Louisiana is one of the toughest states in the country on public-adjuster pay: state law flatly bans contingency fees, so a PA can only charge a flat fee or an hourly rate, never a cut of your claim payout. That protects you from a PA who might otherwise be tempted to inflate or rush a settlement to collect a percentage, but it also means you must nail down the exact dollar fee or hourly rate in writing before you sign anything.
What Louisiana allows a public adjuster to charge
- Standard fee cap: No contingency fee permitted (flat fee or hourly only)
Louisiana has no separate emergency/catastrophe fee-cap provision; the contingency-fee ban applies at all times.
A public adjuster may charge the insured a reasonable fee. However, a public adjuster shall not solicit for or enter into any contract or arrangement which provides for payment of a fee that is contingent upon, or calculated as a percentage of, the amount of any claim or claims paid to or on behalf of an insured by the insurer, and any such contract shall be against public policy and is null and void.
La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 22:1703 (Public adjuster fees)
Before you hire help in Louisiana
Louisiana homeowners know hurricanes are not a hypothetical risk, they are a recurring event with a paper trail. Hurricane Ida alone generated 478,417 insurance claims of all types by the time the Louisiana Department of Insurance closed its final data call on September 30, 2022, with insurers paying or reserving $13.9 billion to resolve them (LDI, Hurricane Ida Data Call report). Hurricane Laura, the year before, produced 133,315 claims and 1,392 consumer complaints (LDI). Every major storm since has followed the same pattern: a surge of claims, adjusters spread thin, and homeowners left trying to document damage on their own timeline while an insurance company works on its own. That is the environment a Louisiana public adjuster works in, and it is also the environment where a bad fee arrangement can do real damage to a family already stretched thin.
Here is what makes Louisiana different from almost every other state on this list. In most states, a public adjuster works on contingency, taking an agreed percentage of whatever the insurer eventually pays on the claim. Louisiana banned that outright. Under La. Rev. Stat. § 22:1703, a PA "shall not solicit for or enter into any contract or arrangement which provides for payment of a fee that is contingent upon, or calculated as a percentage of, the amount of any claim or claims paid to or on behalf of an insured by the insurer." Any contract that tries to do this anyway is, by the statute's own words, "against public policy and is null and void." A Louisiana PA can only be paid a flat fee or an hourly rate. There is no third option built into the statute, and a 2022 legislative attempt to add a capped percentage-fee option died in committee without becoming law, so the flat-fee-or-hourly rule stands as written today.
What that means in practice for a homeowner: you are not signing up for a PA who automatically gets richer the bigger your settlement is. That structurally removes one incentive for a PA to inflate a claim or push a fight with your insurer that is not actually in your interest, since their pay does not move with the payout. But it flips the burden onto you at the front end. Because there is no default percentage to fall back on, "reasonable fee" is the only standard the law gives, so you need to ask hard questions before signing: what is the flat fee, what is the hourly rate, is there a cap, and what exactly is included. If a PA offers you anything that sounds like "I get a percentage of what you're paid," that arrangement is not just unusual for Louisiana, it is void under state law, and you should walk away.
Louisiana law also requires the fee agreement to be part of a written contract with specific disclosures, and gives you a real out if you sign in a hurry: you can rescind a PA contract within three business days of signing, in writing, and get back anything of value you handed over within fifteen business days of the PA receiving your cancellation notice (La. Rev. Stat. § 22:1704). In a state where storm season brings adjusters, contractors, and PAs to your door within days of a disaster, that three-day window is worth knowing before you ever pick up a pen.
How licensing works
To become a public adjuster in Louisiana, an applicant must pass a state licensing exam administered through PSI, unless they already hold an active public adjuster license in another state that requires an exam or have held one within the past 12 months (Louisiana Department of Insurance, "Becoming a Licensed Adjuster"). Applicants must be fingerprinted for a background check and must file a $50,000 surety bond issued by an insurer admitted to write surety business in Louisiana before the license is granted.
