2026-09-10 · Illinois · Regulation

What happened. On January 9, 2026 the Illinois Department of Insurance issued Company Bulletin 2026-01, “Public Adjuster as Co-Payee,” from Director Ann Gillespie, addressed to Illinois property and casualty insurers and public adjusters.¹

It is the most directly association-relevant thing the Department did in this period, and it goes to who receives the money after a hail, wind or water loss.

What IDOI says is happening

Insurers have been adding Illinois public adjusters as co-payees on claim checks regardless of whether the insured agreed to it in the public adjuster contract — and some have been mailing checks directly to the public adjuster where the contract does not so direct.

IDOI calls these practices a violation of consumer rights under the Illinois Public Adjuster Law, 215 ILCS 5/Article XLV.

The statutory basis

The Law provides that a public adjuster contract “may specify that the public adjuster shall be named as a co-payee” — permissive, and contract-dependent. It bars adjusters and insureds from agreeing to terms not in the Director-approved contract form (215 ILCS 5/1575(b) and (j); 5/1590(j)(6)).

The Bulletin addresses the historical confusion directly: the former public adjuster statute, Article XXXI¾, “may have implied that all public adjusters had some special claim to insurance proceeds” — but that statute was repealed in 2021, and the current law says the adjuster's compensation “is the obligation of the insured, not the insurer” (215 ILCS 5/1575(f)(4)).

What insurers are directed to do

1. Illinois Department of Insurance, Company Bulletin 2026-01, Public Adjuster as Co-Payee (January 9, 2026) ↩
2. Illinois Department of Insurance, 2025 Cost Containment Annual Report ↩
3. Illinois Department of Insurance, company bulletins index ↩