Glossary
Assignment of benefits
A signed agreement that transfers your right to claim payments to a contractor or other vendor, who then deals with the insurer directly.
Also called: AOB, AOB agreement, assignment of claim
An assignment of benefits, or AOB, is a document in which you transfer your claim rights to someone else, most often a water mitigation company, roofer or other contractor. After you sign, the vendor can bill the insurer directly, negotiate the estimate and, in some states, sue the insurer in its own name. You can lose control of the claim and any say in how a dispute is handled.
AOBs became a flashpoint in Florida, where litigation over them grew heavily. The 2022 special-session reforms (SB 2-A) barred post-loss assignments of benefits under residential property policies issued on or after January 1, 2023 (Fla. Stat. 627.7152). Other states restrict or regulate assignments in different ways, and where they are allowed the wording of the contract matters.
Read anything an emergency-services vendor hands you before signing it. You can usually have urgent protective work done without giving up your claim. Ask whether the paper is an assignment, a direction to pay (which lets the vendor be named on a check but leaves the claim with you) or a plain work authorization, because they are not the same. Call your insurer to confirm what it will accept. The guide on what to know before you sign has more, and contractor fraud after storms: how it works and how to stop it covers storm-chaser tactics.
Last reviewed October 10, 2026