diff --git a/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor-inl.h b/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor-inl.h
index c1ef25520..aee0b7563 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor-inl.h
+++ b/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor-inl.h
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@
 namespace gtsam {
 
   /* ************************************************************************* */
-  template<typename TERMS>
-  JacobianFactor::JacobianFactor(const TERMS&terms, const Vector &b, const SharedDiagonal& model)
-  {
+  template <typename TERMS>
+  JacobianFactor::JacobianFactor(const TERMS& terms, const Vector& b,
+                                const SharedDiagonal& model) {
     fillTerms(terms, b, model);
   }
 
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ namespace gtsam {
   JacobianFactor::JacobianFactor(const KEYS& keys,
                                  const VerticalBlockMatrix& augmentedMatrix,
                                  const SharedDiagonal& model)
-      : Base(keys), Ab_(augmentedMatrix) {
-    checkAndAssignModel(model, augmentedMatrix);
+      : Base(keys), Ab_(augmentedMatrix), model_(model) {
+    checkAb(model, augmentedMatrix);
   }
 
   /* ************************************************************************* */
@@ -43,33 +43,8 @@ namespace gtsam {
   JacobianFactor::JacobianFactor(const KEYS& keys,
                                  VerticalBlockMatrix&& augmentedMatrix,
                                  const SharedDiagonal& model)
-      : Base(keys), Ab_(std::move(augmentedMatrix)) {
-    checkAndAssignModel(model, Ab_);
-  }
-
-  /* ************************************************************************* */
-  void JacobianFactor::checkAndAssignModel(
-      const SharedDiagonal& model, const VerticalBlockMatrix& augmentedMatrix) {
-    // Check noise model dimension
-    if (model && (DenseIndex)model->dim() != augmentedMatrix.rows())
-      throw InvalidNoiseModel(augmentedMatrix.rows(), model->dim());
-
-    // Check number of variables
-    if ((DenseIndex)Base::keys_.size() != augmentedMatrix.nBlocks() - 1)
-      throw std::invalid_argument(
-          "Error in JacobianFactor constructor input. Number of provided keys "
-          "plus one for the RHS vector must equal the number of provided "
-          "matrix blocks.");
-
-    // Check RHS dimension
-    if (augmentedMatrix(augmentedMatrix.nBlocks() - 1).cols() != 1)
-      throw std::invalid_argument(
-          "Error in JacobianFactor constructor input. The last provided "
-          "matrix block must be the RHS vector, but the last provided block "
-          "had more than one column.");
-
-    // Take noise model
-    model_ = model;
+      : Base(keys), Ab_(std::move(augmentedMatrix)), model_(model) {
+    checkAb(model, Ab_);
   }
 
   /* ************************************************************************* */
diff --git a/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor.cpp b/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor.cpp
index 51d513e33..9052cc460 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor.cpp
@@ -112,6 +112,28 @@ JacobianFactor::JacobianFactor(const HessianFactor& factor)
   }
 }
 
+  /* ************************************************************************* */
+void JacobianFactor::checkAb(const SharedDiagonal& model,
+                             const VerticalBlockMatrix& augmentedMatrix) const {
+  // Check noise model dimension
+  if (model && (DenseIndex)model->dim() != augmentedMatrix.rows())
+    throw InvalidNoiseModel(augmentedMatrix.rows(), model->dim());
+
+  // Check number of variables
+  if ((DenseIndex)Base::keys_.size() != augmentedMatrix.nBlocks() - 1)
+    throw std::invalid_argument(
+        "Error in JacobianFactor constructor input. Number of provided keys "
+        "plus one for the RHS vector must equal the number of provided "
+        "matrix blocks.");
+
+  // Check RHS dimension
+  if (augmentedMatrix(augmentedMatrix.nBlocks() - 1).cols() != 1)
+    throw std::invalid_argument(
+        "Error in JacobianFactor constructor input. The last provided "
+        "matrix block must be the RHS vector, but the last provided block "
+        "had more than one column.");
+}
+
 /* ************************************************************************* */
 // Helper functions for combine constructor
 namespace {
diff --git a/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor.h b/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor.h
index 1e82eb051..33f7183a6 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor.h
+++ b/gtsam/linear/JacobianFactor.h
@@ -403,10 +403,10 @@ namespace gtsam {
     void fillTerms(const TERMS& terms, const Vector& b, const SharedDiagonal& noiseModel);
 
     /// Common code between VerticalBlockMatrix constructors
-    void checkAndAssignModel(const SharedDiagonal& model,
-                             const VerticalBlockMatrix& augmentedMatrix);
+    void checkAb(const SharedDiagonal& model,
+                 const VerticalBlockMatrix& augmentedMatrix) const;
 
-  private:
+   private:
 
     /**
      * Helper function for public constructors: