Yes. Minnesota gives you 72 hours after signing to cancel a public adjuster contract for any reason. After that, the written agreement you signed governs how the relationship can end and what is owed for the work already done.
We are public adjusters, so we will say up front where we stand. Clients should be able to leave a firm that is not doing its job. Clients should also understand that a signed agreement is a commitment on both sides, and that walking away mid-claim often costs the homeowner more than it saves. Here is how we explain it to our own clients.
The 72-hour cancellation right
Minnesota law builds a cooling-off period into every public adjuster contract. Minn. Stat. § 72B.135, subd. 1 says an insured who has entered into a contract with a public adjuster "has the right to cancel the contract within 72 hours after the contract has been signed."
That window exists for a good reason. Storm damage is stressful, and sometimes a contract gets signed in a driveway before the homeowner has had a chance to think. If you sign and then have second thoughts in the first three days, you can cancel in writing and owe nothing. We tell every client about this right before they sign, and we would rather lose a client in that window than keep one who is not sure.
We're public adjusters, not attorneys. This is how the statute reads and how we apply it. For legal advice on your specific contract, talk to a Minnesota attorney.
After 72 hours, the agreement governs
Once the window closes, you have a contract, and contracts bind both parties. The firm is obligated to represent you on the claim. You are obligated to honor the terms you agreed to, including the fee for work performed.
Every agreement handles termination a little differently, so the honest answer is to read yours. In general you should expect that work already performed is compensated. Obtaining and reading the policy, inspecting and photographing the loss, writing a line-item estimate, and negotiating with the carrier's adjuster all happen before the insurance company approves anything. If that work leads to an approval, the firm has earned its fee on that trade even if the approval letter arrives after the client has moved on.
That is not a trap. It is the same principle that applies to a contractor who has framed a house or an attorney who has prepared a case. The agreement is how professionals get paid for work that is finished before the result shows up.
Our own fee works on a trade-by-trade basis. It is a percentage of the approved value of each trade we take on for you (roof, siding, and so on), and we only charge it on a trade if we get the insurance company to approve more than it already had. No increase on a trade, no fee on that trade. The exact percentage is in the written agreement. On Minnesota residential claims there is also a $200 initial claim review and documentation fee, credited toward our final fee if we take the claim and win.
Why clients get frustrated, and what to do first
Most of the people who ask us this question are not dealing with a bad firm. They are three or four weeks in and nothing visible has happened. That is worth explaining, because it is the single most common reason people consider leaving, and it is almost always a misunderstanding about timing.
After signing, we send the carrier a letter of representation and request a full copy of the policy. The carrier typically takes about two weeks to send it, and we spend about a week reading it before we build the estimate. From the outside that looks like silence. On the inside it is the foundation of the claim. A firm cannot argue coverage it has not read. We wrote a step-by-step post on the process so clients know what those first weeks look like.
So before you think about ending anything, do one thing: call your adjuster and ask where the claim stands. Ask what has been sent to the carrier, what the carrier has said, and what the next step is. A firm that is doing its job will have a clear answer. If the answer is unclear, ask for a short written summary. Most frustration ends right there.
If you are worried that the claim is going the wrong way, ask about that too. A firm that has read your policy can tell you what the carrier's position is and how it plans to respond. That conversation is usually more useful than a second opinion from a firm that has not seen your file.
What switching actually costs
Leaving one firm for another sounds simple. In practice it sets the claim back.
- The new firm has to start over on the policy, the inspection, and the estimate, which usually means another month before anything new reaches the carrier.
- The carrier has to be re-notified and often re-inspects, which gives the adjuster on the other side a reason to slow down.
- You may owe fees under both agreements if the first firm's work contributed to the eventual approval.
- Any momentum built with the carrier's adjuster is lost, and the file lands on someone's desk as a problem claim.
None of that means you should stay with a firm that has stopped working. It means the bar for switching should be "the work is not being done," not "I have not heard anything this week."
If you do decide to end it
If, after talking it through, you still want to part ways, do it in a way that protects your claim.
Read your agreement first so you know what it says about termination and about fees for work performed. Then tell your adjuster directly. A short, courteous written notice is all it takes. Expect the firm to confirm the termination, let the carrier know the file has changed hands, and tell you what is owed under the agreement.
That is how we handle it. We have had clients leave, and when it happens we confirm it in writing, pass along the documentation we built, and settle up under the terms we both signed. We do not argue with the carrier about it and we do not argue with the client. A clean handoff is better for everyone, including the next firm.
Ask about this before you sign, not after
The best time to understand a cancellation clause is before you agree to it. Ask any firm you are considering how termination works and how fees are handled for work already done. It is one of the questions we think you should ask, and a straight answer is a good sign. You can also read about the red flags that should end a conversation and the basics of how we work in our FAQ.
The honest answer
You can fire a public adjuster. Minnesota gives you 72 hours to cancel for any reason, and after that the agreement you signed governs how the relationship ends and what is owed for the work performed. Before you get there, talk to your adjuster. In our experience the problem is usually a gap in communication, and that is a lot easier to fix than a claim that has to start over.