Should You Sign an Assignment of Benefits in Florida?
Already have an estimate?
Check the written scope free in about a minute — no account or file upload.
What to do right now
- 1Find the issue date of your current homeowners policy on the declarations page.
- 2If it was issued on or after 1 January 2023, an assignment of post-loss benefits is void under Florida law.
- 3Do not sign anything on the day of a storm-damage sales visit, whatever it is called.
- 4Ask the contractor to put in writing why they need it, and read the answer carefully.
- 5Keep your own claim number, adjuster contact, and paperwork - do not hand those over either.
The rest of this page explains how to compare the written estimates once the immediate danger is handled.
6 min read
It usually arrives as a convenience. Sign here, and we will handle the insurance company for you. The document is an assignment of benefits, and what it actually does is hand your claim - your right to the money - to the contractor. In Florida the law on this changed, and for most homeowners reading it today the answer is simpler than it used to be.
What an AOB actually transfers
An assignment of benefits transfers your post-loss rights under the policy to someone else - normally the contractor doing the work. Once assigned, they can bill the insurer directly, negotiate the scope and amount, and in the old days sue the carrier in their own name.
That is a far larger thing than authorising someone to talk to your adjuster. A direction to pay, or a limited authorisation, is a different and much narrower document. The word to watch for is assignment.
The convenience is real, and so is the trade: the party negotiating the value of your claim is the party being paid out of it.
What Florida changed
Section 627.7152 of the Florida Statutes now says that, except in one narrow circumstance, a policyholder may not assign any post-loss insurance benefit under a residential property insurance policy issued on or after 1 January 2023. An attempt to do so is, in the statute's own words, void, invalid, and unenforceable.
The test is the date your policy was issued, not the date of the storm. Homeowners policies are normally written for a year at a time, so a policy in force today was almost certainly issued well after that cutoff - but check the declarations page rather than assume, particularly if the policy has been in place unusually long.
Policies issued between mid-2019 and the start of 2023 sit under the earlier version of the same section, which allowed assignments but attached requirements to them. If that is your situation, the document and the policy both matter and this is the point to get advice rather than a summary.
So why is someone still asking?
Sometimes habit: the form is old and nobody updated the folder. Sometimes it is a document that says assignment on it but is really a direction to pay. And sometimes it is a business that has not caught up with the law.
Whichever it is, the request is a useful signal rather than a reason to panic. A contractor who is current on the rules that govern their own claims work is a contractor who is more likely to be current on the code that governs your roof.
The safe response is the same in every case: do not sign on the spot, ask what the document does, and get a second written estimate before anyone touches the roof.
What to do instead
Keep the claim in your name. You can still let the contractor speak to the adjuster, send photographs, and submit a documented supplement - none of that requires assigning your benefits.
Insist on a written scope you can compare. The reason an assignment feels necessary is usually that the paperwork is unclear, and clear paperwork removes the need.
If a contractor will only work under an assignment, that narrows your options for a reason worth understanding before you accept it.
This is a plain-English explanation of one statute, not legal advice about your policy or your contract. For a dispute, or for a policy issued before 2023, talk to a licensed public adjuster or an attorney.
Before you sign anything after a storm
- ✓You have the issue date of the policy, from the declarations page
- ✓You know whether the document is an assignment, a direction to pay, or an authorisation
- ✓Nobody is asking you to sign on the day of the visit
- ✓You have a second written estimate for the same scope
- ✓The contractor's licence is verified with the state, not with their paperwork
- ✓Your claim number and adjuster contact stay with you
Free - no account - no upload
Check the quote you have
Choose the project type and answer one simple question at a time.
Plain-English answers
Frequently asked questions
Are assignments of benefits banned in Florida?
For residential property insurance policies issued on or after 1 January 2023, section 627.7152 says a policyholder may not assign post-loss benefits, and an attempt to do so is void, invalid and unenforceable. Policies issued earlier fall under the previous version of the same section, so the issue date on your declarations page is what decides it.
A contractor says they need it to get paid. Is that true?
Not usually. An insurer can pay a claim with the policyholder in place, and a contractor can still document the work, talk to the adjuster and submit a supplement. Ask what specifically the document does that a written scope and a direction to pay would not.
What is the difference between an AOB and a direction to pay?
A direction to pay asks the insurer to send funds to the contractor while the claim stays yours. An assignment transfers the post-loss rights themselves. They can look similar on paper, which is why the wording matters more than the title.
I signed one. What now?
If the policy was issued on or after 1 January 2023, the statute says the attempted assignment is unenforceable - but what that means for your particular contract is a legal question, not a general one. Talk to a licensed professional rather than relying on a guide.