ACORD 36

What the ACORD 36 is for

The ACORD 36 moves the servicing relationship on an existing policy from one agency to another without disturbing the coverage. The client signs it, the incoming agency sends it to the carrier, and after the carrier's waiting period the new agency becomes the agent of record.

It is a per-carrier, per-policy instrument rather than a blanket one. An account placed with four carriers usually needs four letters, and each carrier applies its own waiting period, commonly measured in days from receipt.

What it collects

Described in our own words, block by block. This is a summary of the information the form gathers, not a reproduction of the form itself.

Current producer and agency

Who is being replaced, so the carrier can identify the existing appointment.

New agency

The agency being appointed, with the detail the carrier needs to recognise it.

Policies affected

Each policy number with its line of business and term dates. Policies not named are not moved.

Named insured and signature

The insured exactly as it appears on the policy, and the signature of someone with authority to sign for it.

Effective date and rescission

When the change is to take effect, subject to the carrier's own waiting period.

Check before it leaves the agency

The defects that cause trouble later are nearly always the same handful. Run these before the form goes out.

• Every policy the client wants moved is listed by number. An omitted policy stays where it is.
• The named insured is written exactly as the carrier holds it, since the carrier matches on that string.
• The signature is from someone with authority to bind the entity, not from an office manager without it.
• The carrier's waiting period is known before you promise the client a date, because it varies by carrier and it starts from receipt.
• The letter goes to the address or inbox the carrier specifies for broker-of-record changes, not to the underwriter you happen to know.
• The client understands that a broker-of-record change does not alter coverage, price or term. It changes who services the account.

What the ACORD 36 does not do

• It does not change coverage, premium or policy terms in any way.
• It does not cancel the policy or start a new one.
• It does not take effect the moment it is signed. The carrier's waiting period governs.

Which edition?

ACORD revises its forms, and the edition date is printed in the bottom-left corner beside the form number. This page deliberately does not name an edition, because a hard-coded one goes stale and a stale edition on a reference page is worse than none. Produce the form from your own management system, which will give you the current version, and read the corner if a carrier or a contract has asked for a specific one.

At renewal

BindCheck reads a bound renewal against the prior policy and reports every form, limit, deductible and endorsement that changed, with each finding cited to the page it came from. That matters for this form because what you put on an ACORD is only correct for as long as the policy behind it is unchanged: a certificate, an evidence form or a schedule of interests prepared from last term's facts is a defect nobody sees until the party relying on it needs it.

Related forms