The short answer: Tennessee sets the fee by statute — Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-6-913. Hired before the insurer makes an offer: capped at 15 percent of the total settlement. Hired after an offer: capped at 25 percent of the increase the adjuster wins above that offer. A narrow catastrophe rule caps certain total-loss fees at 10 percent. No fee, retainer, or deposit may change hands before the claim settles, and commercial policies are exempt from the tiers entirely.
§ 56-6-913(a)
§ 56-6-913(d)
The three tiers in Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-6-913
Tennessee's Public Adjuster Licensing Act answers the fee question with more precision than almost any state. Here is the operative text of § 56-6-913(a), verbatim:
"If a contract between the public adjuster and the insured is formed before the insurance carrier has made an offer of settlement, then the public adjuster may not charge a fee that is greater than fifteen percent (15%) of the total proceeds of the insurance settlement. If a contract between the public adjuster and the insured is formed after the insurance carrier has made an offer of settlement, then the public adjuster may not charge any more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the difference between the insurance company's last offer to the insured prior to the public adjuster contract with that insured and the last offer after the public adjuster entered a contract with the insured and negotiated, if any, additional settlement proceeds."
In table form:
| When you sign the contract | Legal maximum | Applied to |
|---|---|---|
| Before the insurer makes any settlement offer | 15% | Total settlement proceeds |
| After the insurer has made an offer | 25% | Only the increase above the carrier's last pre-contract offer |
| Catastrophe total loss (narrow conditions — see below) | 10% | Total proceeds, regardless of when the contract was signed |
Two more rules ride along in the same section: no fee may be charged on any advance payment the carrier made before your contract existed, and — under subsection (d) — nothing may be collected from you at all until the claim settles.
Hired before the offer: the 15 percent everyone quotes
Here is the positioning truth the ads won't tell you: every licensed public adjuster in Tennessee lives under the same 15 percent pre-offer ceiling. When a firm advertises "we only charge 15%" as if it were generosity, it is reciting the speed limit as a virtue. Fifteen percent is not a discount. It is the law.
So the rate is the wrong thing to shop on. The questions that actually separate one adjuster from another are the ones the statute leaves open:
- Is the fee all-in? Or do "typical costs and expenses" quietly stack on top of the percentage?
- Does the rate step up if your engagement is papered after the carrier's first offer, shifting you into the 25 percent tier?
- Is anything collected early? Under § 56-6-913(d), the answer must be no — a retainer request is a statutory violation, not a business model.
Our answer on all three: a transparent contingency inside the statutory tiers, in writing, with nothing owed before settlement — ever. Engage us before the carrier's offer (the normal case, and the smart one) and the 15 percent cap governs; engagements that genuinely begin after an offer follow the statute's 25-percent-of-the-increase structure, which by design only charges you on value actually added. Either way: no recovery, no fee.
Hired after the offer: 25 percent of the increase, not the total
This is the tier the internet mangles most. The 25 percent figure is not a quarter of your settlement — it applies only to the difference between the carrier's last offer before you signed and the final negotiated result. A worked example, with illustrative figures only — an example, not a quote and not a real case:
- The carrier's last offer before you hire an adjuster: $40,000.
- After re-documentation and negotiation, the claim settles at $100,000.
- The increase is $60,000, so the maximum lawful fee is 25 percent of $60,000 = $15,000 — not $25,000.
- If the adjuster added nothing above the $40,000, the lawful percentage fee is 25 percent of nothing.
The design is honest by force of law: a post-offer adjuster in Tennessee eats only what they kill. It also means the carrier's early lowball is not just an insult — it is the baseline your adjuster is measured against, which is one more reason to get representation and documentation in place before the first offer lands, while the 15 percent structure applies to a claim built right from day one. If your carrier is slow-walking that first position, see what Tennessee law says about claim settlement timing.
The 10 percent catastrophe cap — narrower than the headlines say
The 10 percent figure gets quoted as if it were Tennessee's general catastrophe rule. Read the statute and it is far narrower. The cap applies only when all of these are true: the home is mortgaged at 100 percent of its appraised value; the loss is a total loss of the home, deemed a policy-limit payment; it occurs during a catastrophic disaster; and it happens within the first twelve months of the mortgage term. In that specific situation — a brand-new, fully leveraged home destroyed in a declared catastrophe — the fee is capped at 10 percent of total proceeds no matter when the contract was signed.
