diff --git a/agent/consul/state/intention.go b/agent/consul/state/intention.go
index 80a150cfa..a29b9f63f 100644
--- a/agent/consul/state/intention.go
+++ b/agent/consul/state/intention.go
@@ -106,11 +106,6 @@ func (s *Snapshot) Intentions() (structs.Intentions, error) {
 
 	var ret structs.Intentions
 	for wrapped := ixns.Next(); wrapped != nil; wrapped = ixns.Next() {
-		// Update precedence values for consistency (i.e. the object returned should
-		// be usable/comparable to the ones returned from Intentions() and Match()
-		// etc.)
-		ixn := wrapped.(*structs.Intention)
-		ixn.UpdatePrecedence()
 		ret = append(ret, wrapped.(*structs.Intention))
 	}
 
@@ -147,9 +142,7 @@ func (s *Store) Intentions(ws memdb.WatchSet) (uint64, structs.Intentions, error
 
 	var results structs.Intentions
 	for ixn := iter.Next(); ixn != nil; ixn = iter.Next() {
-		ixnReal := ixn.(*structs.Intention)
-		ixnReal.UpdatePrecedence()
-		results = append(results, ixnReal)
+		results = append(results, ixn.(*structs.Intention))
 	}
 
 	// Sort by precedence just because that's nicer and probably what most clients
@@ -180,6 +173,9 @@ func (s *Store) intentionSetTxn(tx *memdb.Txn, idx uint64, ixn *structs.Intentio
 		return ErrMissingIntentionID
 	}
 
+	// Ensure Precedence is populated correctly on "write"
+	ixn.UpdatePrecedence()
+
 	// Check for an existing intention
 	existing, err := tx.First(intentionsTableName, "id", ixn.ID)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -324,9 +320,7 @@ func (s *Store) IntentionMatch(ws memdb.WatchSet, args *structs.IntentionQueryMa
 			ws.Add(iter.WatchCh())
 
 			for ixn := iter.Next(); ixn != nil; ixn = iter.Next() {
-				ixnReal := ixn.(*structs.Intention)
-				ixnReal.UpdatePrecedence()
-				ixns = append(ixns, ixnReal)
+				ixns = append(ixns, ixn.(*structs.Intention))
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/agent/consul/state/intention_test.go b/agent/consul/state/intention_test.go
index fc161cddb..3e7df561c 100644
--- a/agent/consul/state/intention_test.go
+++ b/agent/consul/state/intention_test.go
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ func TestStore_IntentionSetGet_basic(t *testing.T) {
 			ModifyIndex: 1,
 		},
 	}
+	expected.UpdatePrecedence()
 
 	ws = memdb.NewWatchSet()
 	idx, actual, err := s.IntentionGet(ws, ixn.ID)