452.19 Fees and commissions.
(1) No licensee may pay a fee or a commission or any part thereof for performing any act specified in this chapter or as compensation for a referral or as a finder's fee to any person who is not licensed under this chapter or who is not regularly and lawfully engaged in the real estate brokerage business in another state, a territory or possession of the United States, or a foreign country.
(2) If a licensee is associated with a firm, all fees or commissions and any part thereof for performing any act specified in this chapter and all compensation for a referral or as a finder's fee shall be paid to the firm.
History: 1981 c. 94; 1983 a. 464; 1985 a. 128; 1989 a. 307; 2015 a. 258; 2017 a. 365 s. 111.
Under s. 452.03 an agreement to pay a real estate brokerage commission to a person not licensed as a broker is void at its inception. Using a licensed broker who provides no actual services as a conduit for a fee to an unlicensed person does not create a co-brokerage arrangement authorized by s. 452.19. Badger III Ltd. v. Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff, 196 Wis. 2d 891, 539 N.W.2d 904 (Ct. App. 1995), 94-2531.