Once licensed, a Louisiana PA license is valid for two years and must be renewed before expiration. To renew, a PA must complete 24 hours of continuing education during each two-year renewal period, including at least 3 hours specifically on ethics. Louisiana also issues nonresident public adjuster licenses to adjusters from other states, but only on a reciprocal basis: the applicant's home state must grant Louisiana residents nonresident licenses under similarly reciprocal terms (La. Rev. Stat. § 22:1670). Homeowners can and should verify any PA's license status directly through LDI's online Producer/Adjuster Search before signing a contract, since an unlicensed person accepting a fee for public adjusting services is itself a violation of Louisiana law.
Contracts and solicitation rules
Louisiana law requires every public adjuster contract to be in writing and to spell out specific terms: the adjuster's legible name and license information, permanent business address and phone number, the insured's name and address, the insurer and policy number, a description of the loss, the scope of services to be provided, the full fee or compensation arrangement, and the signature dates of both parties (La. Rev. Stat. § 22:1704). Before that contract is signed, the PA must also hand the homeowner a separate written disclosure document explaining the claims process.
Critically, the insured has an unconditional right to cancel a PA contract within three business days of signing it. The cancellation must be in writing and delivered or mailed to the PA at the address listed in the contract, and once the PA receives it, anything of value the homeowner already paid or turned over must be returned within fifteen business days. Louisiana insurers are also barred from inserting policy language that tries to prohibit a policyholder from hiring a public adjuster in the first place. After a declared disaster, the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner has authority to issue emergency rules extending certain claim deadlines; check ldi.la.gov for any active emergency rule after a storm.
Where to complain or check a license
- Louisiana Department of Insurance
- Phone: 1-800-259-5300
File a complaint with the Louisiana Department of Insurance
Questions people ask about public adjusters in Louisiana
Can a public adjuster in Louisiana take a percentage of my insurance settlement?
No. Louisiana Revised Statute 22:1703 bans contingency fees for public adjusters outright, meaning a PA cannot be paid a fee that is contingent on, or calculated as a percentage of, the amount your insurer pays on your claim. Any contract that tries to set up a percentage-based fee is void under Louisiana public policy. A Louisiana PA can only charge you a flat fee or an hourly rate, both of which must be spelled out in your written contract before you sign.
What does "reasonable fee" mean if Louisiana does not set a percentage cap?
Louisiana’s statute does not define a fixed dollar amount or percentage for a "reasonable fee" because the fee is not tied to a percentage at all, it is a flat rate or hourly rate you negotiate directly with the PA. Reasonableness is judged case by case based on factors like the complexity of the claim and time involved, not a published state formula. Get the exact flat fee or hourly rate, and any cap on total hours or cost, written into your contract before signing.
Does Louisiana extend claim deadlines after a hurricane or disaster?
Yes. The Louisiana Insurance Commissioner has authority to issue emergency rules suspending normal claim-handling deadlines after a declared disaster, and has used it repeatedly after major storms. These rules are storm-specific and time-limited, so check ldi.la.gov or call the consumer hotline after any declared emergency to confirm what is currently in effect for your parish.
How do I check if a Louisiana public adjuster is actually licensed?
Use the Louisiana Department of Insurance’s free online Producer/Adjuster Search tool at ldi.la.gov to confirm a PA’s license is active before you sign anything. Louisiana law makes it illegal for someone to accept a fee for public adjusting services if they are required to be licensed and are not. You can also call the LDI consumer hotline at 1-800-259-5300 to verify licensing.
When does it actually make sense to hire a public adjuster in Louisiana?
A public adjuster can be worth hiring when your claim involves significant structural damage, a dispute over the scope or cost of repairs, or a denial or lowball offer you believe undervalues the loss. Because Louisiana bans contingency fees, factor the flat or hourly cost directly into whether hiring a PA still makes financial sense for your specific claim size, since you will owe the fee regardless of the outcome.
Sources last checked August 28, 2026 (AdjusterAlly editorial review (primary-source statute text), pending attorney review). This is consumer information, not legal advice.
Updated November 4, 2026 to reflect substantive changes.
