Referral Agreement (Broker-to-Broker) — Oklahoma Edition Template

Referral fees are a core revenue stream in real estate — but they are legal only when paid between licensed brokers. Every state's license law prohibits paying referral fees to unlicensed persons, and in transactions involving a federally related mortgage loan, RESPA Section 8 (12 U.S.C. § 2607) prohibits kickbacks and unearned fee-splitting for settlement-service referrals — with an exemption at 12 U.S.C. § 2607(c) that permits cooperative brokerage and referral arrangements between licensed real estate agents and brokers. The practical rule: broker-to-broker referral fees are fine; anything else needs scrutiny. And because a referral fee is a commission-sharing promise, the statute of frauds in most states means an unwritten referral deal is an unenforceable handshake.

This 4-page Referral Agreement locks the arrangement down in writing: identification of referring broker and receiving broker (with license numbers and states), the referred client's identity and the scope of the referral (buy-side, sell-side, or both; geographic area; property types), the referral fee as a percentage of the receiving side's gross commission (or a flat amount), when the fee is earned and payable (at closing, out of escrowed commission), treatment of multiple transactions by the same referred client during a defined capture period, a no-brokerage-services acknowledgment by the referring broker in the destination transaction, status updates, and governing law.

The included notes cover interstate referrals (fee must generally be paid broker-to-broker through the licensee's own broker), states with specific referral disclosure requirements to clients, and the RESPA boundaries for anything touching settlement services beyond brokerage. Template for drafting purposes — not legal advice.

About this Oklahoma Edition: Every template was redrafted around the Oklahoma Broker Relationships Act (59 O.S. § 858-351 et seq.), which abolished common-law agency in real estate brokerage — an Oklahoma broker owes statutory duties to the party it is assisting rather than fiduciary agency duties, and dual agency does not exist. The dual-agency file in this set is therefore an Oklahoma Broker Relationships Act disclosure and consent for a single broker providing brokerage services to both parties, with the statutory duties and confidentiality rules spelled out. The seller disclosure edition tracks the Oklahoma Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act (60 O.S. § 831 et seq.) and its disclosure and disclaimer statement regime, the listing and buyer-broker agreements carry the written-agreement requirements enforced by the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission, the independent-contractor agreement reflects associate-to-broker affiliation under the Oklahoma Real Estate License Code, and each instrument recites the Oklahoma Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and the Oklahoma statute of frauds (15 O.S. § 136). Oklahoma has no broker commission lien statute for residential sales, so the disbursement authorization is drafted as a contractual closing-agent instruction. Not legal advice; have an Oklahoma-licensed attorney review before use.