A hail-battered roof after a spring supercell is not that. For the overwhelming majority of Tennessee storm claims, the tiers that matter are 15 percent pre-offer and 25 percent of the increase post-offer.
Nothing changes hands before settlement — by law
Subsection (d) deserves to be quoted in full, because it is short and absolute:
"No public adjuster shall require, demand or accept any fee, retainer, compensation, deposit, or other thing of value, prior to settlement of a claim."
That single sentence makes "no recovery, no fee" the mandatory shape of every residential engagement in Tennessee — the fee can only ever come out of settlement money that actually arrives. It is also a clean field test: anyone calling themselves a public adjuster who asks for a deposit, a retainer, or an "inspection fee" up front is violating § 56-6-913(d). The same part of the Code bars paying or accepting adjusting fees involving unlicensed persons, and the statute sets the contract requirements; Tennessee's adjuster licensing and public-complaint procedures live in Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-01-91. If an adjuster or anyone else has crossed those lines on your claim, you can file a complaint with Tennessee's insurance regulator.
Commercial claims are exempt from the tiers
The last sentence of § 56-6-913(a) is easy to miss: "This subsection (a) shall not apply to commercial insurance." Fee arrangements on business claims — warehouses, restaurants, rental portfolios — are negotiated between the policyholder and the adjuster rather than fixed by the residential tiers. The prohibition on collecting before settlement and the licensing requirements still frame the relationship, but the percentages are a matter of contract. If you run a business, get the fee structure in writing and read it as carefully as you would a lease.
One more piece of context worth having: the fee statute is the floor of your leverage, not the ceiling. When a carrier's refusal to pay is not just low but unreasonable, Tennessee law adds teeth — a bad-faith penalty of up to 25 percent on top of the loss, covered on our page on Tennessee's 25 percent bad-faith penalty. And if you are comparing states — Tennessee's neighbor runs a completely different fee regime — see how public adjuster fees work in Georgia.
Questions Tennessee policyholders ask about fees
What percentage does a public adjuster charge in Tennessee?
It depends on when the contract is signed. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-6-913, an adjuster hired before the insurance carrier makes a settlement offer may charge at most 15 percent of the total settlement proceeds. An adjuster hired after an offer may charge at most 25 percent of the increase won above the carrier's last pre-contract offer — not 25 percent of the whole settlement. A narrow catastrophe rule caps certain total-loss fees at 10 percent.
Can a public adjuster charge me before my claim settles in Tennessee?
No. Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-6-913(d) says no public adjuster shall require, demand, or accept any fee, retainer, compensation, deposit, or other thing of value prior to settlement of a claim. Anyone asking for a retainer or deposit up front is violating the statute — walk away.
The insurance company already made me an offer. What can an adjuster charge now?
At most 25 percent of the increase — the difference between the carrier's last offer before you signed the public adjuster contract and the final settlement the adjuster negotiates. The statute deliberately ties the post-offer fee to value actually added, so you never pay a percentage of money the carrier had already put on the table.
When does Tennessee's 10 percent cap apply?
Only in a narrow catastrophe scenario: the home is mortgaged at 100 percent of its appraised value, the loss is a total loss of the home occurring during a catastrophic disaster within the first twelve months of the mortgage term, and the settlement is deemed a policy-limit payment. In that situation the fee is capped at 10 percent of total proceeds no matter when the contract was signed. It is not a general catastrophe cap on all storm claims.
Does the Tennessee fee cap apply to business or commercial claims?
No. The final sentence of § 56-6-913(a) states that the subsection does not apply to commercial insurance, so fees on commercial claims are set by negotiation between the business and the adjuster rather than by the statutory tiers.
Why does every Tennessee public adjuster advertise 15 percent?
Because that is the legal maximum for anyone hired before the carrier's offer — not a discount. Every licensed adjuster in the state lives under the same ceiling. The questions that actually separate firms are whether the fee is all-in, whether the rate steps up when the engagement starts after an offer, and whether anything is charged before settlement (which the statute forbids).
One transparent fee, and not a dollar before you settle. A free, confidential case review by a licensed Tennessee public adjuster costs nothing — and under § 56-6-913, no adjuster may charge you anything before your claim settles. No recovery, no fee.
See if my case qualifies 770-230-2616