*Please note: Any questions regarding Legal Hotline Spotlights should be submitted via the Virginia REALTORS^® Legal Hotline. Our attorneys are unable to respond to questions through our comments section.

Q: “I had an agent leave the firm recently to join a new firm. She had several listing agreements active and one purchase agreement that had not yet closed. Do the clients automatically go with the agent to her new firm? Or do they stay with my brokerage?”

A: The short answer is “whatever you and the agent decide”. Agents and brokerages have lots of room to negotiate these sorts of things when an agent leaves the firm. However, the one thing you have to remember is that all agreements that your agents enter into are in the name of the firm, not the name of the agent. That means that unless you come to some agreement otherwise, the clients will stay with your firm and not automatically transfer to the agent’s new brokerage. 

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