What Happens When Your Broker Dies?

You might not want to think about it, but accidents and illnesses claim lives every day. Here’s what to do if your sponsoring broker dies.

If you are sponsored under an individual broker’s license …

In this scenario, you no longer have a broker and you cannot perform real estate activities. You must find a new sponsoring broker and file this change in sponsoring broker with the Texas Real Estate Commission. None of the agreements, (such as client representation agreements and sales agent independent contractor agreements) in place at the time of the broker’s death survive his or her passing.

Once TREC receives your new sponsorship documents or your sponsorship is accepted online through TREC’s Relationship Management Tool, you can resume performing real estate activities.

Remember that any representation agreements your broker had in place with his or her clients at the time of the death are no longer valid, so these clients must agree to work with your new broker if you want to continue to represent them.

TREC staff is compassionate about these types of situations and will help expedite the processing of the documents for a new designated broker.”

Kerri Lewis, deputy executive director and general counsel at TREC

If the broker is the designated broker for a business entity brokerage that sponsors your license ...

This scenario is a little easier, because the brokerage entity survives the death of the designated broker, and you continue to have a sponsoring broker. Any representation or independent contractor agreements in place at the time of the death remain in effect with the business entity as a party, but you must cease performing real estate activities until a new designated broker is named for the business entity. Once a new designated broker takes over and the business entity updates its records at TREC, you can resume brokerage activities.

“TREC staff is compassionate about these types of situations and will help expedite the processing of the documents for a new designated broker,” says Kerri Lewis, deputy executive director and general counsel at TREC. “This underscores the necessity for brokerages to have a succession plan in place.”