Does an insurance brokerage's book of business actually belong to the brokerage or the individual broker?

It depends on what the broker's contract with the brokerage actually says, and this is one of the most contested points in an insurance brokerage sale. In many brokerages, the book of business — the client relationships and renewal commissions built up over time — is treated as an asset of the brokerage itself, especially where the broker is an employee or where their agreement expressly assigns client relationships to the firm. In other arrangements, particularly with independent contractor brokers or older or loosely documented agreements, an individual broker may have retained rights to "their" book, or at least a contractual claim to compensation if it's sold or if they leave.

Before assuming a brokerage sale automatically includes every broker's book of business, the underlying broker agreements need to be reviewed individually, since a mismatch between what the purchase agreement promises the buyer and what the broker's own contract actually grants them is a common and expensive surprise after closing.

Clarifying ownership, non-solicitation terms, and any departure or buyout provisions in each broker's agreement before a sale closes protects both the seller's ability to deliver what it's selling and the buyer's expectation of what it's actually buying.