Commission Disbursement Authorization (CDA) — Kansas Edition Template

The Commission Disbursement Authorization is the short document that makes agents' money move. Signed by the broker (or an authorized manager), the CDA instructs the closing agent — title company, escrow officer, or closing attorney — how to disburse the brokerage's commission at closing: how much to the brokerage, and how much directly to the agent per their split. Because license law in every state requires commissions to be paid to the broker (not directly to a salesperson except as the broker directs), the CDA functions as the broker's written payment direction that lets closing agents cut agent checks at the table without violating that rule.

This 2-page template includes: transaction identification (property, closing date, file number, buyer/seller); the brokerage's total commission due with the calculation basis (percentage of sales price or flat fee); itemized disbursement instructions (brokerage company dollar, agent split, team member splits, outstanding fee deductions, referral fees payable to outside brokers); wiring/delivery instructions with payee details; the broker's authorization signature with license number; and a hold-harmless provision for the closing agent relying on the instruction. A second page provides a multi-agent/team split table for deals with multiple participating licensees.

Operationally, CDAs reduce E&O exposure by eliminating verbal disbursement instructions and creating an audit trail that matches the brokerage's commission ledger — important in states that audit trust-account and commission records. The included notes flag states where direct-to-agent disbursement at closing is restricted or where commission checks must pass through the brokerage first, in which case the CDA still documents the internal split instruction. Simple document, big operational value.

About this Kansas Edition: Every template was redrafted around the Kansas Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act (BRRETA, K.S.A. 58-30,101 et seq.), which presumes a licensee is a transaction broker unless a written agreement creates agency and flatly prohibits dual agency — so the dual-agency form became a Transaction Broker Addendum and Designated Agency Consent, and every listing and buyer agreement carries a transaction-broker / designated-agency election instead of a dual-agency consent. The forms also build in the Kansas Real Estate Brokers' and Salespersons' License Act (K.S.A. 58-3034 et seq.) and Commission regulations (K.A.R. Agency 86) on supervising-broker payment and trust accounts, the statute of frauds (K.S.A. 33-106), the Kansas UETA (K.S.A. 16-1601 et seq.), the five-year written-contract limitations period (K.S.A. 60-511), the Kansas Consumer Protection Act, the homestead joint-consent rule, the statutory residential radon notice, and the commercial-only Kansas Commercial Real Estate Broker Lien Act. Because Kansas has no statutory seller-disclosure form, the property condition disclosure is drafted to the common-law known-material-defect duty and BRRETA's adverse-material-fact duty.